Posted on 02/13/2021 8:18:22 AM PST by HypatiaTaught
By the way, this isn't a "Roman Catholic" [sic] distinctive. All non-Protestant Christians accept it. Nobody within the church even questioned it for the first 800 years of Christian history.
To better understand chapter 6 in John’s Gospel, there are a couple of Greek words for the English word “eat” that may help you.
When Jesus first says that you must eat My body, verse 51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (NIV translation from biblegateway.com)
The Greek word used here to describe eating is “phago,” which describes regular eating of food.
After the Jews push back on this, Jesus replies verse 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
Starting with verse 53, the Greek word used for eating is “trogo,” which describes eating in a more graphic way, like the gnawing and crunching that an animal would do.
So Jesus doesn’t tell the Jews that they misunderstood Him or that He was being symbolic, Jesus doubles down and gets more graphic.
This results in verse 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
At this point Jesus again does not tell them they misunderstood Him, continuing with 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
I hope this helps, this was a stumbling block for me as well until I was guided to look beyond the English and learn some of the key Greek words and phrases used in the New Testament writings.
So questioning beliefs belong only to women or ‘its’...
Men question beliefs as well.
“Background: I grew up in a ...”
We don’t need your background.
When you become born of the spirit and consciousness itself becomes physical to your perception, it all makes sense..
As at that time you realize that Jesus is already here and you just need to be raised up to perceive Him.
You just belong to the “Flat Consciousness Society “ and only get one channel.
Jesus was telling you the truth when He said in John 14 that the things that He did and even more, you too shall do.
If you can’t do any of the things He did, I ask you, How is your Flat Consciousness Religion on the gutter channel working out?
“Look to pre-Christian temple sacrifice practices and feasts and you might get some context that will help.”
I don’t think so.
Are you really grappling with this for 50 years, or are you trolling?
Just to head off the usual tired objection, "eat my flesh and drink my blood" is not a metaphor for "believe in me" anywhere else in Scripture. It can be a metaphor for military defeat or for slander, not for faith.
At Mass, Catholics stand at the foot of the cross and offer our continuing(small) sacrifice (throughout the world) with Jesus to God the Almighty Father.
We consume the Body an Blood of Christ our Savior as He requested us for our salvation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist as He established at the Last Supper.
Let me repeat, we consume the Body and Blood of Jesus in the form of a host consecrated and changed during Mass by Christ through the presiding priest. We witness a miracle at every Mass by the transubstantiation of the Bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Jesus told us that “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate (manna) and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:58
As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.
Are you aware of Eucharistic miracles?
https://dowym.com/voices/5-incredible-eucharistic-miracles-from-the-last-25-years/
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/eucharistic-miracles-evidence-of-the-real-presence-0
Reported scientific exam as Human cardiac tissue Type AB blood with normal protein levels of living blood
+7
“Didn’t he make it clear that he wasn’t speaking of eating his literal flesh? The flesh profiteth nothing!”
Yes.
What IS a human body?
The human body conceals and reveals the mystery of the self. It is not the self but the “locus” of the self, so that when I see your body, I say, “There you are!”
When I kiss you, my lips touch your cheek. We are, perhaps, aware of the contact, the physicality. But yet YOU allow ME, so I kiss you.
We do not eat what the body is made of.
And, to work “by the numbers,” so to speak, it is the risen body of which we partake, a “spiritual body,” says St. Paul. I don't know how to think of this, but I'm pretty sure it's not cannibalism.
When I kiss you on a summer day, I may momentarily be aware of your perspiration, of the salt on your cheek. But we don't say, “He went to taste her salt, “ but “HE kissed HER.” The touch is the vehicle, the incident, of what was in fact a contact of selves, of persons.
The eating of the Sacramental Body is physical, but it is not confined to physicality. As love makes the kiss far more IN ESSENCE than tasting salt, so Grace makes receiving the Body far more than eating.
That's the best I can do.
Second, "In my Father's house are many mansions..." Think about what He is sayin'.
He reiterates: "I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself."
There is much confusion with a declaration that some in Him, alive at the time of His return, will not die but will have their bodies transformed and join Him in the "clouds," or a realm of reality we don't understand or can comprehend. Many confuse these scriptures, which allude to the above, with actual salvation of the soul, IMO, a new and significant Christianity characteristic. Several before Christ also earned their wings without dying (e.g., Enoch, Elijah, Moses).
There is much about the world around us we don't understand, though, in our arrogant ignorance, we assume we know everything worth knowing. We don't. Things are a little more complicated than we like to imagine or can imagine.
Great post!
Start studying the Holy Bible, at least by yourself every day. Noting that Luke 24:45 teaches us that Jesus had to open the minds of his apostles to the scriptures, ask G-d to open your mind to the scriptures in the name of Jesus. Concentrate on the New Testament which borrows from the Old Testament.
To more directly address your question, consider that Luke 23:40-43 tells us that the repentant criminal that died with Jesus, the criminal probably never baptized and certainly had never received communion, Jesus telling the criminal that he would be with Him that day in paradise.
Insights welcome.
if you adhere to Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation -it really does make sense
It makes little sense otherwise
Jesus loves us so much, He wants to be part of us and that we are part of Him.
“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I am in Him.” John 6:56
“If this were all there were about it in the Bible I might be of the RC view! But it’s not. We use scripture to interpret scripture and we use the whole thing. We see often Jesus speaks in metaphors, for example, “I am the vine and you are the branches,”. “I am the door.” This does not mean He is made of wood or swings in a hinge. These are metaphors.”
Yes Sola Scriptura...the heresy Luther was excommunicated by this erroneous belief. This is why there are over 40,000 Protestant interpretations of the condensed Bible you use. Better to learn the scriptural and tradition of Jesus’ church, the Catholic church. As a convert to Catholicism I can truly say it is like finally coming home. You will be welcomed beyond your understanding right now. Come, join us...
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