What is the difference between being catholic and pentecostal?

Can someone explain the difference between being Catholic and Pentecostal? What makes Pentecostal worship different from Catholic worship? Are their beliefs the same?

In the grand scheme of things, all the religions that use the bible & only the bible are basically the same. However, a catholic church goer might not believe the pentecostal church goers are going to heaven, likewise, some pentecostal's might believe the catholics are going to hell.

Catholic churches are the most ritualistic & ceremonial, from the time I went to one, compared to a "reformist church" which includes any that sprung up post Martin Luther, as those are less ritualistic & focus more on individual bible reading & worship, rather than church ritual & tradition.

Hope that helps.

I am Catholic, and the only difference that I know of is that we follow old traditions as set by Vatican 2, where as pentecostal has reformed more since Vatican 2.

first of all carolinehampton, you smothered this poor soul to death. I doubt very seriously this person took the time to read this endless rambling you wrote. he simply asked the difference between the catholic and pentecostal belief. first of all every question I answer will come from the holy bible. the bible says the only way to the Father is through the Son. simply put the only way to God is through his Son Jesus Christ. the catholic church believes the way to God is through praying to mary. this is only one of many differences but to me it is the greatest difference of all. because of this one belief. it completely discredits the catholic church. I hope this helped to open your eyes to the truth. good luck.

Yes. Notwithstanding carolinehampton, the biggest difference between being Catholic and Pentecostal is that Pentecostals are evangelical (primarily), which means they accept the Bible as the inerrant truth of God, while Catholics follow the Bible, but have a more liberal way of interpreting it. They also remember other things, not explicitly found in the Bible, like the Trinity, or Jesus as "of one being" with the Father. This is what they call "Tradition:" the living memory of Jesus Christ. It never contradicts the Bible; at best it is an aid to interpret what the Bible actually means, and helps fill out truth that the Bible does not contain.

Another difference is how the Holy Spirit functions. Pentecostals, like "Charismatic" Catholics, prefer the "flashier" gifts of the Spirit, like tongues, or prophecy. Catholics, in general, see the Spirit also working in more subtle ways, for example, in keeping the Church from going too far astray.

dlong66, sorry to contradict you, but Catholics do _not_ believe the way to salvation is to pray to Mary. If it helps to pray to her, asking for her prayers, by all means do so. If not, there is nothing to force you. Her role, like the role of all Christians, is to lead the sinner to God, to Jesus Christ, so we may be saved. In the Mass, for example, generally Mary is mentioned only a few times, most often as one of the saints whom we wish to be in heaven with. Most of the Mass, 99% or more, is addressed to the Father, to Jesus, or to the gathered assembly, the Church.

easy the pentecostal believed only in the king james bibles and they go directly in prayer to jesus christ and they believed in prophecy where people in the congregation are doing this and dancing in the holy spirit and talking in tongues while in the catholic church they believed the same things but they do not go directly to jesus christ because we not that holy to go directly to him. So the intercessor like Blessed virgin mary and the saints help in praying and have mass.and they are not doing any open display or shows in the temple of God..More Calm atmosphere.. God Blessed you

Okay there is a lot to be said about the Catholic Church through non-Catholics. There is so much confusion on the outside about how we follow our faith. We do not pray "to" Mary. We pray for her intercession. Just like you would believe angels are close to God they are advocates as Mary is. The differences in general are that we have rituals throughout the mass that resemble the rituals in Jesus time. The Vatican did set these rituals in order. Mass is the same everywhere in the world because we follow a specific order of teachings each day. Another is that the Pentecostal Church is a firm believer of praying over people and more into the spiritual dinamics. It would be good to have this in the Catholic Church and we do have movements that are like the Pentecostal's in that there is a more profound spiritual prayer and casting of "demons". The Catholic Church doesn't push this on the everyday Catholic because some are too old fashioned in their beliefs. Some Catholics are fearful of this casting out of "demons" phenomenon. I am open-minded and accept the spiritual side of the Pentecostal Church.

