Protestants: Do you believe that Christ is truly present in the communion elements of bread and wine?

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I don’t want to argue with either of you, but this is totally off topic!
**Hi Guan, 👋

When you are right, you are right! 😃

Of course Christ is truly present in the Eucharist! Every one of His real followers know that! The proof? They believe what He taught! Otherwise, they aren’t His true followers! :rolleyes:

God Bless**
 
Interpreting Jn 6 as referring to Scripture also would have to mean that Jesus did not give his real flesh and blood on the cross,but the Bible instead. :whacky:
Watch out for pictures of the bible nailed to the cross.:eek:
 
RealCatholick!

Hugh, One small point. The Eucharist isn’t an “infusion of the Savior in the elements” It is the changing of the elements into the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior. Whole and complete not as a part of the bread and wine. His body is given to us completely as the bread of life!

Very good post! 👍

:confused: Which post? Yours? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
 
**Hi Catherine, 👋

Oh Anglicans are Protestants. They just don’t Know it! :rotfl:

They are known as the “great Pretenders” or as they like to think of themselves the 3rd arm of Catholicism.

They think they are Catholics who do not follow the Pope. We call them Protestant because they don’t follow the teachings of Jesus who say that His church had to follow the Pope!

Apostolicae Curae is the title of a papal bull, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be “absolutely null and utterly void”.

God Bless

**
Which, of course, is what any RC should affirm, to the syllable.

Anglicans might say differently. Some of them, anyway.

GKC

Anglicanus Catholicus
 
I think we can safely say that this is objective truth, so not dependent on who you ask.

The Anglican church is a protestant Church although some of them like to think they are catholic with a small c. But they are definitely not Catholic. High Anglicans like the Catholic look but that is as far as it gets. Doctrinally they are veering further and further away from Catholicism especially now with ordinained priesteses and activecly homosexual priests.

But what can you expect from a religion whose reason for inception was to legitimize an adulterous relationship.🤷
And it is possible that your knowledge of Anglicans is not complete. As likewise, your knowledge of Hank’s Great Matter.

But certainly, what you say is what a RC should affirm. Anglicans might have a different view, of it, and of the history associated.

GKC

Anglicanus Catholicus, posterus traditus Anglicanus
 
The Queen is the Supreme Head of the Church of England, per the Act of Supremacy , 1559, not of Anglicanism.

GKC
That is interesting because I am afraid I am ignorant regarding the difference between the Anglican Church and the Church of England.

Some years ago I saw a documentary here in S Africa about the Church of England and what I can remember is that there had been a huge disagreement in the church (way back in the beginning of the history of the settlers) which split because there were objections in regard to Blacks being admitted. I once attended a service in the Anglican Church and found similarities with the Catholic Church in the liturgy etc. One day I was invited to a church called St James in another city and when I asked what was the denomination I was told “Church of England” and was surprised because St James was just a very big hall with a concert going on - there was a stage with some musical instruments and the people were talking to each other - there was a little pulpit and after some singing a preacher came along and spoke for about 30 minutes and then someone came around with trays with some little squares of sliced bread and little glasses with grape juice which were passed around. I was surprised because it was nothing like the Anglican experience. On TV I have heard Anglican Ministers refer to the Church of England as if it were another name for the Anglican Church.

If you could explain please I would be grateful.

Cinette:)
 
RealCatholick!

Hugh, One small point. The Eucharist isn’t an “infusion of the Savior in the elements” It is the changing of the elements into the actual Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior. Whole and complete not as a part of the bread and wine. His body is given to us completely as the bread of life!

Very good post!
Which post? Yours?

**
Hi Cinette, 👋

You got me in trouble with Guan! :mad: I think she is a member of the “secret Topic Police!” :eek: So, Yes, Jesus is present in the Eucharist! :

Sweetheart. my posts often are “Excellent” " Awesome" "Fantastic " and “Phenomenal” but rarely do they go down to just “good” :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: All in all Hughi’s wasn’t a bad post!

The Anglicans, not being protected by the Holy Spirit, are also dividing and muntiplying. But since they ‘almost’ have it right, the devil may sometimes gets confused and avoids them more then he does the more easier corrupted Protestant denominations.😃

God Bless**
 
That is interesting because I am afraid I am ignorant regarding the difference between the Anglican Church and the Church of England.

