1 Cor 11:30; "That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died."

[jcrichton]

Ask him why we dont get attacked by serpents whenever we test God. Then show him what St. Paul says only one chapter before he teaches on the Eucharist and the people dying because they received it unworthily.

God doesn’t strike down everyone who tests him and grumble at him anymore, that doesn’t mean it’s not a serious sin. He did that to show if we cut ourselves off from the source of all Life, then we’re going to die. We can’t see spiritual death, but we see physical death, and that can bring the truth home.
Why wouldn’t He do the same thing with the Eucharist? It’s a serious matter. We die spiritually if we receive unworthily, so He caused the Corinthians to die physically as a warning to us. To show that we are not just receiving crackers and wine, but The Lord himself.

The fact that it doesn’t happen anymore in no way disproves the Real Presence.

…but it actually does happen… are hospitals and homes free of sick Catholics? …are the news agencies reporting hundreds of thousands of Catholics receiving miraculous healings world-wide?

…just check out the divorce issue Catholic vs. seculars–the more we imitate the world the more we become one with the world!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

The explanations I’ve heard on this verse say Paul is referring to physical death, but I don’t think spiritual death is ruled out…and both are equally deadly.
If you want to answer the question (why they don’t die right away, or get sick, etc… ) on the physical level…it’s the same reason every murderer doesn’t die right after murdering someone…whatever that answer may be.

At any rate, the gluttony argument is a strawman. It really doesn’t matter if he is chastising them for gluttony or outright blasphemy. The point is that he has just told them they are guilty of the body and blood of Christ in this particular sin involving the Bread. If they are guilty of the Body and Blood and Christ because of the manner in which they disrespect the Meal…it’s because the Meal is really the Body and Blood of Christ. How else can one be guilty of something is that something isn’t present. You are not guilty of the Body and Blood if all you are eating is bread and wine…you’d just be guilty of mistreating bread and wine. But that is not what Paul tells them. He tells them they are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ.

I fully concur!

St. Paul is concerned with the Body and Blood of Christ–he emphasized that Jesus Himself Taught him the importance of the Breaking of the Bread: Real Presence!

Maran atha!

Angel