This thread has gotten way off track. In no way do I wish to insult anyone’s beliefs. I respect the fact that you believe in the authority of The Church. However, I do not, and have a vast array of reasons that I don’t wish to discuss inside this thread.
You believe the early Roman Church was a successor of Peter and I don’t. Let’s leave that for another thread.
I appologize for getting off track and stepping on anyone’s toes. That is not my intent.
I do wish to defend my beliefs in the context of the title of this thread. We believe we are following Jesus’ commands. We (about a billion of us) have read John 6 and it makes perfect sense. Jesus has a preaching style that is quite unique, but this is not a coded message. He’s making an important point. We don’t think the point is to eat Him. The flesh profits nothing.
If you want to believe otherwise, that’s fine and we respect it. We only ask that you respect us in kind.
Eden:
Again you are not showing how the same can not be said for your religion or any of the myriad of other Christian religions founded by men and based on “Sola Scriptura”.
I don’t follow a religion, I follow Jesus Christ. Christianity is based on Jesus Christ, not a church. No man has founded my “religion”. My “religion” is based on Jesus Christ, scripture (God’s Word) and some traditions of men that can be authenticated by scripture. We are not that different.
The entirety of John 6 illustrates that the Eucharist is literally the Body and Blood of Christ. Are you calling the entirety of John 6 a “sound byte”?
No. I don’t know how to make myself any clearer.
A book is read completely. Verses were not meant to stand alone (as soundbites)
John 6:51 is a soundbite. I hear it used to support the Eucharist. However, I don’t hear these same people using John 6:35 or John 6:63. Instead they gloss over them. I read the full context of John 6 and it makes perfect sense, especially this soundbite:
35 Jesus Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. **He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
**I know he wasn’t literally claiming I’d never be hungry or thirsty, but wanted me to come to Him and believe.
I can think of no reason why God would encode his Word so that a message so important would need an interpretter. Sure, stem cell research wasn’t written about, but this is pretty clear.
Reading John 6 has 2 distinct viewpoints from 2 groups. Cathollics believe it is literal and non-catholics believe it’s metaphorical. When I look at where Catholics get their viewpoint, it generally is from John 6 through the lens of their clergy’s teachings. Non-catholics get it from John 6 alone.
That is what makes you Catholic, you believe this is literal. If I did, I would be also.
-Pax Vobiscum