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Hi, Katie--
To add to what my brethren were saying, let me bring out the definition
you offered:
You said:
a Christian is someone who professes
a belief in Jesus Christ, is Christ like, and is humane,
Many people think along those lines when they speak of someone as
a Christian, but the ancient churches look at it differently.
Yes, being Christ-like -- being a disciple of Jesus -- is a central
theme of living a spiritual life. Being kind and humane is also a
beautiful virtue. However, these are not the Church's definition
of a Christian. The example of Scripture makes this clear: in _Acts_,
the believers in Antioch are the first to be called "Christians".
One becomes a Christian by believing the apostles' message and being
baptized.
In the Church, we follow this same pattern: one is a Christian if
one holds the apostolic faith and is baptized, as the early church
did. So if a baptized believer does something wrong, unkind,
or un-Christ like, we don't say he's not a Christian anymore --
unless he goes so far as to give up believing. There are good,
virtuous, faithful Christians, and there are weak, sinful Christians.
I'm sometimes one of the weak and sometimes I'm one of the virtuous
and faithful!
So when a religious movement such as the LDS or the "Jehovah's
Witnesses" sect come along with many good, kind people, but
with different beliefs about God and about the identity of Jesus
Christ -- then we are forced to admit that those beliefs are
not the same as the faith of the early Church, and we consider them
to be not quite within the fold of Christianity.
In contrast, the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches
(Greek, Syrian, Russian, Coptic, etc. ) and the historic Protestant
communities and movements (e.g., Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian,
Methodist) hold to the same understanding of basic doctrines:
Who God is:
There is only one God, who is eternal, without beginning or end.
God is called a Trinity: that is, there are three divine persons
in this one Being. Each is divine, omniscient, all-powerful. Because
there is more than one person in God, we can truly say that God
is love.
God's relation to the world:
God created the universe freely out of nothing, and made all creatures,
including the angels and us human beings.
Who Jesus is:
The Son, one of the three divine persons of the Trinity, wishing
to save us sinners, became human, with a real human soul, mind,
and body, even while he remained a divine person: eternal, omnipotent,
omniscient. He was born of Mary the virgin, and he -- being truly
human -- "is like us in all things", except that he does
not sin.
What the death of Jesus means:
Jesus, the God-man, willingly suffered and died, and his self-sacrifice
has infinite value to make amendment for our sins.
Jesus truly rose from the dead:
He laid down his human life freely, and -- being God -- He freely
took it up again gloriously on the third day of his entombment.
His body is now glorified, and He has ascended to Heaven. Thus
a human being is now -- with body and soul -- in the presence of
God the Father.
Jesus the Son of God remains truly divine and truly human, the
eternal mediator of man and God, the High Priest whose worship
is pleasing to the Father.
When you read the classic declarations of Christian doctrine --
for example, the "Nicene
Creed" or the "Athanasian
Creed", you'll see that these are the doctrines the Church
considers most important for our salvation.
I hope all these various observations shed some light on the subject.
When the Catholic Church regards Mormonism as set apart from Christianity, it's
not a judgment on the individuals at all, but an acknowledgment that
we have some differences in these basic doctrines.
Thanks for writing! It gives us an opportunity to answer more questions
and improve the web site. And of course it's good to hear from another
person who desires to love God.
God bless!
--RC
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