Upon this rock I will build my Church ...

It irks me sometimes when people ask if I am a Catholic or a Protestant.

Thinking it over I suppose they don’t know better. By ‘Catholic’, they are referring specifically to Roman Catholicism as opposed to “Protestant”, which is too ambiguous an expression; like asking if someone is a Malaysian or a creature of the earth.. (which covers both human and animals! Something like that-la.)

Do you know, we do not call ourselves Protestants? To me, I am just a ‘Christian.’ (of the Pentecostal denomination). Only those of the Roman Catholic Churches has a tendency to call Christians of other denominations Protestants. In other words, Protestantism is often a general term merely to signify that one is not a Catholic.

Now, this seems too good a topic not to blog about. Don’t worry, I am not going to touch on sensitive issues but it is my intention to give you all a brief lesson in the history of the Church. Hah… that’ll teach you not to call me a “Protestant.”

Catholic comes from the Greek word, KATHOLIKOS which means “throughout the whole, or universal” and was used as a general reference to the ENTIRE Christian church until the reformation period. (which I will touch on later.)

Prior to 313 A.D. Christians in the Roman Empire were often brutally prosecuted and given opportunities to avoid further punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to Roman gods. Refusal was punishable by arrest, imprisonment, torture and executions.

Constantine I ‘legalised’ Christianity when he became the Emperor in 313 A.D. and Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

The next 400 years saw many new beliefs added to the Roman Church. In 1054, a break in the church occurred and the western (Roman Catholic) and the eastern (Greek Orthodox) churches developed separately. It must be pointed out that Roman Catholics cannot claim exclusive right to the term “Catholic” as even today, some of the orthodox churches are also Catholics!

Fast forward to the year 1517 (though its roots lie further back in time) when Martin Luther (not to be confused with Martin Luther King, the civil rights activist famous for his “I have a dream” speech. Again not to be confused with the song “I have a dream” by ABBA) started the Reformation movement.

Luther was convinced that within the Church were malpractises and the movement began as an attempt to reform the Church. In 1529, the Emperor Charles V attempted to smother Luther’s movement by banning Luther’s documents but some of the German state princes stood up in protest. Thus, because of their protest, the movement began to be known as the “Protestants.” (The word “Protestant” is derived from the Latin “protestari” meaning publicly declare which refers to the letter of protestation issued by these princes against this decision.) What had originally been intended to reform Catholicism from within was now a split from the original body. Despite Luther’s attempt to present his views and beliefs, the division between Catholic and Protestants remain even up to this day.

In the wake of the reformation movement, Martin Luther started the first “Protestant” or “Evangelical” church but before long, different opinions in the interpretations of the Scripture and the split along doctrinal lines caused a rift. This led to a division in the reformed church and the emergence of several rival ‘Protestant/Evangelical’ churches or denominations e.g. Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians.

Today, the Christian World database records about 9,000 denominations throughout the world. When you ask “ are you a Catholic or a protestant ?” you could very well be referring to any of the 8,999 denominations….

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