I guess taking things out of context is the best way you have to support this argument that the bread and wine actually are Jesus.
John 6:32-33 "Then Jesus said to them, "most assuredly, I say to you Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.""
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.
Clearly Jesus is speaking metaphorically and when he is referring to eating and drinking he is referring to Faith in him and the sacrifice he willingly made on our behalf.
John 6:51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread. he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
Again it is clear Jesus is speaking about FAITH IN HIM. If you want a literal interpretation, we would only have to have communion once and we would live forever. He doesn't say we must eat this bread once a week for the rest of our lives to live. He doesn't say the bread must be touched by a priest with a "magic finger".
It is plain as day. What we must do is have FAITH in JESUS. He will do the rest just as GOD fed the Jews who were fleeing, Jesus will provide.
So his followers were too dumb to see that it was a metaphor? It took 1500 years, give or take, before the metaphorical nature of the discourse was perceived?
If I sound a bit testy it's because of the double bind: If we were to put up the entire discourse and then parse it, that wouldn't be good. But if we don't put up an excerpt which you want to use, then we're taking things out of context.
All sides do this.
Amen, wmfights.
Yeah, what the Dawg said.
I'm gonna stay with the Old Church on this one in particular.
It is too big a point to get so wrong, so early and for so long.