You are a little bit right...Hebrews is to the Hebrews...But if you are going to take it that far, there wasn't a born again Christian anywhere before Matthew 27...But you have no problem applying those verses to your church...
The fact is, God didn't leave his words to us to expire in 70 AD...You can finds tons of stuff in Hebrews that applies to Christians...
What you don't get is that the Temple will be rebuilt 'again'...By the Jews...And the Jews will sacrifice to God, again...
I realize you guys think you have become God's chosen people and replaced His beloved...If you are saved, and ONLY if you are saved, you have been adopted into the family...But God's not done with his beloved...
The only sacrifice a Catholic priest offers is the re-presentation of the one sacrifice of Calvary,
I don't see where it makes any difference what you call your sacrifice, it's still a sacrifice...You use real blood and real meat, according to you guys...
And the scripture in Hebrews is picking out the Hebrews 'as an example'...Do not sacrifice meat and blood as they do...Do you sacrifice meat and blood???
which is the only sacrifice which was ever efficacious to take away sins.
Well then you've got a lot of confused Catholics...Some say that baptism take away sins...I've read on FR that grace takes away sin...Doing good works takes away sin...confession to a Priest takes away sin...
That's why that same Epistle to the Hebrews says, in its last chapter, "we have an altar from which those who serve the [Jewish] tabernacle have no right to eat".
What, we're back to knawing on Jesus again???
You would be well served to actually start to understand the Bible, instead of just using it as a handy source for Catholic-bashing one-liners.
One liner??? How about this one liner:::
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
You find a one liner and build a religon on it...
Obviously; those Catholic bishops back in AD 400 put it in the Bible for a reason.
But that doesn't change the fact that the verse you quoted has nothing to do with a condemnation of Catholic doctrine, practice, or anything else Catholic -- even though you'd like to misuse it and twist it into that.
It's a rejection of Jewish ceremonial practice.
What you don't get is that the Temple will be rebuilt 'again'...By the Jews...And the Jews will sacrifice to God, again.
I doubt it, but that's still completely irrelevant to my point that Hebrews is not condemning the Mass, but Jewish temple ritual under the Old Covenant.
Do not sacrifice meat and blood as they do...Do you sacrifice meat and blood???
We sacrifice the living, glorified flesh and the living, glorified blood of a living and glorified divine person who has a living, glorified human body and a living glorified human soul.
The Jews sacrificed dead animals.
I can see a difference, can you?
Well then you've got a lot of confused Catholics...Some say that baptism take away sins...I've read on FR that grace takes away sin...Doing good works takes away sin...confession to a Priest takes away sin...
Don't you understand the distinction between an instrumental and a meritorious cause? It seems to me that's pretty basic; the difference between a paycheck (the instrumental cause) and a job (the meritorious cause).
What, we're back to knawing on Jesus again???
In other words, you pick and choose what Bible verses you believe? Your defense against my citation in Hebrews is that you don't like it, therefore, you'll dismiss it?
OTOH, we Catholics actually read John 6 and believe it when it says "my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink." We don't explain it away as symbol and metaphor like you do -- when Jesus had every opportunity to do exactly that and did no such thing. And when he switches verbs from phago (dine) to trogo (munch, gnaw), we believe him there, too.
Imagine the gall of these Catholics -- to read Jesus' words in the Bible and believe them!