Some years ago I saw a documentary here in S Africa about the Church of England and what I can remember is that there had been a huge disagreement in the church (way back in the beginning of the history of the settlers) which split because there were objections in regard to Blacks being admitted. I once attended a service in the Anglican Church and found similarities with the Catholic Church in the liturgy etc. One day I was invited to a church called St James in another city and when I asked what was the denomination I was told “Church of England” and was surprised because St James was just a very big hall with a concert going on - there was a stage with some musical instruments and the people were talking to each other - there was a little pulpit and after some singing a preacher came along and spoke for about 30 minutes and then someone came around with trays with some little squares of sliced bread and little glasses with grape juice which were passed around. I was surprised because it was nothing like the Anglican experience. On TV I have heard Anglican Ministers refer to the Church of England as if it were another name for the Anglican Church.

If you could explain please I would be grateful.

Cinette:)
I will try, though I will have to be brief. My wife thinks I’m at the post office, doing errands. And I must needs be, forewith.

This is, in fact, very similar to the first post I ever made on the internet, around 8-9 years ago, helping some nice RCS with the same question.

Once, if you said Anglican, you meant CoE, because that is all there was. Over the years, colonial expansion brought the CoE into all the colonies/dominions, etc. of the Empire. Eventually (I’m collapsing history here) these colonial divisions became auto-cephalous Churches, Anglican Churches, that is, and were organised into the official WorldIwide Anglican Communion. But of all these 38 Churches (as it is today) the Monarch is the Supreme Governor only of the mother Church, that is, the CoE. This is IAW Elizabeth I’s Act of Supremacy, cited above.

The other Churches forming the Anglican Communion (those in communion with Canterbury, that is) are usually recognisable by their names (but it’s tricky). Most often they will say “Anglican”, as in the Anglican Church of South Africa, of Canada, of Australia, etc. But not always. In Scotland and in the US, it called Episcopal. Here, it relates to the unpleasantness following the Revolutionary War. Nobody wanted the name “Anglican” around here.

But, bottom line. The Monarch is the Supreme Governor of the CoE (that is, the CoE is an Erastian Church). All other Anglican Churches are selfgoverning.

So much for the Anglican Communion. This does not address those Anglican Churches which are not in the Communion, for various and weighty reasons. Lots of them. Like me.

Anglicans come in a wide variety of flavors. And yes, the liturgy of most is very like, say a TLM, in English. Or (alas) a NO. There are reasons for this.

Please pardon haste and typos. Duty calls.

Any questions?

GKC

Anglicanus Catholicus, posterus traditus Anglicanus
 
In reading his post, it is clear that he is totally in love with the word of God,

He considers the Bible his food,and takes his feeding seriously!
This whole post was great; but I wanted to emphasize what I have quoted. Of all the things I have ever been accused of; this is the best! I am glad that there was enough evidence on this forum to “convict” me. Thanks Brother!! 😉
 
This whole post was great; but I wanted to emphasize what I have quoted. Of all the things I have ever been accused of; this is the best! I am glad that there was enough evidence on this forum to “convict” me. Thanks Brother!! 😉
:bowdown:

May we all strive to be so easily convicted!
 
