Leonard Alt mentioned about the bread in the Mass as the Body of Christ, without offending you, yours truly having been a Roman Catholic for 29 years and educated in a Jesuit school for 16 years, believed this to be true until finding the truth in the Bible the Word of God, not knowing that Jews always talked in Metaphors and idioms just as the LOrd Jesus did as Light of the world meaning the truth of the gospel, the fig tree--meaning the nation of Israel the Bread of Life meaning If people wanted this bread, they must come to Jesus and believe in him. When Jesus used the words “I am,” he was pointing to his unique, divine identity. In essence this statement says, “I the Lord God am here to provide you with everything you need for your spiritual life.” For Jesus to say he is the Bread of Life is for him to say, “I am the sustenance of your life.” Just as bread supplies our bodies with strength and nourishment, Jesus, the true Bread from Heaven, had come to strengthen and nourish his people, so that they would never be hungry again and never thirst.Jesus is the Word of God in John 1:1 meaning When John wrote of the beginning, he was paralleling the words of the creation account. John called Jesus, “the Word.” John did not identify this person immediately, but described his nature and purpose before revealing his name (see 1:17). As the Word, the Son of God fully conveys and communicates God. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. -Luke 22:19 This act of taking bread and wine, from the passover supper before Christ went to the cross, is commonly referred to as communion, based on 1st Corinthians: 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? -1 Corinthians 10:16 The Roman Catholic church, however, though it calls this practice communion, considers this also to be a sacrifice of what they call the eucharist: eucharist (n): the consecrated elements of bread and wine offered in the sacrament; Mass, esp when regarded as the service where the sacrament of the Eucharist is administered (See eucharist, Random House Dictionary, Random House Inc, 2013; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2009) The term eucharist does not appear in the Bible, nor does the term sacrament. sacrament (n): a symbol; pledge, something regarded as possessing a sacred or mysterious significance; an outward sign combined with a prescribed form of words and regarded as conferring some specific grace upon those who receive it (See sacrament, Random House Dictionary, Random House Inc, 2013; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2009) The Latin, language in which the Catholic church was developed, of sacrament comes from the base word consecrate. consecrate (v): to make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the service of a deity; to make (something) an object of honor or veneration; to change (bread and wine) into the Eucharist (See consecrate, Random House Dictionary, Random House Inc, 2013; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2009) In a nutshell, the communion in Catholic circles is a consecration of the sacraments of the Eucharist, or in other words, Catholics believe their priests have the power to put a blessing on bread and wine that transforms it into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ (known as transubstantiation -- well get to that in a moment), and they consume it as a work that is supposed to bestow saving grace to the one who receives it. Our Savior at the Last Supper... instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood... -New Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican II), Sacrosanctum Concilium, Consitution on the Sacred Liturgy #47; See also Matthew Bunson, Our Sunday Visitors Catholic Almanac, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2008, Declarations of Vatican II, p. 178, ISBN: 9781592764419 So the Catholic church teaches that Jesus Christ started up a sacrificial ceremony that needs to be repeated, because they believe everyone must eat of the body and blood of Christ. [Christ] offered up to God the Father His own body and blood under the [form of] bread and wine... -Council of Trent, Session XXII, Chapter I; See also William E. Addis & Thomas Arnold, A Catholic Dictionary, The Catholic Publication Society Co, 1884, The Eucharist, p. 320 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. -Genesis 9:3-4 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood. -Leviticus 3:17 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. -Acts 15:20 Though we can eat meat, we cook the meat, and do NOT consume the blood. Even in the Old Testament, the sacrifices made for the atonement of sin had the blood drained out of them (Lev 4:7), the meat cooked, and they did not consume the blood. The Catholic church believes they are turning wine to blood, and then requiring their laity drink it. Oddly, because the blood sacrifice might offend some people, the Roman Catholic Church will say its the blood of Christ, but then turn around in contradictory fashing and say its unbloody. [Christ, in the mass] perpetuates in an unbloody manner the sacrifice offered on the cross. -Vatican Council II, Vol. 1: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, p. 103; See also Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Our Sunday Visitors Catholic Encyclopedia, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1998, The Eucharist, p. 390, ISBN: 9780879736699 So we have the blood being drunk in the mass, converted by priests to be the literal blood, but the Catholic Church also says its unbloody? This is also supposed to be a sacrifice of the Eucharist to receive saving grace and remission of sins, but theres no receiving of grace without the shedding of blood. This is one of the strangest heretical paradoxes Ive ever heard of out of all the wordly religions Ive studied. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. -Hebrews 9:22 Blood sacrifice is a required payment for sin, but the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ paid that debt once and for all, never to be repeated. The Catholic Church DENIES Jesus Christ by continuing blood sacrifice. Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples: for this he [Jesus] did once, when he offered up himself. -Hebrews 7:27 The mass is truly a propitiatory sacrifice... [by which] the Lord is appeased. He grants grace... and He pardons wrongdoings and sins, even grave ones. -John A. Hardon, The Catholic Catechism, Random House Inc, 1975, Ritual and Worship, p. 468, ISBN: 9780385080453 The Eucharist is above all else a sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of the Redemption and also the sacrifice of the New Covenant, -Pope John Paul II, quoted by Steven J. Schloder, Architecture in Communion: Impementing the Second Vatican Council, Ignatius Press, 1998, p. 52, ISBN: 9780898706314 It is abomination in the sight of God to keep making sacrifices when His Son already took care of it. The Catholic Church may as well be slapping God in the face to say, Your Sons sacrifice is not enough, we need to do more. This is the beginning of the works the Catholic Church requires from the members of its laity, teaching them they must do works to gain more grace, when the Bible says we receive grace by our faith, the payment for our punishment is paid in full, and NO AMOUNT OF WORKS will earn you forgiveness of sin. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. -Hebrews 10:16-18 Its either by grace, or by works, but it cant be both, and if we rely on Catholic mass to give us grace, we will end up in hell: And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. -Romans 11:6 To say one receives grace through works is a complete contradiction, and denies the one, final, ultimate sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Another thing theRoman Catholic Church ignores completely is that Jesus Christ said this do in REMEMBERANCE of me, not this do to get your loved ones out of purgatory. This concept of sacrificial masses is a very serious heresy because when the abomination of desolation is talked about in Scripture (Mat 24:15), its referring to the abomination of the Jews who start up sacrifices again in the temple in the last days (ignoring the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once and for all), and thus God views the practice of repeated sacrifices in the mass as abomination. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. -Hebrews 10:10 transubstantiation (n): the changing of the elements of the bread and wine, when they are consecrated in the Eucharist, into the body and blood of Christ (See transubstantiation, Random House Dictionary, Random House Inc, 2013; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2009) The Catholic Church believes and teaches that the bread and wine is the literal body and blood of Christ, transformed by a miracle of the priests, but still retaining the taste, smell, and appearance of bread and wine. This is, as I know of no other way to put it, absurd, and has no Scriptural backing to it whatsoever. Lets say Jesus performed the miracle of turning water into wine, but did so under the appearance of remaining water. It would have been pointed out immediately as a fraud, and rightly so. What if Jesus had performed the miracle of bringing a man back to life, but under the appearance of the man remaining dead? Again, that is absurd. Yet, so many people believe that the Catholic priests are performing a miracle of turning bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ, under the appearance of remaining bread and wine; that is not a miracle, its a fraud. When Christ says, I am the door, (John 10:7) are we to say that he is literally made of wood? When Christ says, My sheep hear my voice, (John 10:27) are we to conclude that he is literally talking to sheep? Those are ridiculous concepts, and we know through simple context what Christ is referring to, but the Catholic Church has done a marvelous job of convincing a huge number of people against the clear teaching of Scripture. Anyone who doesnt believe that the Catholic Church cannot turn bread into Christs body, and wine into Christs blood, they are cursed to damnation and destruction: If any one saith, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and the whole substance of the wine into the blood... which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation; let him be anathema. -Archibald A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, Hodder & Stoughton, 1878, Section 22, Cannon #1, p. 647 Despite the clear teachings in the New Testament, the Catholic Church believes that this transubstantiated Eucharist is a sacrifice that needs to be made repeatedly, and you must come to their priests and give your money to the church to receive the benefits of it. They take away the reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, and put the priesthood in His place, bringing men and women into bondage. If you believe the following verses, the Cahtolic Church has cursed you to damnation and destruction: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. -Hebrews 10:12-14 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. -Hebrews 9:12 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; -Hebrews 9:28 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: -1 Peter 3:18 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. -Jude 1:3 I dont see how this could be more clear to those who read and study Gods Word. Christ did not go to the cross so we would need to sacrifice him again and again, and require us to gain indulgences from the Catholic Church, as we will see in the next section. But the Catholic Church, in defiance to the Word of God, curses people like me to damnation and destruction for teaching the truth of Scripture: If any one saith, that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is given us to eat; let him be anathema. -Archibald A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, Hodder & Stoughton, 1878, Section 22, Cannon #1, p. 647 If you are a Catholic, we must recognize that this is the doctrine your church believes, practices, and teaches, as stated from their own ruling documents. If their doctrine troubles you, then it would be wise to disassociate yourself with that religion, and get involved in a church that believes the New Testament Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 02:28:44 +0000