Posted on 01/05/2014 1:56:06 PM PST by Steelfish
The Early Christians Believed in the Real Presence
"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thes. 2:15)
"And what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (2 Tim. 2:2)
INTRODUCTION
Many Catholics and non-Catholics alike think that the Roman Catholic Church invented the doctrine of transubstantiation. Transubstantiation means that the bread and wine presented on the altar at the Mass become the the Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit at the consecration.
The consecration is the time when the priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into Christ's Body and Blood. However, the Body and Blood retain the appearance of bread and wine. The Roman Catholic Church, that is, the Latin Rite Catholic Church, and other Catholic Churches in communion with Rome believe that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity. The Orthodox Churches and most other Churches of the East do so as well.
Anglican [Episcopalian] and other Protestant denominations have interpreted Christ's presence at the celebration of the Lord's Supper or Eucharist to be either only spiritual, or symbolic, or non-existent.
The Early Christians actually took the Real Presence for granted. It doesn't even seem as if there was much debate. I could not find anyone who denied the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament before the year 500 A.D. Following are the results of my search.
(Excerpt) Read more at therealpresence.org ...
Fish, not whale, while sanctioned RC scholarship believes that Jonah being in the belly of the fish before preaching to pagans was a fable, but that consuming human flesh and blood, which pagans did, was sanctioned.
It figures.
There is more than one Eucharistic miracle. Here they are listed by country. http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/engl_mir.htm
Is it the movie Groundhogs Day? We have contraception, and transubstantiation posted again in one day. Shall I wait for 3am to get a Queen of heaven ping? A dawn posting of Luther and milkmaids?
Donuts and coffee? When I drove my parents to Catholic mass a few years back the knights of Columbus had donuts and coffee prepared after mass but you had to pay for it.
My old Bn commander years back played the banjo during communion. That seems to be accepted. The Catholic chaplain loved it I’m told.
That's pretty good. Thanks!
And if the literal RC understanding of Jn 6 is correct, then indeed no one can have life in them and eternal life apart from physically consuming Christ. There is not way around it, regardless of your safe mode attempt.
Time for bed.
I agree, pretty gross!
Lukewarm priests have been quite "surprised," when the Host they have consecrated, turns to flesh and blood; it's been found this flesh (after thorough testing) is the flesh of a human heart.
But this is more gross. I much prefer ingesting The Word, by reading about Him, questioning and pondering. That way, it stays in my head and heart, not disposed of by public waste management. (Sorry- the disgusting images just keep coming!)
They haven’t been successful in selling this goofy idea to anywhere near half of their own followers and those rejecters don’t even have to read the bible to know the nonsense of it...
For over 400 years now the bible in the language of the people have been setting people straight on the false teaching of the Catholic religion...
I will continue to encourage especially Catholics to pick up that book of the words of God to see what God really says about that religion...
Oh, really?
Then why are there so many Catholics in the world?
What don’t you believe about the Last Supper.
Are you a democrat or a Protestant that doesn’t know the meaning of the word “IS”?
“This IS my Body, This IS my Blood.”
You’re sounding like Bill Clinton.
Greetings_Puny_Humans responded to the doctrine of transubstantiation which, as defined by this article, is a false doctrine.
As I pointed out, the passages in 1 Corinthians regarding the Lord’s Supper demonstrate that the bread represents both the physical body of Christ and His death on the cross and also His spiritual body which is the church which is the people who have believed in Christ and have become His body by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Neither the bread nor the believers who partake of it are physically incorruptible at this time. The physical body and blood of Christ are plainly taught by scriptures to be incorruptible.
Incorruptible things cannot be made corruptible, by definition. Therefore, it is impossible for a corruptible body to “consume” the incorruptible body and blood of Christ. On the other hand, our corruptible bodies can become incorruptible by being “swallowed up” so to speak. That is, our corruptible bodies can be consumed and will be subsumed in order to become incorruptible.
(Something that is incorruptible has no corruption or decay and can never have corruption. Something that is corruptible may not have corruption or decay but is capable of having corruption and decay. So an incorruptible thing can never become corrupted or corruptible. Otherwise it never was incorruptible. However, a corruptible thing can have corruption removed from it and a corruptible thing can potentially be made incorruptible so that the possibility of ever becoming corrupted ceases.)
If you read about the Lord’s supper and Lord’s table as described in 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, you must read them in context of the whole letter Paul wrote in order to see the true meaning of “discerning the body of Christ”. The false doctrine of transubstantiation is propagated by those who fail to discern the true body of Christ. The body of Christ and the bread are the people who have believed in Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
We, that is those who believe, are that bread.
The bread and grape juice or wine used in communion will spoil, will decay, will become corrupted (in fact wine is already fermented which is a type of corruption) even if blessed and consecrated, I assure you. A person who partakes of these will still eventually die and his or her body will rot in the ground like everyone else, I assure you. If the bread and cup were to be “transubstantiated” into the physical body of Christ (which is incorruptible), then those who partake would never die and decompose in the ground... but they do. And that is because the bread and cup only become part of the spiritual body of Christ when believers eat and drink them and only as much as any food and drink is consumed by a believer can essentially become part of the physical tissues of their bodily organs. And as such they do, in a certain sense, become the body of Christ. But this is His spiritual body, the church, rather than the body of His flesh.
John 6:48-50
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
If bread literally becomes Christ’s physical body, then those who partake would literally, physically never die. But many generations have partaken of the Lord’s supper and did die physically. But Jesus was speaking spiritually.
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
If the bread literally became Christ’s physical body, then those who partake of it would never become literally, physically hungry ever again. But they do because Jesus was not speaking of physical things but spiritual.
John 6:53
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
If the bread literally became Christ’s physical body, then those who have never eaten the bread have never been literally, physically alive. But they are because Jesus was not speaking of physical things but spiritual.
John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
No source? No credibility!
An excellent, wonderful post!
Very good expository.
Have you ever read the bible???
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
That's because we know that men landed on the moon while we also know that 3 bears did not cook oatmeal for a girl lost in the woods...
For exactly 3 days and 3 nights, not a second more. Just like Jesus in the tomb.
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