Code:
fine. I could tell:  the whole of them.
not a bad answer…but not satisfying at this end.
. Now we have to say, in the NRP view, that at the end of His life there could not be enough maturity in the Apostles’ faith to conceive the Master was confessing and performing a profound mysterious miracle.
it is not about maturity of faith, it is about an understanding of how creation works. When water (a physical thing) was changed to wine (another physical thing) a physical change occurred…that is the way that they would have understood that creation worked. By definition, to change a purely physical thing, a physical change is needed. Is there any indciation that the disciples (or the earliest Christians) held to a philosophical view that distinguished between the accidents and the substance of a thing?
Or I could cite one miracle in particular: Incarnation. They came to believe that man was……God. Didn’t they ? Now, what would they see, when looking at that man ? A man. Our physical eyes cannot “see God” .
They would have seen the material and not seen the non-material. A body is material and God is non-material. It is a very different thing to say that God is present here than it is to say that the body God clothed himself with, is present here.
Then I really cannot grasp this necessity to brand as unacceptable or even folly, the possibility that this God-man did give us His flesh by giving us the consecrated bread.
If the body has been converted from a material thing to an immaterial thing (at the Eucharist) then one should be talking about a spiritual (which is immaterial) presence and not a real bodily (which is material) presence. How a material thing could become an immaterial thing and still be that same thing, however, is still beyond me.
If we consider that
“See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, … Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it.”
… that is then a teaching of the very sub-apostolic Church .
To be specific it is the teaching of one individual within the sub-apostolic church. To what degree Ignatius’s view was shared by the entire Church is unknown. It is a teaching that gained acceptance or perhaps already enjoyed considerable acceptance. That said, I haven’t read an historian lately that thinks the Church started out with a single leader (aka bishop) per local church or thinks that it started out with even bishops leading at every local church.
No product of late ancient corruption or deceitful Church.
It doesn’t have to be deceitful. Does Ignatius claim that what he is teaching was taught by Jesus? Does he claim that what he is teaching was taught by the apostles? Does he provide a theological rationale (as noted by M W Holmes) for the central role of the bishop? (see Eph 6.1; Magn 3; Trall. 2.2, 3; Phld 2.1; Smyrn 8.1) If he is arguing from a theological base, then he is merely presenting his understanding (which he thinks is right). Does he claim divine inspiration for his understanding?
If you accept the authenticity of Ignatius’ letters, than rejecting the Episcopal function and this particular aspect within it does not seem so easy.
Actually, it is extremely easy. If he derives his view of how the church should operate from his understanding and interpretation of the relationship between Jesus and the Father (as an example) and without reference to some apostolic teaching that we do not know about, then he is in no better position to determine how the church should operate than any pastor in any church today (and perhaps even less so, depending on what scripture was available to him.)
 
Pneuma, continuing where I left off…
You propose Ignatius as supposed witness of the supposed original nature of NRP. Now, you are not imagining likely then this first post-apostolic generation leader ( even supposed to be writing these words on the road to martyrdom) was deceiving believers to gain for himself and his successors “a powerful tool that could be used to control the faithful”.
Again, not deceiving. Instead, providing his mistaken (and self-serving) understanding. It would be pretty uplifting for Ignatius to believe that any disobedience or disagreement with Ignatius as bishop amounts to disagreemnt and disobedience with God himself. Further, to a considerable degree the early church was the welfare system of its political/social environment. It cared for its widows and its poor. If one could not receive such welfare without being recognized as being in communion with the local church via the eucharist and if one could not participate in the Eucharist w/o submitting to the bishop, then the bishop controlled not just the path to salvation, but also the path to charity. Excommunication threatened both.
Isn’t there something much more profound in Ignatius’ “No bishop no Eucharist” ?
Nope. I think Ignatius tries to justify that position by reference to Christ (ie follow the bishop as Christ followed the Father), but Christ’s obedience to the Father does not establish the authority that Ignatius claims for himself as bishop.
Moreover, if we assume church leaders were deceiving even from the very first post-apostolic generation we’re in a real mess. Whom can we trust then ( i do hope the answer is not going to be a classic “trust no man”),…
Shouldn’t we both answer that question the same? That is, we should be inclined to believe those that have demonstrated a good moral character, but must always exercise that inclination with the realization that all men possess a sinful nature that will influence them from time to time. I would suggest that the real question is, “To what degree has the Holy Spirit guided all the generations of the church and protected each from error?” Did Ignatius and the other apostolic fathers enjoy some gift from the Holy Spirit that is not enjoyed today by both RC and non-RC theologians? I am not inclined to think that they did.
…and why bothering having all these exegetical struggles of ours about ECFs ?
B/c, contrary to the criticism often leveled against protestants by RCs, I am inclined to think that the ECFs should be given a voice in determining a proper interpretation of scripture etc., but I am also inclined to believe that their voice should not be accorded the excessive weight awarded by the RCC. Also, I think there is a tendency for all to interpret the ECFs to align with one’s own views (no doubt you have thought that of me)…also it can be somewhat satisfying to point out (hopefully in love) that an ECF (say Augustine in sermon 272) isn’t clearly saying what RCs often declare that the ECF is saying. 😉
Bless you my friend
 
Proving that this first Lord’s supper, and Jesus’ use of terms referring to His “Flesh” and His “Blood,” had to have been symbolic, for the Real Sacrifice had not yet even ocurred.

