Protestant vs Christian
A protestant is as much a Christian as a catholic Christian. There is a misconception among the minds of some people that a Protestant is a follower of a religion other than Christianity. Of course, there are both similarities and differences between a catholic and a protestant if one were to treat them as followers of different denominations within the same religion of Christianity, but it is rather foolish to think of Protestants as belonging to any other religion apart from Christianity. Let us take a closer look.
Christian
Christianity is an old religion that has been the religion of the western world for the last 2000 years. Today, it is spread throughout the world with more than 2 billion followers worldwide. A person adhering to this monotheistic religion that revolves around the life and sacrifices of Jesus is called a Christian. All Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God who was sent to earth to guide human beings towards salvation. His gospels are contained in the form of messages in Bible which happens to be the most sacred book or the scripture of the Christians. Christians also believe in the doctrine of Trinity where there are three persons in God such as God the father, God the son, and the Holy Spirit. There are 2.2 billion Christians worldwide that comprise nearly a third of the population of the earth.
Protestant
A protestant is a Christian who does not follow the catholic denomination but rather adheres to Protestantism, a denomination that resulted because of a reform movement initiated in Germany and France in the 16th century. A member of this denomination believes in the authority and sufficiency of the Bible though he remains a Christian because of his belief in Christ as the Messiah of the mankind. In the 16th century, there was a tendency of the church to sell indulgences a practice whereby church could grant full or partial remission against the sins committed by the individual. This was being done on the pretext of building St. Peters Basilica in Rome. This and many other reforms were sought by martin Luther as he nailed the text called 95 theses at the doors of the Christian churches at that time, Martin Luther and his followers did not revolt against Christianity but sought to reform it from within. However, they were later forced to announce the separation from Catholic Church. Protestants are known to differ from Catholics on a number of points. They do not subscribe to Papal authority and do not consider his explanation of Bible as unquestionable or infallible. Protestants also do not consider Bible as the last word and believe in good deeds as necessary for salvation. They do not treat Virgin Mary as the Mother of God and also do not believe in forced celibacy of priests.
What is the difference between Protestant and Christian?
• To differentiate between a Christian and a Protestant is to differentiate between a car and a Ford as Protestants are followers of the denomination of Christianity that was formed because of the reform movement in Germany led by Martin Luther.
• It has become common to think of Protestants as being different from Christians who are taken to be catholic Christians.
• Catholics believe in Papal authority and the importance of traditions in their religion whereas Protestants believe in sufficiency of faith in Jesus as enough for justification. They also do not believe that Pope is infallible.