Christian Denominations

Lutheran
Core Beliefs

-Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Ausburg Confession, Formula of Concord
-Doctrine from Bible alone
-God is: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Unique beings, but of the same essence
-believe Christ was resurrected, and this this belief is a test to the believer's faith
-God created man in his image
-Jesus is God and man born of Mary

Catholic
Core Beliefs

-Special focus on Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed
-Trinity central focus of religion
-Jesus is one and the same with God
-believe Christ was resurrected
-Humans were made in the image of God and have free will and the ability to enter into a Communion with God where grace and love flows
-Mary is the mother of God, and was free from sin her whole life

Differences (3)
Lutheran:
-Doctrine taken from Bible alone
-Major Churches: Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
-66 million followers worldwide, definitely not as popular as Catholicism
-Martin Luther is one of the main founders of the religion. He rose up against popular rule at the time saying the relationship between individuals and God is personal, and does not need to go through the Church or require one to pay to repent.
-original language was German
-All believers are Priests in their own way. They don't pray to Saints, but God directly

Catholic:
-Doctrine from Bible, Church fathers, popes, bishops, Seven Ecumenial Councils, Trent, Vatican and other Catholic councils
-no major churches in the US
-1.5 billion followers worldwide, a much more popular sect of Christianity than Lutheranism
-St. Peter is one of the founders of the religion. St. Peter was one of Jesus' twelve apostles and was one of the few who witnessed the Transfiguration. He also denied Jesus thrice.
-original language was Latin
-priests hold a higher connection with God than the everyday person, and believers pray to Saints

Similarities (3)
-Episcopal Church Government, meaning the order of hierarchy in the Church is the same, the bishop is the highest power of a local Church
-Main beliefs such as following in the teachings of Jesus
-believe Jesus taught people should care for and love one another
-believe in the history of Jesus that he was brought up in Jerusalem etc.
-Both sects developed in Europe
-both accept infant baptism where right from birth one can be adopted into the religion
-both focus on the Apostle's Creed as an important part of the religion
-both use both the old and new testaments (common for Christian religions)