NET: Orthodoxy Remained A Faith, limited to the ambitions of faith. Catholicism Tried to reconcile science and reason, in order to govern europe.
Orthodoxy makes no false promise.
Catholic: 293M Total: 205M Europe, 75M USA, 13M Canada
(The rest, almost all, are in non-european countries: ~.9B. IOW, the catholic church is a third world organization with third world interests, having abandoned europeans.)
Orthodox: 250M Total
Protestant 307M Total: 117M Europe 190M North America
The Rest are in the developing world.
850M Total Europeans
DIFFERENCES
- Catholics believe that human reason can prove the existence of God, while the Orthodox believe that God’s knowledge is planted in human nature.
- Catholicism employs human reason in explaining the concept of faith. -vs- Orthodoxy doesn’t reconcile human reason with faith.
- The Catholic doctrine evolves with change in time, and needs to fit in with prevailing circumstances. -vs- Orthodoxy does not change it’s doctrine to fit with situational needs.
- Protestants Believe in all prophets of the Books from the Holy Bible -vs- Orthodox ????? -vs- Protestants Believe in all prophets of the Books from the Holy Bible, and that Muhammad is a false prophet.
- Other Religions: Christianity is the true religion. Judaism is a true religion, but they do not believe Jesus is the Messiah. Islam is a false religion, pagan religions are also false. -vs- Orthodox ?????????? -vs- Protestants: Judaism is a true religion, but they do not believe Jesus is the Messiah. Islam is a false religion. Pagan religions are also false.
- ALL: “Yeah, you gotta believe” (oops…)
GOVERNANCE
- Catholic Church – The Church regards the Pope, seated on the Apostolic Throne of St. Peter, as the head of the church, -vs- The Orthodox Church believes that the head of the universal Church is Jesus Christ.
- The Catholic Churches are subservient to the Pope who is the one supreme authority. – vs – The various Orthodox churches are autocephalous, which means, they are independent of each other and their head bishops don’t report to any higher bishop.
- The other bishops are subordinates to the Pope, who is also called the Supreme Pontiff. – vs- the Patriarch of each church presides over its Synod. The Patriarch is the administrative head but is at par with the rest of the bishops in spiritual terms
RELEVANT PRACTICES
- In matrimony, for Catholics, divorce is not permitted under any circumstances, while for Orthodox, it may be permitted when adultery is committed. -vs-protestant where divorce is permitted for adultery or abandonment.
THE CROOKED CATHOLIC CHURCH
- Papal claims of Supremacy
- Papal Claims of Infallibility
- Claims of purgatory
- The Sale of Indulgences
EUROPEAN………………………………..LOOSE COMPARISON
Epicureanism ……………………………..(buddhism)
… Heathenism………………………….(hinduism – yes, really)
… … Paganism ………………………(zoroastrianism )
… … … Protestantism……………(judaism)
… … … … Orthodoxy………….(islam)
… … … … … Christianity….(none)