You keep insisting that God violates His own Law, that the Eucharist stands against the Mosaic Law, despite repeated arguments and explanations to the contrary. You’re certainly free to disregard such arguments, but you carry on as if the Church has never provided an answer to the (incorrect) charge of cannibalism.
This is great dilemma when all one has is Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide; for numerous paths now exist in the interpretation of Scripture and how doctrine is applied. Is Baptism only for those of the age of reason, or can it be applied to infants as well? Is contraception a moral evil, or not? To what degree is all Scripture interpreted literally? Amillenial, premillenial, or postmillenial?
And on and on. We would all be akin to the Ethiopian eunuch; do we know what it is that we are reading? How can we, if there is no one to instruct us in proper exegesis? Indeed, only by the most extraordinary grace of God would one pick up a Bible - while invincibly ignorant of Christ and His Church - and understand it perfectly; yet in the annals of history, how often has this happened? After all, the Bible as we know it in its current form is a fruit of the Catholic Church:
“But should you meet with a person not yet believing the Gospel, how would you reply to him where he to say, I do not believe? For my part, I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.” - Augustine, “Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental, Chapter 5”
Is it not prudent to seek truthful instruction? Even in the days of Christ’s public ministry, the multitudes who sought Him out professed that He was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets; such people were witnesses of His words and His miracles, and yet got it wrong! Separated from those events by nearly two millennia, what hope have we to fruitfully learn of our Lord and who He is without disciplined teaching?
Fortunately, despite their frailty and weaknesses, the Apostles were there to bear witness and to profess (”You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”). How fortuitous are we to have access to their writings, and that of their successors.
The historicity of Catholic teaching to the earliest days of the Church is undeniable, in their ‘plain sense’, to use a familiar term.
“’The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the Blood of Christ? ‘ (1 Cor. 10:16). Very persuasively spoke he, and with awe. For what he says is this: ‘This which is in the cup is that which flowed from His side, and of that do we partake.’ But he called it a cup of blessing, because holding it in our hands, we so exalt Him in our hymn, wondering, astonished at His unspeakable gift, blessing Him, among other things, for the pouring it out, but also for the imparting thereof to us all. ‘Wherefore if you desire blood,’ says He, ‘redden not the altar of idols with the slaughter of brute beasts, but My altar with My blood.’ Tell me, what can be more tremendous than this? What more tenderly kind?” - John Chrysostom, “Homilies on 1st Corinthians, 24:1”
“’My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink’ (Jn. 6:56). You hear Him speak of His Flesh and of His Blood, you perceive the sacred pledges (conveying to us the merits and power) of the Lord’s death, and you dishonor His Godhead? Hear His own words: ‘A spirit has not flesh and bones’ (Lk. 24:39). Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the mysterious efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and the Blood, ‘do show the Lord’s Death’ (1 Cor. 11:26).” - Ambrose, “To Gratian, on the Christian Faith, Book 4, Chapter 10”
“’He that offers the sacrifice of praise glorifies me, and in this way will I show him my salvation’ (Ps. 49:23). Before the coming of Christ, the flesh and blood of this sacrifice were foreshadowed in the animals slain; in the passion of Christ the types were fulfilled by the true sacrifice; after the ascension of Christ, this sacrifice is commemorated in the sacrament.” - Augustine, “Reply to Faustus the Manichean, 21:20”
“Now, the blood of the Lord is twofold: one is corporeal, redeeming us from corruption; the other is spiritual, and it is with that we are anointed. To drink the blood of Jesus is to participate in His incorruption. Yet, the Spirit is the strength of the Word in the same way that the blood is of the body. Similarly, wine is mixed with water and the Spirit is joined to man; the first, the mixture, provides feasting that faith may be increased; the other, the Spirit, leads us on to incorruption. The union of both, that is, of the potion and the Word, is called the Eucharist, a gift worthy of praise and surprisingly fair; those who partake of it are sanctified in body and soul, for it is the will of the Father that man, a composite made by God, be united to the Spirit and to the Word mystically.” - Clement of Alexandria, “Christ the Educator, Book 2, Chapter 2”
“Even of itself the teaching of the blessed Paul (1 Cor. 11:23) is sufficient to give you a full assurance concerning those Divine Mysteries, of which having been deemed worthy, you are become of the same body and blood with Christ. For you have just heard him say distinctly, That Our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and He had given thanks He broke it, and gave to His disciples, saying, ‘Take, eat, this is My Body’; and having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take, drink, this is My Blood’ (Mt 26:26ff). Since then He Himself declared and said of the Bread, This is My Body, who shall dare to doubt any longer? And since He Himself affirmed and said, This is My Blood, who shall ever hesitate, saying, that it is not His Blood?” - Cyril of Jerusalem, “Catecheses, 22:1”
“He once in Cana of Galilee, turned the water into wine, akin to blood, and is it incredible that He should have turned wine into blood? When called to a bodily marriage, He miraculously wrought that wonderful work; and on the children of the bridechamber, shall He no much rather be acknowledge to have bestowed the fruition of His Body and Blood?” - Cyril of Jerusalem, “Catecheses, 22:2”
“The body which is born of the holy Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the body which was received up into the heavens descends, but that bread itself and the wine are changed into God’s body and blood. But if you enquire as to how this happens, it is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that the Word of God is true and enrgises and is omnipotent, but the manner of this cannot be searched out. But one can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker, and do not become a different body from the former one, so the bread of the table and the wine and water are supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are not two but one and the same...
