Question on how we view other Christian religions

I guess the issue is
that I chose to come to the Wesleyan church because my beliefs fit in with the teachings and also I was led there. My family is Catholic. Also, I cannot help but think of the years that so many were Catholic before other options became available in Christianity. Maybe I am just lost. Not sure if I am making much sense. My question is more or less what is the view on other Christian religions in the Wesleyan tradition? Thank you in advance.

Now, you might get some very different answers if you ask about some of the churches that fall into the Restorationist category; unlike Protestantism, which sought to reform the existing churches, Restorationists view themselves as reviving a pure form of Christianity that was lost early on, usually when it became the state religion of the Roman Empire. However, intentions aside, some groups are generally orthodox, others are very much not orthodox. Restorationist churches include Seventh Day Adventism, multiple 'Church of Christ' variants, and the non-denom movement in many cases, but they also officially include Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e. Mormonism). Those last three are very often not considered Christian, regardless of which mainline denomination you ask.

I am Wesleyan and have been so for a little more than a year. I know some people don't consider Catholics to be Christian, but I do. I am not sure if this is even the right place for this question. I guess the issue is
that I chose to come to the Wesleyan church because my beliefs fit in with the teachings and also I was led there. My family is Catholic. Also, I cannot help but think of the years that so many were Catholic before other options became available in Christianity. Maybe I am just lost. Not sure if I am making much sense. My question is more or less what is the view on other Christian religions in the Wesleyan tradition? Thank you in advance.

Catholics are Christian, just as the Eastern Orthodox are, just as Anglicans are, just as Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene churches are.

The reason some groups claim that they aren't is because of the fact that some points of Catholic theology are alien to their worldviews, and also because said beliefs are genuinely misunderstood (and such misunderstandings are propagated over and over again by those that refuse to acknowledge that they might be wrong). There's also a lot of arrogance and pride in there too - I don't see how ignoring almost 1500 years, or more, of Christian history to advance their own POV is anything other than pure hubris. You might disagree with a Calvinist over the idea of predestination, but you still recognize him as a fellow Christian. Understanding Catholic theology from the Catholic point of view doesn't mean agreeing with it, but it is still very clearly Christian.

Now, I'm not going to deny that some of the traditional doctrinal statements in Wesleyan churches might have particularly anti-Catholic wording and sentiment, but mostly these things were because of how political those disagreements often were in the 1700s and 1800s. The view taken by the congregations these days have considerably softened, although it is still a wound.

Now, you might get some very different answers if you ask about some of the churches that fall into the Restorationist category; unlike Protestantism, which sought to reform the existing churches, Restorationists view themselves as reviving a pure form of Christianity that was lost early on, usually when it became the state religion of the Roman Empire. However, intentions aside, some groups are generally orthodox, others are very much not orthodox. Restorationist churches include Seventh Day Adventism, multiple 'Church of Christ' variants, and the non-denom movement in many cases, but they also officially include Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e. Mormonism). Those last three are very often not considered Christian, regardless of which mainline denomination you ask.

Coming as well from the Catholic Church to the Wesleyan faith, I can say that Catholics ARE Christians. We have to think that clergy =/= churchgoers. Some things that the "Church" says doesn't line up with what is accepted theology (Mariology, veneration of the saints, etc.) but within the people I've seen better Christians there than I would see at my own church. So you're not lost, there are good Christians there.


I don't view those three as Christians because their views do not line up with what I consider "Christian" (i.e. do not follow the Nicene Creed or have a sort of commonality with other denominations). But of course, that's just me.

I grew up in a Catholic house and I've noticed and learned two things about this question:

1) Catholicism is Christianity (one denomination anyway)
2) Few Catholics (that I've come across) are actually Christians

Catholicism, when you dig down into it, believes in salvation by faith alone through grace alone. However, they also emphasize what your life should look like. Which is good, no doubt, but the way the church goes about it almost presents it as most important.

I have, honestly, met only one Catholic, other than a priest, who told me that salvation is faith alone through grace alone....and that person is now studying to enter the priesthood...kind of interesting...but anyway. Every other Catholic I've talked to about this (and coming from a family which is largely Catholic and an area that is largely Catholic I've talked to many) - holds the belief that if you believe in God and live a "good" life, you will go to heaven. I get the answer of "God knows my heart" a LOT ...and to be sure He does.

However, the lifestyle that comes out from this kind of thinking is inevitably a life that looks like a lot of the world's lives with some rituals, sacraments, and what not thrown in.

In my house growing up, the Catechism was referred to and opened more than the Bible. We had that one big family Bible that looks like an antique and it was always sitting in an out of the way spot and most of the time had gathered dust. I only heard the stories of Moses, Noah, and Jesus growing up in Sunday school. ( I didn't hear the story of David and Goliath or Daniel until I was in late elementary years and watched Veggie Tales with a cousin). Everything else I learned in Sunday School was about the saints and the rest were rules. When I would ask a question about something, I was told the teaching relative to that - not where the teaching comes from. I was never pointed to the Bible for answers, and I didn't have my own til a friend gave me one in high school

I'm not trying to say that learning and hearing the stories of those who are faithful to God is a bad thing - far from it - but when those and a list of no no's become more taught than Bible stories...When the rule book and what the pope says becomes more prominent in your heart and mind than God's book and what God says - problems come.

Also - I'm not by any means saying that this is the way it happens for all Catholics, but this has been my experience. And from what I've heard, similar experiences are common among those who grow up in a Catholic home.

Anyway - all of this to say - that if Catholics are willing to get down to the nitty gritty of beliefs, then yes, they could very well be Christians. Otherwise they are simply going with the flow, and most likely are not Christians themselves.