Christianity is a religion that believes in the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The bible is a Christian’s holy book that contains the teachings of Jesus. Many movements have taken place in the past, and different groups of Christians were formed who believe that Jesus is the son of god, but they made changes in the scriptures and interpret the bible in different ways. Evangelicals and Catholics are Christians, but their believes and rituals are dissimilar in some way.
Evangelical vs Catholic
The main difference between evangelicals and Catholics is that evangelicals are protestants who believe that the bible is the only book of God and is free from errors. On the other side, Catholics follow the traditional scriptures of the catholic churches along with the bible. Catholics refer to past interpreted scriptures to understand the bible, but evangelicals interpret the bible as per the present situation.
Evangelicals are the large group of Protestants in the United States that formed after the evangelicalism movement. The evangelicals pretend they have a personal relationship with God and believe in “born again.”Evangelicals see every believer as equal, and they allow every believer, even women, to accept the priesthood or give a sermon in the evangelical church.
Catholics are Christians who believe that their churches are true Christian churches. They follow the pope of the church, who can be only the succession of the apostle peter. Only Catholics are allowed to participate in the Eucharist ritual– a remembrance of Jesus scarifies. They believe that the holy bible is error-prone and refer to the traditional scriptures of the church to understand it.
Comparison Table Between Evangelical and Catholic
| Parameters of Comparison | Evangelical | Catholic |
| Eucharist | For evangelicals, Eucharist is the ritual to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. | Catholics believe that Eucharist was the last supper of Jesus before the crucifixion. |
| Church | Evangelical protestants believe that every church in the world is equal and there are many groups of Christians present across the world. | Catholics believe that only catholic churches are true churches. |
| Interpretation | Evangelicals do not refer to the traditional interpretation of scripture. | Catholics refer to the traditional church interpretation of scriptures. |
| Human errors | Evangelical believe that the bible is free from human errors. | Catholics believe that bible is not free from human errors. |
| Priesthood | According to evangelical protestants, the priesthood can be transferred to any believer even, to women. | According to Catholics, priesthood is transferred only to the successors of the pope. |
What is Evangelical?
Evangelicals are the Protestants in the United States who convert non-Christians to Christians by communicating the greatness of Jesus. The evangelical group of Protestants formed in the movement of evangelicalism. The evangelicals follow three core beliefs such as rebirth or conversion to Christian by connecting with Jesus Christ through spiritual encounter, all Christians must communicate their faith with other Christians and non-Christians, and the bible is the holy book that directly connects Christians with God. In American, evangelicals are also known as fundamentalists, conservatives, and liberals.
In evangelical churches, evangelicals interpret the scriptures as per present meaning, and they do not refer to the traditional or past interpretations. During the interpretation, if some evangelicals interpret differently from others, then they simply form another group of evangelicalism and follow their interpretations. Evangelical Protestants believe that everything is written in scriptures and the holy book is genuine and error-free. The evangelicals worship in the church by reading the scripture, singing, and an oration.
What is Catholic?
Catholics are the western Christians who believe that bible is a holy book that contains the words of God. They believe every Christian is a sinner and is protected by Jesus. They consider worship as a communication between the slave and God. Catholics allow individual Christians to read and interprets the bible, but they also stress considering the traditional church interpretations of scriptures. According to Catholics, a church is a large community where Catholics from different communities, countries come together to worship, even those catholic who left the world.
Catholics believe that bible is a word of God written by humans for many centuries, and hence they think that the bible may have human errors. The Catholics face challenges in determining the passage’s relevancy and need for reinterpretation. Catholics worship by singing songs of praise, thanksgiving, sermon, reading her brew and Christian scriptures, Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed, and the sacrament of Eucharist.
Main Differences Between Evangelical and Catholic
- Evangelicals are Protestants that were formed after the evangelicalism movement in the 18th century. The Catholics are the Christians who follow the early Christianity that was formed in the first century CE.
- Evangelicals follow the only bible-the holy book to strengthen their faith in God and understand the teachings of Jesus, but Catholics refer to other scriptures of the Catholic Church, the pope teachings, along with the holy book to strengthen their faith.
- Evangelicals accept their sins and seek forgiveness from God through Jesus, while Catholics accept their sins in front of the priest and seek forgiveness from God through the priest.
- The pope of the Evangelical church can be any believer, but the pope of the Catholic Church can only be the succession of the pope.
- For Catholics, the Holy Communion is the last supper of Jesus before the crucifixion. For evangelicals, it is a ritual to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Conclusion
Evangelicals and Catholics are different groups of Christians who believe in the trinity of God. The only difference is in understanding or interpreting the holy bible. The Evangelicals do not depend on the pope for seeking forgiveness from God. They believe in doing works to increase faith in God and seek forgiveness from God. On the other hand, Catholics confess sins in front of the pope as a sacrament to seek forgiveness from God.
