| a.k.a. | | Chinese Patriotic |
|---|
| Number of Members | 210,000,000[1] | 20,000,000[2] |
|---|
| How does one get saved? | Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and be baptized.[3] | Sola fide: Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection alone to save you.[4] |
|---|
| Who gets saved? | Anyone who chooses by his own free will to believe and accept God's gift of grace will be saved. | |
|---|
| Can one lose his salvation? | Yes, a Christian can lose his salvation by apostasy. | |
|---|
| Who gets baptized and why? | The unsaved, typically as infants, get baptized as the first sacrament of Christian initiation, cleansing them of all sins. | Saved people get baptized as a public demonstration of their new lives.[5][6] |
|---|
| How should baptism be done? | Baptism should be by triple immersion. | Baptism should be by sprinkling or immersion.[5] |
|---|
| When does one receive the Holy Spirit? | The Holy Spirit is received at chrismation, generally immediately after baptism. | |
|---|
| What is the trinity? | The Trinity is God existing as one god in three equal, eternal, cosubstantial persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. | The Trinity is God existing as one god in three equal, eternal, cosubstantial persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.[7] |
|---|
| What is the human nature? | Human nature is intrinsically good but is wounded and incapable of choosing God in our fallen environment.[8][9] | |
|---|
| Are we guilty of Adam's original sin? | No, we are not guilty of Adam's sin, nor did we inherit a sinful nature from him, but we did inherit the consequences.[10] | |
|---|
| Are Christians required to keep the Old Testament ceremonial laws? | No, the ceremonial laws of Judaism were fulfilled and done away with by Jesus. | No, the ceremonial laws of Judaism were fulfilled and done away with by Jesus. |
|---|
| Can Christians become sinless in this earthly life? | Yes, Christian perfection is possible. | |
|---|
| Do the elements of communion become the body and blood of Christ? | Metousiosis: Yes, the bread and the wine change in essence into the body and blood of Christ. | No, the elements merely symbolically represent the body and blood of Christ.[5] |
|---|
| Can one be baptized of behalf of someone who has died? | No, the dead cannot be baptized. | No, the dead cannot be baptized. |
|---|
| What happens if a saved person dies without being perfect? | There is no purgatory, but Christians will continue in theosis after death.[11] | |
|---|
| Did Mary ever sin? | Mary was prone to sin like anyone else, but no, through her own free will she still never did. | |
|---|
| What spiritual gifts are available today? | Continuationism: All spiritual gifts are still available to believers. | |
|---|
| What is the gift of tongues? | Speaking in tongues is sometimes unintelligible and sometimes foreign human languages.[12][13] | |
|---|
| What are the requirements for clergy? | Priests must be men over 30 ordained by bishops. | |
|---|
| How many church ordinances/sacraments are there? | The church has seven sacraments: Baptism, Chrism, Holy Eucharist, Confession, Ordination, Marriage, and Holy Unction.[14] | The church has two ordinances: Baptism and Holy Communion.[5] |
|---|
| Who can take communion? | Only members of the church can participate in Holy Communion.[15] | |
|---|
| To whom do Christians need to confess their sins? | Confession should be made to God before a priest.[16] | Confession should be made directly to God, but confession to another believer is beneficial for some sins.[4] |
|---|
| How should a church be structured? | Episcopal: Churches should be governed by the bishop in that episcopacy, who in turn is governed by a patriarch of an autocephalous church. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is first among equals. | Every church congregation should be governed by its members and the Chinese Communist Party. |
|---|
| What day of the week should Christians worship? | Christians worship on Sunday. | Christians worship on Sunday.[17] |
|---|
| How does God's revelation come to us today? | Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition have equal authority and comprise one finished deposit of faith. | Sola scriptura: The Bible is the only infallible source of God's revelation, sufficient for all faith and practice.[18] |
|---|
| How many books are in the Bible? | There are 76 canonical books of the Bible: 39 protocanonical books, 10 deuterocanonical books, and 27 New Testament books. | There are 66 canonical books of the Bible: 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books.[18] |
|---|
| Who can speak with God's authority today? | The church as a whole speaks with God's authority at ecumenical councils. | |
|---|
| How was the earth created? | No established doctrine | |
|---|
| What is marriage? | Marriage is a covenant before God between one man and one woman. | Marriage is a covenant before God between one man and one woman.[19] |
|---|
| Is sex permissible outside marriage? | No, sex outside of marriage is not permissible. | No, sex outside of marriage is not permissible.[19] |
|---|
| When is divorce permissible? | Divorce is permissible for adultery, abuse, or abandonment.[20][21] | |
|---|
| May a Christian remarry while his former spouse is still alive? | Yes, a Christian may remarry a second or third time for human weakness.[21] | |
|---|
| When does a fetus become human? | Humanity begins at conception.[22] | |
|---|
| Is contraception permissible? | Most believe that yes, contraceptives are permissible.[23][24] | |
|---|
| Are blood transfusions permissible? | Yes, blood transfusions are permissible. | Yes, blood transfusions are permissible. |
|---|
| Should women cover their heads? | Varies widely | |
|---|
| Should Christians drink alcohol? | Yes, drinking alcohol is fine as long as one does not get drunk. | |
|---|
| Should Christians fight in wars? | Yes, Christians can fight in just wars.[25][26][27] | Yes, Christians should fight in just wars. |
|---|
| Whom does the Holy Spirit come from? | The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone. | |
|---|
| Do icons glorify God? | Yes, icons are holy and should be venerated.[28] | |
|---|
| Where does a Christian's soul go after death? | After death, souls sit conscious in an Intermediate State, with a foretaste of heaven for Christians.[29] | |
|---|
| When will the church be raptured? | The church will not be raptured at any point. | |
|---|
| When is the millennial reign of Christ happen? | Amillennialism: The millennial reign of Christ is an indefinite period of time beginning on the day of Pentecost and ending at His Second Coming. | |
|---|