I agree w/ Jesus being the only real thing for him all was done. John 3:16.
For G-d gave us his son (Jesus) to die for our sin. So, that we may have everlasting life(salvation) I am a New Born Again Christian. I was the Craziest Person you could have found. You would have hated me If you would had met me. But The Lord Change Me I am A New Person In Him. I was a Gang Member, Witchcraft, Drugs, I was Involved In almost everything, Not even catholic church would have save me. Only Jesus. Not Mary for I respect her But I cannot Adore her she did not die for my sins.Only Jesus Christ. The Messiah. Yeshua My Lord. But Mary was no, longer a virgen the bible says she conceived other Children in her marrige to Joseph. & she die just like any normal person. G-d Bless you. I will pray & Hope you Find the Real meaning of Jesus(Yeshua).

To be Catholic (as in those in the Roman Catholic System) losely means to belong to a Church the focuses on works (good deeds done) in order to gain merit with God.

To be Pentacostal means to base your beliefs on the events found in the book of Acts (in the Bible). Pentacostal people belief in the use of tongues and special miracles that were done during the formation of the early Church. There is a danger of Pentacostals focusing on works for Salvation also.
Grace is given by Jesus Christ and cannot be "worked for" adn grace should be sought after by ANY believer whether Pentacostal or Roman Catholic.

Dear angel4u,

Not so. Catholics are encouraged to go directly to Jesus. We still believe, as Moses said some 3.75 thousand years ago, "Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!" (Numbers 11:29) It is not God's will or the Church's teaching that keeps us far from God, it is our own fears and feelings of unworthiness. But God has made us worthy despite ourselves, God calls us to come close. On the other hand, good Catholics, like many other good Christians, still sit in the back of the church. As far from God as possible.

Also, if it helps, the Church does hold up models and intercessors. We take seriously the line in the creed about "the communion of saints". Those members of the Church still struggling on earth are united with those who are already in heaven. And, just as you might ask a friend to pray for you, so we ask the saints to pray for us as well. But, unless the Saints (including Mary) lead you to Christ, they have become idols for you. After all, as a very wise teacher used to say, "Christians have a remarkable dexterity for missing the point." We are pretty good at making idols of lots of things, even holy and good things, like the Saints, the Bible, etc, etc.

Also, candy19 , the Bible says only that Jesus had "brothers and sisters," not that Mary had other children. These could be half-brothers and -sisters, or cousins (Hebrew did not have a handy word for Cousins like English does), not necessarily children of Mary. Even calling Jesus "first-born" does not imply other children: first born sons had special rights from the time of the Passover, according to the Torah. The term did not imply other children.

Dear 123nmd,

This is an old accusation against the Catholic Church. There may be some truth in it, in that we follow the Letter of James, which stresses that faith alone, apart from works (by which he means some evidence of your intention and conversion) is useless. As James writes, "show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith through my works." But, that does not mean that we believe you can gain heaven through works. Nobody can gain heaven, not in any way. In sinning, we forfeited heaven, period. If we did everything the rest of our lives, perfectly, we would still only be giving God what we already owe simply for the gift of our being. Not that we can manage even that well, of course. Sin makes sure that our sense of what is right has been warped, that our will has been weakened, so even when we know what is right we do not always want it, and even when we want what is right we do not choose it, and even when we choose what is right we do not manage to do it.

No, the only way to heaven is through grace. And the way to receive grace is through encountering Jesus Christ, in prayer, in the sacraments He gave to us through the community of the faithful he founded. At best, our works are a response to the grace we have received. It's like receiving a birthday gift from someone you love. Do you earn the gift? No, it's a gift. All you can do is accept it. You might respond to the gift and the love it represents by writing a "thank you" card, but that is a response.

