Are Catholics Christians? 5

First of all, the obvious answer to the question: Yes, of course Catholics are Christians. As the Church goes back almost 2000 years, and as Catholics follow Christ, I think that asking the question is fairly absurd in and of itself. You might as well ask the question is iron a metal, or is an apple a fruit. A few things in some of the previous ratings rather annoy me, as it seems that while there are many well informed and clearly written statements below, some people are ranting without understanding what they are talking about. The Catholic Church does not worship Mary. The Catholic Church does not worship the saints. While the Bible may not specifically set up all of the details of the position of the Pope, it does say: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This seems to state quite clearly that Peter was supposed to lead the Church, and Peter clearly couldn't do this forever, he had to have successors. Yes there are people in the Catholic Church who aren't good people, but there are bad eggs in every large organization. If you had to judge every group on this planet by the worst people who claimed affiliation with them, there wouldn't be a respectable group on this planet. I am somewhat confused by this statement which appears in an earlier review: "Plus they have their own interpretations of the Bible and have other weird beliefs." I don't see how it's strange to take a contextual interpretation of the Bible, if that is indeed what you are referring to here. In fact, I find it rather essential. If you take a book like Revelations literally, I think you lose all of its true meaning. It is questions such as "Are Catholics Christians?" that further divide Christianity, while we should be trying to mend our differences and come together. After all, all Christians follow Jesus, and when it comes down to it, God is love. But instead we sometimes get caught up in hating other Christians.