John 10:9 Jesus calls Himself “The Door,” He refers to Himself in the Bible, by many similar symbolisms.

Jesus used many metaphors of inanimate things to teach different truths about Himself. He said, “I am the door'" (John 10:7), "I am the way’” (John 14:6), “I am the true vine'" (John 15:1), and "I am the bread of life’” (John 6:35). We cannot take any of these expressions literally, for He is not present in every “door,” every “way,” every “bread” or every “vine.” Instead, all these symbols illustrate deeper Truths which are ignored by the Catholic doctrine of eating the literal flesh of our Lord.
Hi Protestant101,

I agree with you that Jesus used many metaphors with inanimate things to teach deeper trurths about Himself.

Notice how all of the metaphors which you refer to above are structured.

Jesus says that He is “some thing”
I (Jesus) am the door (some thing)
I (Jesus) am the way (some thing)
I (Jesus) am the true vine (some thing)
I (Jesus) am the bread of life (some thing)

This is the case over and over where Jesus uses inanimate objects to teach spiritual truths about Himself.

But there is one very glaring exception to that rule…and that is at the Last Supper when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, when He says…

Mark 14:22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

Mark 14:23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24"**This is my blood **of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them.

At the Last Supper is the only place where Jesus says that “some thing” is Him.

This (some thing) is my body (Jesus)
This (some thing) is my blood (Jesus)

This is the only place where Jesus says that some thing is Him…and He cannot lie.

It is so, because Jesus, The Word of God, spoke…and it was, and it is.

God bless all!!!
 
Hi Protestant101,

I agree with you that Jesus used many metaphors with inanimate things to teach deeper trurths about Himself.

Notice how all of the metaphors which you refer to above are structured.
Yes Sir, I have noticed that “structure” you refer to many times. The more I go over it, the more I feel you are wrong in making an exception to the idea of Jesus using the metaphor idea when He used “flesh” or “blood” to describe Himself. There is no Biblical hermeneutic to support your exception; except of course your chosen catholic doctrine, which is not based upon the Bible, no matter how many times you quote John 6. It’s never going to mean what you want it to; just because you guys keep quoting it over and over, and trying to isolate it from the rest of Scripture.

I have show clear examples in scripture which do demonstrate why this would be symbolic, and how God’s Word is implicated in it all. I haven’t seen anyone able to refute those yet.
 
Yes Sir, I have noticed that “structure” you refer to many times. The more I go over it, the more I feel you are wrong in making an exception to the idea of Jesus using the metaphor idea when He used “flesh” or “blood” to describe Himself.
How can this not be an exception? How can you defend that he did not give his “metaphorical” flesh and blood on the cross?
There is no Biblical hermeneutic to support your exception; except of course your chosen catholic doctrine, which is not based upon the Bible,
There is a hermeneutic to support it, but you are right, it is Catholic.

You are also right that this doctrine is not “based” on the Bible. It is ‘based’ on the Teaching of Jesus. The Bible REFLECTS what the Church believes and teaches. Jesus taught His Apostles that He gave His real flesh and His real blood on the cross. He taught them that He was the unblemished Passover Lamb, given for the sins of the world.
no matter how many times you quote John 6. It’s never going to mean what you want it to; just because you guys keep quoting it over and over, and trying to isolate it from the rest of Scripture.
No, in fact, the Catholic interpretation is the ONLY one that is consistent with the rest of the Scripture, and the unfailing faith of the Church. One cannot “profane” something that does not exist. If one can profane the Body and Blood by taking it in an unworthy manner, then it has to be Real.
I have show clear examples in scripture which do demonstrate why this would be symbolic, and how God’s Word is implicated in it all. I haven’t seen anyone able to refute those yet.
Yes, you have made your case, and made it well. It may be that the teaching of the Apostles is not apprehendible by you at this point in your walk with God. However, I stand by what I said, your passion for feeding on His Word can only bring you to Him, as He stated, the scriptures all point to HIm. Eventually, you will see him in the breaking of the bread, as did the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

