Questions regarding Baptism and the Eucharist...?

[shark76z]

I have a Baptist friend who very much dislikes the Catholic Church (go figure). Anyway, I have 2 questions. First, he claims that infant baptism is a “load of **** because infants cannot sin and are preserved from sin until age 12” (exact quote from him). How do I explain original sin to him?

And secondly, he cannot understand why Catholics don’t let non-Catholics receive the Eucharist. He claims that what he does is none of the Catholic Church’s business. How do I explain to him the Church’s Eucharist discipline?

Thanks.

 

[MarkThompson]

And secondly, he cannot understand why Catholics don’t let non-Catholics receive the Eucharist. He claims that what he does is none of the Catholic Church’s business. How do I explain to him the Church’s Eucharist discipline?

With respect to this, if he’s in a Catholic church at a Catholic Mass, you’re darn tootin it’s the Church’s business.

With respect to infant baptism, this site has several essays about it which you can read here.

 

[SMHW]

I have a Baptist friend who very much dislikes the Catholic Church (go figure). Anyway, I have 2 questions. First, he claims that infant baptism is a “load of **** because infants cannot sin and are preserved from sin until age 12” (exact quote from him). How do I explain original sin to him?

And secondly, he cannot understand why Catholics don’t let non-Catholics receive the Eucharist. He claims that what he does is none of the Catholic Church’s business. How do I explain to him the Church’s Eucharist discipline?

Thanks.

I’m going to address the second of your questions. If I have some time I’ll come back to the first.

Your friend ought to be familiar with Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. In Chapter 11, verses 23 to 32 Paul speaks about Communion. Verses 23-26 describe the Last Supper and what happens. Verses 27-32 speak about what is required of a Christian in order to receive Communion.

What your Baptist friend does not believe (that we Catholics do) is that the concept of Remembrance mentioned in verses 24 and 25 is not our modern concept of remembrance. To the Israelites, the Passover was not just a commemoration of a past event. It was a means of making the Israelite people present at that very first Passover. Likewise, Catholics understand that the Mass is not merely looking back at something that happened in the past; it is a timeless activity. We Catholics are participating in the SAME passover meal as Jesus did and are transported through space and time to the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary. You could say that Catholics believe there has really only ever been and ever will be ONE Mass.

The next passages in 1 Corinthians 11 speak about receiving Communion worthily and recognizing the Body and Blood of the Lord. We Catholics believe that anyone who does not believe that Communion is the actual Body, Blood, Soul, and divinity of Jesus is guilty of receiving unworthily. Our Catholic rules about who can receive are partially there for our own protection. If your friend believed what Catholics believe then he would become Catholic. Since he apparently does not believe what Catholics believe he would be eating and drinking judgment on himself.

 

[peary]

I have a Baptist friend who very much dislikes the Catholic Church (go figure). Anyway, I have 2 questions. First, he claims that infant baptism is a “load of **** because infants cannot sin and are preserved from sin until age 12” (exact quote from him). How do I explain original sin to him?

And secondly, he cannot understand why Catholics don’t let non-Catholics receive the Eucharist. He claims that what he does is none of the Catholic Church’s business. How do I explain to him the Church’s Eucharist discipline?

Thanks.

You can’t. And it was a Baptist who ACTUALLY said to me some years ago - “If the King James Bible was good enuff fer Saint Paul, then it’s good enuff fer me.”

How can you counter THAT?

 

[JerrySeibert]

If you Baptist friend knows his Bible. Then he should remember that “Original sin” comes from the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve’s fall from grace.
And as John the “Baptist” said, "Here is the Lamb of God the one who takes away the sin of the world. “World” original sin not, ones own sin. We all are faced with this position in our own human state. Also, (in the Bible) men and women at one time lived to be 7-800 hundred years old. And as a punishment (for sin) God lowered our lifespan to
70 years 80 if you are strong.
Forgive me for not looking up all of these quotes. But, it is all in the Bible.