Number of Members | 2,130,000[1] | 210,000,000[2] |
---|
How does one get saved? | Sola fide: Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection alone to save you. | Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and be baptized.[3] |
---|
Who gets saved? | Anyone who chooses by his own free will to believe and accept God's gift of grace will be 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. | Yes, a Christian can lose his salvation by apostasy. |
---|
Who gets baptized and why? | Saved people get baptized as a public demonstration of their new lives. | The unsaved, typically as infants, get baptized as the first sacrament of Christian initiation, cleansing them of all sins. |
---|
How should baptism be done? | Baptism can be by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling. | Baptism should be by triple immersion. |
---|
When does one receive the Holy Spirit? | The Holy Spirit is received at the moment of salvation. | 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. |
---|
What is the human nature? | Total depravity: Human nature is corrupt, naturally inclined to evil, and incapable of choosing God on his own. | Human nature is intrinsically good but is wounded and incapable of choosing God in our fallen environment.[4][5] |
---|
Are we guilty of Adam's original sin? | No, we are not guilty of Adam's sin, but we did inherit the consequences and a corrupt human nature from him, causing us all to 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.[6] |
---|
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. | Yes, Christian perfection is possible. |
---|
Do the elements of communion become the body and blood of Christ? | No, the elements merely symbolically represent the body and blood of Christ. | Metousiosis: Yes, the bread and the wine change in essence into the body and blood of Christ. |
---|
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? | Once Christians leave their sinful bodies, nothing else is needed to receive glorified, sinless bodies. | There is no purgatory, but Christians will continue in theosis after death.[7] |
---|
Did Mary ever sin? | Yes, Mary sinned like all other humans except Jesus. | 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.[8][9] |
---|
What are the requirements for clergy? | | Priests must be men over 30 ordained by bishops. |
---|
How many church ordinances/sacraments are there? | Traditionally, the church has seven signs/ordinances: Baptism, Holy Communion, Footwashing, the Holy Kiss, Anointing of the Sick, and Marriage.[10][11] | The church has seven sacraments: Baptism, Chrism, Holy Eucharist, Confession, Ordination, Marriage, and Holy Unction.[12] |
---|
Who can take communion? | | Only members of the church can participate in Holy Communion.[13] |
---|
Should communion bread be leavened? | | Leavened bread should be used in Holy Communion. |
---|
To whom do Christians need to confess their sins? | | Confession should be made to God before a priest.[14] |
---|
How should a church be structured? | Generally congregationalist: Every church congregation should be independent and governed by its members.[15] | 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. |
---|
What day of the week should Christians worship? | Christians worship on Sunday. | Christians worship on Sunday. |
---|
How does God's revelation come to us today? | | Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition have equal authority and comprise one finished deposit of faith. |
---|
How was the Bible written? | | Verbal plenary inspiration: The Bible was written by men who had every word supernaturaly inspired by God.[16] |
---|
How many books are in the Bible? | There are 66 canonical books of the Bible: 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. | There are 76 canonical books of the Bible: 39 protocanonical books, 10 deuterocanonical books, and 27 New Testament books. |
---|
Was the Bible written inerrantly? | The Bible is infallible, but not every word is without error.[17][18][19] | No, the Bible was written inerrantly on matters of salvation but may contain errors in other matters.[20][21] |
---|
Who can speak with God's authority today? | Nobody today can speak for God. | The church as a whole speaks with God's authority at ecumenical councils. |
---|
How was the Bible preserved? | | Verbal plenary preservation: God has supernaturally preserved every word of the Bible.[22] |
---|
How was the earth created? | Creationism: The earth was spoken into existence by God. | No established doctrine |
---|
What is marriage? | Varies widely | Marriage is a covenant before God between one man and one woman. |
---|
Is sex permissible outside marriage? | No, sex outside of marriage is not permissible. | No, sex outside of marriage is not permissible. |
---|
When is divorce permissible? | Divorce is only permissible for adultery. | Divorce is permissible for adultery, abuse, or abandonment.[23][24] |
---|
May a Christian remarry while his former spouse is still alive? | No, a Christian should not remarry while his former spouse lives. | Yes, a Christian may remarry a second or third time for human weakness.[24] |
---|
When does a fetus become human? | Humanity begins at conception.[25] | Humanity begins at conception.[26] |
---|
Is contraception permissible? | Yes, contraceptives are permissible. | Most believe that yes, contraceptives are permissible.[27][28] |
---|
Are blood transfusions permissible? | Yes, blood transfusions are permissible. | Yes, blood transfusions are permissible. |
---|
Should women cover their heads? | Yes, women should cover their heads to symbolize submission whenever in public.[29] | Varies widely |
---|
Should Christians drink alcohol? | Varies widely[30] | Yes, drinking alcohol is fine as long as one does not get drunk. |
---|
Should Christians fight in wars? | No, Christians should never fight.[31] | Yes, Christians can fight in just wars.[32][33][34] |
---|
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.[35] |
---|
Where does a Christian's soul go after death? | Christians immediately go to heaven when they die. | After death, souls sit conscious in an Intermediate State, with a foretaste of heaven for Christians.[36] |
---|
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. |
---|