I would also like to address your signature:
I protest the sacrifice of the Mass, which contradicts the biblical teaching that Jesus died once for all, a simple sacrifice for sin that is never to be repeated (Heb. 9:26-28)
Such a statement is based upon ignorance of the Catholic Teaching and practice. We affirm that Jesus died once for all. Our memorial of that brings us present with Him at the foot of the cross. It is like the memorial of Passover, which made the Jews of subsequent generations present during the deliverance from Egypt.
 
Yes Sir, I have noticed that “structure” you refer to many times. The more I go over it, the more I feel you are wrong in making an exception to the idea of Jesus using the metaphor idea when He used “flesh” or “blood” to describe Himself. There is no Biblical hermeneutic to support your exception; except of course your chosen catholic doctrine, which is not based upon the Bible, no matter how many times you quote John 6. It’s never going to mean what you want it to; just because you guys keep quoting it over and over, and trying to isolate it from the rest of Scripture.
We don’t make the Bible mean what we want it to mean. We just allow it to speak for itself. You on the other hand would rather do violence to the Bible by making it speak what it is not saying because like the other disciples, you cannot accept the hard teaching.

You do some sort of Biblical sleight of hand. Your interpretation is not backed up in anyway by Scripture.
I have show clear examples in scripture which do demonstrate why this would be symbolic, and how God’s Word is implicated in it all. I haven’t seen anyone able to refute those yet.
Actually as I have said before, the other metaphors before, everyone understood them to be metaphors. So you don’t have anyone saying " How can he possibly say he is the door". Because in Hebrew everyone understood that he was talking in metaphors.

But notice in John 6, up to verse 48, you do not hear any complaints from them either. At this stage when he said I am the bread of life, they thought he was still speaking figuratively so that was still easy to swallow. Then at versse 51 he goes:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is MY FLESH for the life of the world.”
Now the Jews are taken aback and asks how can he give us his flesh to eat?

But instead of saying : No you’re not hearing me correctly, I am only talking figuratively, he makes it even even clearer so they absolutely have no doubt that he means exactly what he is saying"

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever **eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. **Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Just take a look at that. There is probably no other discourse where he repeated himself as much as on this one. Look at how he keeps repeating over and over, eat me, eat my flesh, drink my blood. So in the end, they walked away saying “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

And do you know why Jesus could not say, no, you’ve got it wrong I am talking only figuratively? Do you know why they knew he could not possibly be talking figuratively?

Because the figurative meaning of “to eat someone’s flesh” is to injur someone by calumny. If he was talking figuratively, the whole discourse would sound very** stupid** because in effect he is telling them that “If you injur me and do all sorts of calumny against me, you will have eternal life”. And since Jesus could not possibly be saying that, they knew he was talking literally.

Notice, they used to follow Him before but once He started saying this they left.

You see, only the true believers, stuck with him. So I suppose you could say that you are not a true believer. Because you are only sticking with Him because you do not believe His words. You believe Paul when He writes but when it comes down to Christ’s words you go like the other disciples who left him. You say no, he couldn’t possibly have meant that.

Early on John 6, on verse 27, he says that to do the work of God, you must believe in the one whom God sent. This requirement of belief for the hard teaching that was to follow. Only if you truly believe in Jesus can you accept it. But they did not truly believe, so they left.

The apostles however, could not really understand it either but they stuck by him anyway. And one year later, at the last supper, the penny started to drop.
 
Hi, Protestant101,

Sorry to have arrived late at this discussion …😃 but, I did read some of the previous posts and would like to offer a comment or two.
Yes Sir, I have noticed that “structure” you refer to many times. The more I go over it, the more I feel you are wrong in making an exception to the idea of Jesus using the metaphor idea when He used “flesh” or “blood” to describe Himself.
I honestly can understand your feelings in this matter. Truly, it really is a “hard saying”. But, in all charity, we all need to move away from an emotional response based upon feelings and on to an intellectual response. The best advice is to re-read Benedictus2’s previous response - he has all the material there. 👍

Here is a ‘non-feeling’ approach: Look at both the words and actions in all of John 6. Now, look at the people that Christ was speaking to in each of the three major events. Once we have this, let’s put them all together for a true understanding of what the inspired Word of God is telling us in this chapter of John.

