Yet, we have RCs arguing here (and on most threads where the topic of the Eucharist is brought up) that the very ACT of partaking of the Eucharist is itself salvific. Though NOWHERE in Scripture do we see that unsaved people "must" receive it in order to be saved. The purpose of the observance of the Lord's Supper is as a memorial - a reminder ever before us of the sacrifice Christ made for our sins and by whose shed blood and broken body made propitiation for all our sins. It is for those who have ALREADY received the gift of God through faith.
Not intending to offend anyone here, but it seems to me that Catholicism has too much superstition behind their adamant insistence that the bread and wine of the remembrance are literally transubstantiated into Jesus' body, blood, soul and divinity and that these elements retain their change even after the Communion service is over so that they can be placed in a monstrance for "adoration" as if Christ were truly present in his glorified state. There is outrage at the very thought that someone might have stolen the "consecrated" hosts in order to do any number of evil things to it - as if Jesus is held prisoner within the material! I just don't buy it.
What it must boil down to is that it is by FAITH that someone receives the elements of the communal observance and by doing so they are not only making a public testimony of that faith but also to be reminded of what Christ has done for us and the obligation we have to each other to remember our common bond.
Someone asked earlier if a person who is not a member of a certain church can join with the congregation in their Lord's Supper observance. I have never had a problem with doing so in churches I have visited when that happens because I DO believe in Jesus Christ. If I take my Mom to her Catholic Mass and stayed, I do not however take their communion. It is because I disavow their whole ritual of it and am not in agreement with what Catholicism says it stands for. It would be wrong of me, personally, to do that.
Or at least posting John 6:53 which would require physically consuming Christ if it is taken literally, but when challenged I have only seen silence or retreat from this being the absolute requirement as much as other verily verily statements are for accountable souls.
Not intending to offend anyone here, but it seems to me that Catholicism has too much superstition behind their adamant insistence that the bread and wine of the remembrance are literally transubstantiated into Jesus' body, blood, soul and divinity and that these elements retain their change even after the Communion service is over so that they can be placed in a monstrance for "adoration" as if Christ were truly present in his glorified state. There is outrage at the very thought that someone might have stolen the "consecrated" hosts in order to do any number of evil things to it - as if Jesus is held prisoner within the material! I just don't buy it.
That description would not be entirely accurate in Eucharistic theology if "literally transubstantiated" means into His actual literal manifest physical flesh and blood of the incarnated Christ, versus a metaphysical contrivance by which the literal reading of the words of Christ dies the death of qualifications. But which enables Christ to be bodily in Heaven yet "really present" in His body as manifest (non-existent) bread and wine (down to subatomic particles). Which is a problem for persons with celiac disease who suffer adverse effects to the non-existent gluten in the Eucharistic host.
However, if Christ no longer exists as such when the bread and wine decay, then He can not be present for long in the monstrance or after being locked in a tabernacle .
And since decay of the begins immediately (I presume) after confection and which process is ongoing then the question is just how long is Christ "really present" in body and blood. Longer in air conditioned building than in hot tropic ones? And if even the smallest particles contain the entire Christ, body and blood, souls and divinity, then the Eucharistic christ could end up in the carper or air conditioner etc. since some would become airborne during the time from consecration (which event theology requires to be outside time) to reception.