Redeemed Church here: @ https://www.nairaland.com/4026847/40-lessons-redeemed-christian-church
Deeper Christian Life here: @https://www.nairaland.com/4028896/30-lessons-deeper-christian-life


FACTS ABOUT HOW CHURCH SEES ITSELF



From the internet and from my interacting with the Catholics at the local level I decided to do an overview of basic Catholicism. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has the official Church Teaching.

AUTHORITY:
1. Catholics have various sources of authority:
The Bible,
Tradition,
The Creeds,
Apostolic pronouncements,
Bishops, and the
Pope
2. Just like modern protestant churches, Christ is the authority for Catholics, but as for Catholics, Christ passed his authority to His Apostles and the Bible and Tradition come from the same Apostolic "Deposit”.
3. The Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Church) has retained this Apostolic authority through a process called "Apostolic Succession," which is the passing down of authority from the apostles to their successors, our modern-day bishops.
4. The pope, the bishop of Rome, has a first place among the bishops as the successor to Peter, the "Rock," and prince of the apostles, and under certain circumstances, has the grace to speak infallibly on issues of faith and morality.
5. While Catholics do not embrace sola scriptura, the 16th century Protestant concept that the Bible alone is our final authority, Catholics hold the Bible in high regard as the word of God, and cannot teach contrary to the Bible's Teachings.

THE CHURCH:
6. The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ established. Thus the Church subsists in the Catholic Church. However, members of other Christian churches and denominations are also in communion with the Catholic Church by virtue of their sacraments.
7. The Orthodox Churches possess fully valid sacraments, and are true particular Churches, whereas Protestant Christians are in communion with the Catholic Church on account of their baptism; still, this communion is impaired.
a. The Church is one, because it is unified in Christ across regions and time periods.
b. The Church is Holy on account of the grace of Christ given to it and the holy sacraments it provides.
c. The Church is Catholic because it contains the fullness of the Deposit of Faith, thus is it truly "according to the whole" and "universal."
d. Finally, the Church is Apostolic because its Teachings and Authority come from the Apostles themselves.

CREATION
8. The Catholic Church is disunited when it comes to evolution, creationism and the origin of life. Catholic theologians have never agreed on one particular interpretation of the creation stories in the book of Genesis. A few early Christians read them literally, others allegorically, and others in light of the science of the day. Some read them all three ways at the same time.
9. Most Catholics argue that Interpreting Genesis in light of scientific observations may shock some Christians whose churches were founded during the modernist controversies of the 19th and 20th centuries.

GOD: THE TRINITY
10. Catholics believe in the Nicene Creed, and therefore believe in one God who exists as three persons ("person" in this usage means "an individual reality," not a human being). Essentially Catholics believe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all God, one in substance and will, but distinct in some way, but not divided.
11. In addition to an intellectual understanding of the Trinity, Catholics are to develop a relationship with the Triune God through prayer and worship.
12. The Trinity is not tritheism (the belief in three gods), but rather a dynamic monotheism.

JESUS CHRIST: GOD AND MAN
13. Catholics believe Jesus is fully God and fully Man, with a human will and a divine will. He is the King of Cosmos, the Word of God, and the awaited Messiah of Israel. He was born of a Virgin, Mary, suffered, was crucified, truly died, and rose again bodily, all for our sins.
14. JESUS ascended into heaven intercedes on our behalf before the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Jesus was a great teacher, and His teachings are the very teachings of God.

MORALITY
15. The Catholic Church bases its moral Teachings on the message of Jesus. Morality boils down to love: loving God and loving our neighbors.
THE SACRAMENTS
16. The sacraments are rituals and events through which God gives grace. Catholics and Orthodox accept seven sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Anointing of the Sick.

SALVATION AND GRACE
17. Catholics believe we are saved only by God's grace working in us. Justification is the merciful and freely given act of God which takes away our sins and makes us just and holy in our whole being and is the beginning of free response to God, that is faith in Christ and cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
18. Catholics believe in salvation by grace alone, solely on account of the work of Christ. However, neither Catholics nor Orthodox accept the reformation concept of forensic justification or "justification by faith alone."
19. The Catholic Church does believe a person must be born again to be saved. However, Catholics believe that one is born again at Baptism. In fact, when Christians for the first 1500 years of Christianity, including Martin Luther, used the phrase "born again," they were referring to baptism.
20. The Catholic Church recognizes the possibility of salvation for Protestants and even for non-Christians, although in Catholic Teaching, all salvation comes through Jesus, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

SIN
21. Sin is the deliberate, freely chosen, transgression of divine law.
22. There are two types of sin: mortal sin and venial sin. Sin that expels all charity from the soul is mortal, while sin that merely weakens charity is venial.
23. For a sin to be mortal, the offense must be serious (have grave matter), and the act done freely, with deliberation. After committing a mortal sin, one must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before receiving communion.
24. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Original Sin is the privation of grace, inherited by all humans from Adam and Eve.
25. Because of Christ's atoning death on the cross, we have the opportunity to have our sins forgiven, and this is not possible apart from God's grace.

THE VIRGIN MARY
26. Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, thus she is called theotokos (God-Bearer) and "mother of God."
27. Catholics, like Protestants, believe that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. However, Catholics and Orthodox believe that Mary remained a Virgin her entire life.
28. Catholics believe that Mary was conceived without original sin in order to be a sinless bearer of God incarnate: Jesus Christ. This is known as the immaculate conception. This sinless state was accomplished only on account of God's grace, and not on Mary's merits.
29. Although the Orthodox Church believes that Mary was sinless when bearing Jesus, they are disunited as to the moment at which she became sinless is debated. Catholics and Orthodox both believe that after Mary completed the course of her earthly life, she was assumed into heaven, similar to the way the great saint Elijah was.
30. Mary is the Mother of us and the mother of the Church, and just as Christ is the new Adam, Mary is the new Eve, who obeyed God where Eve disobeyed.


Which of these have you been blessed to with? Floor open.

NOTE

1. Please always state your Church before commenting.
2. On some occasions those who fail to state their churches are simply ashamed of that church...and
3. A few persons people without church affiliation are simply irresponsible, not wanting to be held against some known principles!

Nice.
Catholic.

I'm Catholic.

the information is pretty correct on all point except no 1.
in Catholicism all authority come from Christ and this authority is bestowed on his Church through the apostles, the revelation of Christ come to us as scripture and tradition.

properly speaking there are exactly 3 sources of authority.

1. scripture
2. tradition
3. teaching authority of the church