**1.) John 6:1-13 Jesus is in a desolate place, “…across the Sea of Galilee…” there are the 12 Apostles + 5,000 men (plus an uncounted number of women and children). Jesus had been preaching to this group (but, this specific material is not recorded). The assumption is that all were hungry. Jesus takes care of everyone’s hungar by going beyond the laws of nature and multiplying the loaves and fishes.

2.) John 6:14-24 Jesus leaves the crowd that wanted to make Him ‘king’, has the Apostles sail/row across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum - and while this little boat is about 3-4 miles Jesus is seen walking on the water. Jesus goes beyond the laws of nature twice: 1-walking on water and 2-having the boat arrive immediately in Caernaum. Since Jesus did not make vain or useless gestures, the thinking is these events were in preparation for something else.

3.) John 6: 25-71 Jesus is quite aware that this group sees Him as another ‘free lunch’ and He immediately crushes this misconception. This was probably another hungry group - and, now their hopes for free-loading off of Jesus have been dashed. Noticed it takes a while for them to get the idea that Jesus will not be feeding them with regular bread. Disappointment must be running high - and here Jesus keeps talking about food. Any idea that Jesus’ discourse was about regular food was also dashed - so much so that they left in digust, and no longer followed Him. **
The plain sense of the words must be taken first. The entire chapter sets the stage of Jesus not being limited by the laws of nature. (He is also not held to our particular sense of what the Bible means! Recall the salvation statement of Jesus on the cross to “Good Thief” - this guy had not been not baptized with water and up until the last it is not known if he had any faith!! But, we have the very Word of God telling us that the “Good Thief” would this day be with Him in heaven!) Our God is not bound.

The essence of the argument, at least as I see it, is that no one walked out on Christ when He compared Himself to: a vine, a door, a vine dresser, the Son of the Owner of the vineyard, etc. They walked out when He said that you either eat my Flesh and drink my Blood or you have no life in you. Even one of the Twelve - Judas - totally failed this challenge.
It’s never going to mean what you want it to; just because you guys keep quoting it over and over, and trying to isolate it from the rest of Scripture.

I have show clear examples in scripture which do demonstrate why this would be symbolic, and how God’s Word is implicated in it all. I haven’t seen anyone able to refute those yet.
It is not really a case of isolating anything from the rest of Scripture. The Passover Feast, the Pascal Lamb and the account of Matthew, Mark and Luke at this Last Supper - all point to God’s power over nature - and that all of this is revealed and in context.

As I see it, the entire issue of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ being under the appearance of Bread and Wine rests on the Word of God. Christ is God and did not lie to us. Christ is God and has the power to go beyond the laws of nature. Christ is God and requires that we believe in Him.

Historically - as recorded in Acts and the other Epistles of the NT. Christ is present in the consecrated Bread and Wine. The Early Church Fathers wrote about this Divine Presence and our need for the Holy Eucharist. Christ said His Church would not be overcome by the powers of hell: the CC is the Chruch being addressed here. There can be no error in doctrinal matters because God said the Holy Spirit would guide His Church. 1500 years later we have people who revolted from the teachings of Christ - (not to belabor the point, the Holy Eucharist has nothing to do with Indulgences) and the CC that Christ established on Peter as its rock.

The burden of proof is on you. After reading your posts, I honestly do not think you have met this burden. Merely saying that you do not believe -and then accusing others of believing because we reference John 6, is not a valid proof. Why?

Because it is a circular argument that can be reduced to: I do not believe because I do not believe. For a group that usually enjoys being called “Literal” when it comes to the Bible - excluding the plain meaning of Christ’s words in John 6 is not singular - it is simply a contradiction and deliberate distortion to fit the desire to break from Christ’s Church.

Like one of the other posters identified, there is real hope if you and I continue to read the Word of God. Please pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we all move toward God’s Love and Grace.

God bless
 
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