Replies

If Christ wanted to invoke symbolism, He would have said
“This represents My body” and “This represents My blood.”

but He didn’t. He was quite clear.

“This is My body” and “This is My blood.”

I have always found that most Christians (both Catholic and Protestant) really miss the point. This was a repurposing of Passover and a direct fulfillment of the prophesy of the Passover. He had clearly become the Passover lamb, inspected and found without blemish, and meeting all the other rules.

The point isn’t that the symbolic cup and bread become His body and blood. This was a directive to continue with Passover with the celebration of this fulfillment.

Christian leaders miss the point when they celebrated this weekly or monthly. This is one of the 7 appointed feasts. (One could argue it is the first 3 rolled together.)

Why do Christians not celebrate all of the feasts as directed? Sadly, most Christians never learn of them in churches.

Congratulations on your hard work digging up these quotes. The problem is the underlying assumption that there is NOT an authoritative interpreter guided by the Holy Spirit to discern the truth of the matter. Is Cousin Billy Bob and Uncle Fred in 2015 really able to understand the mind of the Church 2000 years ago? Or is there a body (a shepherd, if you will) passing down the authentic Tradition about the Eucharist’s meaning?

Finally, there is the problem of consequences. If the Eucharist is just a symbol, its abuse shows disrespect, but little more. For Paul, however, the consequence was grave: “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”

This is not how one talks about a symbol.

Keep up the good work — but understand that for many, it’s the first step to converting to Catholicism. (”To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”—Cardinal John Henry Newman)

Worthy of more study.

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Respect For Christ In The Eucharist – One Priest’s Perspective
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The Institution of the Eucharist in Scripture
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Good article.

What I find striking about the difference between what Roman Catholicism teaches about the Lord's Supper from Evangelicals and most Protestant denominations is that it's only the RCs who assert "their" priests and bishops alone have the "authority" to properly conduct the commemoration ordinance. They claim that without this authority there can be no true observance and, therefore, no spiritual value/grace is imparted to those who participate outside of the confines of the RCC.

The author will get into the propitiational aspect in the next part, but I think it's telling how Roman Catholicism has used this ordinance of the Lord to keep her members in line and afraid to consider other ways of viewing the historical observance. This is worth discussing, as well. We see no such restrictions demanded by the Apostles, only the general idea of what believers should so and why they should do it.

Why do you who are sola scriptura consider Catholic Church Fathers and the Blessed Sacrament "worthy of discussion"? This is criticism of something having to do with the absolute Mystery of Catholicism, and which is being mocked and mistreated. You know from experience that the Church teaches that the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. because, by your own admission in your profile, you are a former Catholic. You chose to leave, that is your right, and your own path to God. I do not condemn you. What, then, is it to you or those whom you pinged, if you don't believe? Can you discuss nothing else? Why insult what we, and the Catholics you knew, believe to be This, the Real Presence of Jesus? Believe as you choose, hate Catholicism if you wish, but please leave our Eucharistic Jesus in peace!

Hi Mom,

Do you remember this humongous thread years ago?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1318819/posts

It raised many of the same debate and topics.