The bread and the wine are not merely figures of the body and blood of Christ (heaven forbid!) but the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has said, ‘This is My boy’, not, this is a figure of My Body; and ‘My blood’, not, a figure of My blood (Mt. 26:26, 28)...
But if some persons called the bread and the wine antetypes of the body and blood of the Lord, as did the divinely inspired Basil, they said so not after the consecration but before the consecration, so calling the offering itself...
Further antetypes of future things are spoken of, not as though they were not in reality Christ’s body and blood, but that now through them we partake of Christ’s divinity, while then we shall partake mentally through the vision alone.” - John of Damascus, “Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4, Chapter 13.”
“How was Christ carried in His Own Hands? Because when He commended His Own Body and Blood, He took into His Hands that which the faithful know; and in a manner carried Himself, when He said, ‘This is my Body.’” - Augustine, “Expositions on the Psalms, No. 33:1:10”
What a tremendous grace and blessing that Christ established with His Church, with His Sacraments! As heresies, error, wickedness, and the minions of Satan seek to strike at His Bride (as they have throughout the ages), I will never forget Christ’s guarantee that the gates of Hell will not prevail; thus, I will strive forward toward greater faith, hope, and charity with my head held high, trusting in Him.
*That* is the Catholic Church, and within the Church I am freer to follow, serve, and praise God in capacities I would have never dreamed of growing up in the Baptist/Reformed tradition.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!
Now; let's get Mary to help us!!
"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem,
no matter how difficult it is, wheter temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary.
There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."
Sister Lucia dos Santos
(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)
| 1 | Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces. |
| 2. | I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. |
| 3. | The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies |
| 4. | It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. |
| 5. | The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish. |
| 6. | Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying Himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise Him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. |
| 7. | Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. |
| 8. | Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. |
| 9. | I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. |
| 10. | The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. |
| 11. | You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. |
| 12. | All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. |
| 13. | I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death |
| 14. | All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. |
| 15. | Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination. |
You see, many of we who oppose catholiciism of your religion do so because of the blindness caused in catholics who are more than content to trust the magicsteerignthem, rather than develop as God's newborns being raised up in the Way that we should go by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In 1545 your magicsteeringthem granted 'Traditions' equal authority to The Word of God. There is a long list of catholic 'traditions' which are anathema to the Word of God, yet those traditions are your truth. Sad that ...
God does not formulate plan B. He has His Will from the beginning and in Him is no shadow of turning. The God of The Bible does not issue commandments then violate them in the person of Jesus The Christ to establish a New Covenant. Perhaps you do not believe that it was indeed GOD who forbade the eating of human flesh and the drinking of the blood in which is carried Life? That would perhaps explain why you now defend the notion that God okays what He forbade, so your religion can be the more empowered.
