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To: Heart-Rest
Read just a bit further in that letter to the Corinthians:

Yes...

But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world (1 Cor 11:32).

God does not condemn his children, he chastens them and loves them as a Father.

However, your emphasis is on the wrong syllAble. You take out of context the correction Paul was administering to the wayward and carnal Corinthian church. The issue with the Corinthians was when taking communion they were not discerning the Lord's body. What does that mean? It means discerning what Jesus told us to discern when

[H]he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19).

The Corinthians were using the communion for drunken feasts, not discerning or remembering the fact the Lord's body was broken for us so that we might know his wholeness.

Jesus never communion to be a time of self-flagellation and condemnation. It is meant to be a beautiful and wonderful time of remembering what he did for us and the power of his broken body in our lives. Else, what's the point?

79 posted on 04/24/2014 9:00:05 PM PDT by PapaNew
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To: PapaNew
"Jesus never communion to be a time of self-flagellation and condemnation. It is meant to be a beautiful and wonderful time of remembering what he did for us and the power of his broken body in our lives. Else, what's the point?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And (of course) no one is saying that Jesus did intend communion "to be a time of self-flagellation and condemnation" (other than your post there, PapaNew).

Like Paul clearly says, we (the human communion particpants) decide whether we will receive communion in a worthy or unworthy manner, and thus whether we will bring damnation on ourselves or not because of our own choices.

God gives all of us free will.

You can choose to use the tongue God gave you to tell the truth and praise God, or you can choose to use the tongue God gave you in ways God did not intend your tongue to be used, such as to lie and curse God.   You have free will to decide how to use your tongue -- in a worthy or unworthy manner.

You can choose to use the arms God gave you to lovingly embrace a dying person, or you can choose to use the arms God gave you in ways God did not intend your arms to be used, such as to fly a plane into the World Trade Center.   You have free will to decide how to use your arms -- in a worthy or unworthy manner.

Paul's advice to the Corinthians was not just written for some drunken Corinthians, otherwise the Holy Spirit would not have inspired and guided the Church to include that advice in the Bible for the benefit of the rest of us.    That advice was also meant for you and me, and it is NOT limited to merely drunken misuse of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, but plainly applies (as Paul clearly says) to ANY form of receiving communion in an unworthy manner.

Anyone can choose to misuse that beautiful Eucharistic communion gift from God if they choose to, just like they can choose to misuse every other gift God has given them, but it is not a wise choice to make.

91 posted on 04/25/2014 2:48:50 PM PDT by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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