Candycane didn't ask which is the right one or which one to join. A more objective way of looking at them is through their history. Protestants split from Catholics in the Reformation. The first Protestants were Lutheran. Their big difference was not having Bishops (so no Pope). Anglicans split from Catholics with Henry VIII but not so far. They still have Bishops but no Pope. Methodists and Baptists split from Anglicans, losing Bishops and so being more like Lutherans. Pentecostals arose out of the Methodists and Baptists. Catholics set great store by the words Jesus reportedly said to Peter, making him first pope. Pentecostalists set great store by the events reportedly after the resurrection, giving all the disciples supernatural powers ("spiritual gifts". So its really a matter of emphasis, and there are people who try to be both Catholic and Pentecostal.

firt of all let me say some man (priest) can sit in a box and pray your sins away you have to pray your own prayer to the lord jesus theking of all kings I believe all who have called on his name wii be in heavenno matter what demonation main thing is asking him to forgive you of your sins

thank you hugh ... I had the same question which is why I came here. All I found until your answer were arguments as to who is bigger better (what have you). I have been without religion for a while and am trying to find god again now. I am not looking for competitions between congregations as that is what caused me to lose faith before. Very frustrating.

I just looked at the Renewed Catholic websites (related to a different answer) and the interesting thing about your question is that there is almost NO difference between a RENEWED Catholic and a Pentecostal!
But in general I think that Catholics want to come to Jesus through the teachings and rituals of the church and Protestants want to come to him through the Bible. But so long as you love him, I don't think the style of how you serve and worship him matters much.

PLEASE MY ADVICE TO you IS TO USE your BIBLE AS A MEASURE,READ your BIBLE TO COMPARE THE PRACTICE AND THE BELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC.EXAMPLE HOW DO THE APPOSTLE BAPTISED IN THE BIBLE?IS THE SAME THING PRACTICE OVER THERE? LEARN FROM your BIBLE AND GOD WILL GIVE you DIRECTION DONT FOLLOW your HEART BUT FOLLOW GOD'S WORD.

Biggest diffrence is pentecostels do not have to confess to a pope or father the only father we confess to is our Holy father!!!GOD "JESUS" so by that we have a more and closer relationship then catholics because we do not confess our sins to another sinner but to one that is king of kings and lord of lords!!!GOD ALMIGHTY

Biggest diffrence is pentecostels do not have to confess to a pope or father the only father we confess to is our Holy father!!!GOD "JESUS" so by that we have a more and closer relationship then catholics because we do not confess our sins to another sinner but to one that is king of kings and lord of lords!!!GOD ALMIGHTY

Pentcostals are crazy and dance around and talk in tongues.

Wow this is such a touchy area. I am Roman Catholic and have family members who are pentecostal and have recently viewed the Indie Film "Jesus Camp". There is a long line of various christ-based denominations and Catholics seem to be at one end while pentecostals are way down at the other end. Catholics have a very quiet hymn/sermon based service while pentecostals are a lively crowd who clap,sing and raise their hands to the lord. I believe pentecostals "speak in tounge" and let the holy spirit overcome them. One of the little girls on "Jesus Camp" stated that God loves churches who praise him and shout to the lord and are excited about worship...those churches where people just sit and kneel and sing a couple of boring songs and listen to a dull sermon..God doesn't like those churches and he doesn't visit them. Wow. There also seems to be a very conservative view among the pentecostals on things that someone such as myself might seem harmless. Harry Potter-witchcraft/pokemon-sorcery/ghost stories at camp-what would jesus think about this/dancing of the flesh WRONG-dancing for the Lord is right. Catholics also believe in exorcisim of evil spirits in people who have inhuman strength,flip and flop out of control and can speak in a language they've never learned or just unintelligible tongue. Oh yeah and pentecosts think that only those who are blessed by the holy spirit who do things like flop out of control and speak in unintelligible tongue are truely in touch with Jesus. The bottom line seems to be that Catholics and Pentecostals disagree on many things but however each of us chose to get there...we all believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. So instead of bashing eachother I think we have other things to focus our energy on.

Dear candycane,
You've read all these replies from a lot of people that are comming from different places and so forth. My suggestion is this: Read, research (including the history!), study, observe, meditate in silence, and work very very hard to find all the answers possible from both of these Christain demominations and in a funny sort of way, go with the hardest one to understand, because that means that there is much more for you to learn for the rest of your mortal life. Both denominations will agree that Gods wisdom and power is much more than we could possilby imagine, we must have a lot of faith in order to fully believe. When you get fast answers, be very careful.