My final reply to your blasphemy is the Letter sent from the first church council to the newborns being born from above through missionary work:
Acts 15:
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, chosen men out of themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas — Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren —
23 having written through their hand thus: ‘The apostles, and the elders, and the brethren, to those in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, brethren, who [are] of the nations, greeting;
24 seeing we have heard that certain having gone forth from us did trouble you with words, subverting your souls, saying to be circumcised and to keep the law, to whom we did give no charge,
25 it seemed good to us, having come together with one accord, chosen men to send unto you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul — 26 men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ —27 we have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, and they by word are telling the same things.
28 ‘For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, no more burden to lay upon you, except these necessary things:
29 to abstain from things offered to idols, and blood, and a strangled thing, and whoredom; from which keeping yourselves, ye shall do well; be strong!’
30 They then, indeed, having been let go, went to Antioch, and having brought the multitude together, did deliver the epistle, 31 and they having read, did rejoice for the consolation; 32 Judas also and Silas, being themselves also prophets, through much discourse did exhort the brethren, and confirm, 33 and having passed some time, they were let go with peace from the brethren unto the apostles; 34 and it seemed good to Silas to remain there still. 35 And Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming good news — with many others also — the word of the Lord;
THESE men named above are the earliest 'CHURCH FATHERS'. Yet catholiciism rejects what seemed GOOD TO THE HOLY SPIRIT that believers refrain from blood! The breaking of bread and sipping from the cup communion was already being practiced among the believers as they proclaimed the death of Their Savior until He comes back for them. Do you serious want to claim those believers were drinking blood in their Remembrance of Him? ... Sadly, that contradiction is exactly what you are trying to float!
The Revelation of John, in the first three chapters, proves catholiciism has had gross error inveigling the body of believers from the earliest times in Ekklesia History. You and Mrs Don-o and FourtySeven can continue to promote contradiction to the Character of God, but the Word of God, the Bible refutes you right from the First Ekklesia Council.
“You keep insisting that God violates His own Law, that the Eucharist stands against the Mosaic Law, despite repeated arguments and explanations to the contrary. You’re certainly free to disregard such arguments, but you carry on as if the Church has never provided an answer to the (incorrect) charge of cannibalism.”
Read the Holy Scripture and look to the Jewish tradition of the marriage process of the time and you will see what the bread and wine signified. Step 5 really teaches what the cup meant. If you need it broke down what each step means I can do it, but it’s really simply if you really want to understand it.
Jewish Marriage Customs
Those who live in the modern western world do not catch the full significance of Jesus’ promise. This is due to the fact that in His promise Jesus was drawing an analogy from Jewish marriage customs in biblical times. Since this is so, those marriage customs must be examined if one is to grasp the significance of the promise.
The first major step in a Jewish marriage was betrothal.
1 Betrothal involved the establishment of a marriage covenant. By Jesus’ time it was usual for such a covenant to be established as the result of the prospective bridegroom taking the initiative.
2 The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father’s house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price (mohar) that he must pay to purchase his bride.
3 Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife.
4 From that moment on the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom.
5 As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.
6 After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father’s house. There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months.
7 This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life.
8 The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father’s house to which he could bring his bride. At the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him. The taking of the bride usually took place at night. The groom, best man and other male escorts would leave the groom’s father’s house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride.
9 Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the exact time of his coming.
10 As a result the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout.
11 This shout would forewarn the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.
After the groom received his bride together with her female attendants, the enlarged wedding party would return from the bride’s home to the groom’s father’s house.
12 Upon arrival there the wedding party would find that the wedding guests had assembled already. Shortly after arrival the bride and groom would be escorted by the other members of the wedding party to the bridal chamber (huppah). Prior to entering the chamber the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face.
13 While the groomsmen and bridesmaids would wait outside, the bride and groom would enter the bridal chamber alone. There in the privacy of that place they would enter into physical union for the first time, thereby consummating the marriage that had been covenanted earlier.
14 After the marriage was consummated, the groom would announce the consummation to the other members of the wedding party waiting outside the chamber (John 3:29). These people would pass on the news of the marital union to the wedding guests.
15 Upon receiving this good news the wedding guests would feast and make merry for the next seven days.
16 During the seven days of the wedding festivities, which were sometimes called “the seven days of the huppah,” the bride remained hidden in the bridal chamber.
17 At the conclusion of these seven days the groom would bring his bride out of the bridal chamber, now with her veil removed, so that all could see who his bride was.