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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans; Salvation
“Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper.” To help you translate his answer. The UCG does not believe in the Eucharist at the Last Supper, in any sense, nor even in a Lord’s Supper. They believe that the “Lord’s Supper” is in fact the Passover, which is celebrated once annually.

Exactly! Bingo! Just as Christ did and just as it's extensively detailed in scripture. Nice job!

This they believe, despite the fact that it was actually, hsitorically, celebrated everyday: “I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table, which you now look upon and of which you last night were made participants. You ought to know that you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ” (Augustine, Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).

Do you observe this daily GPH?

The UCG teaches that we are bound to the Jewish feast days, a total of 7 per year: “We believe in the commanded observance of the seven annual Holy Days given to ancient Israel by God and kept by Jesus Christ, the apostles and the New Testament Church.”

Well, again the tone and language is not accurate. First of all they are the feast days of the Lord, Jesus Christ:

Lev 23:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.

So the Lord, Jesus Christ, tells us in holy scripture, absolutely, that these are his feasts. That's why I observe them, to honor him. I'm not "bound". I observe them from love, gratitude, and for the spiritual help and blessing they are.

“So what about Baptism?” The UCG believes that baptism is through immersion and is necessary for salvation, and that the Holy Spirit is transmitted through the laying on of hands by UCG’s ministers.

You've mixed some truth with some not so truthful stuff here. Yes, scripture teaches absolutely that baptism and the laying on of hands is a fundamental, foundational practice of Christians:

Heb 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

These are STILL foundational beliefs of many Christians, including Catholicism.

IOW, if you are not baptized and have hands laid on you by the UCG, you are not in “God’s Family.”

This is 100% completely not true and not what UCG teaches nor is this what the vast majority of members of UCG believe in my experience.

My belief is that only Jesus Christ knows who are his. This can be and does include people from other Christian faiths. Yup, and that includes Catholics, LDS...and maybe...just maybe...orthodox Presbyterians. But hey, with God all things are possible. :-)

Does that mean I think that all Catholics or members of United Church of God or members of any other organization are Christians because they claim to be? Of course not. But we can get a pretty good idea of who is Christ's by the spiritual fruit they bear:

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

49 posted on 01/09/2014 11:41:45 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: DouglasKC

Heb 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

These are STILL foundational beliefs of many Christians, including Catholicism.
***The scripture you quoted yourself refutes your own claim. It is obviously “leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go onto ...”

basically all those other things are not “elementary principles of Christ”.


59 posted on 01/09/2014 4:33:37 PM PST by Kevmo ("A person's a person, no matter how small" ~Horton Hears a Who)
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