The idea of the Real Presence makes my Christian dad very uncomfortable

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Hope7 said:
My question is, is there anyway to communicate to my dad the beauty you Catholics believe is behind this idea?
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How about changing it from “you Catholics” to “we Catholics”? 😉 A testimony from you—as a Catholic—would be far more powerful than anything we can tell you to tell him.
 
po18guy said:
Bible or Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christianity is a belief and emotion-based system. It is a system which preaches benefits and not sacrifice. From it comes the so-called “prosperity Gospel.” I view it like a hot-air balloon which needs constant feeding to stay aloft. For this reason, preachers shout, gesticulate, strut, and basically animate their words to maintain interest. The laity, their congregants, are waving their arms, singing and praising God.

All well and good. But when the
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I take it you’re making guesses based on popular media? I’ve been to at least a dozen different Protestant churches and none of them were like that. This may come as a shock to some, but not all Protestants are just emotion based wrecks who thrive off of the music and passion and then fall into a depression from Monday-Saturday each week. Some are grateful that God is the Lord of Reason and Truth and that He gave us brains to learn. And the entire church I was a part of would be horrified to hear that anyone believed them to be “waving their arms.” 😉

As a Protestant, I suffered profound grief and suffering over a long period of time. Even through those excruciating days, I knew that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and doesn’t change when our circumstances do. I knew that Christ is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and a comfort to those experiencing the same thing. I knew to “count it all joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for we know that the testing of our faith produces endurance. Endurance must complete it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.” I knew that, “All things work for the good of those who love God and have been called according to His purpose.”

So, respectfully, you are mistaken in your assertions that Protestants are “a mile wide but only an inch deep.” I would be happy to share my experience or answer any questions about what a rational Protestant service is like. 🙂
 
Both, I think? I never got super caught up in labels but I’m pretty sure my Catholic dad considered me Evangelical and a teacher in high school called me a Fundamentalist.
 
Well then, welcome to the deep end of the theological pool. It can be threatening - scary at times, but the water is fine and you have a Divine Lifeguard. I invite you to dig into Catholicism, watch Dr. David Anders on EWTN’s “Called to Communion”, and go from there.

Take it slow and easy and realize that virtually everything you have heard about Catholicism - even from Catholics - is not necessarily true. I would love to see you delve deeper into the faith, and will do my level best to properly inform you - within my limitations, of course!
 
Haha thanks. I was raised Catholic, left at 18, and 7 years later am returning.
 
po18guy said:
Cannibalism is the killing and taking for one’s own pleasure.
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There have been many types of cannibalism in history. It is very widely practiced in other species. Among humans it has been recorded in our earliest ancestors. It happens in some plays today. It can be done to give life, to memorialise the dead, to insult the dead, as a religious rite or because there is no other food.
 
po18guy said:
Cannibalism is the killing and taking for one’s own pleasure.
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Is that your own definition, or is it given by some dictionary. I went to dictionary.com and looked up their definition. They gave 6 definitions. Definitions 1 and 3 read as follows:
  1. the eating of human flesh by another human being.
  2. the ceremonial eating of human flesh or parts of the human body for magical or religious purposes, as to acquire the power or skill of a person recently killed.
    https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cannibalism
 
Oh, there are probably 1,000 definitions. I tried, and apparently failed to demonstrate the difference.
 
OK - as long as you are not the one being eaten, huh? In any event, cannibalism - a childish, immature post-reformation claim, means that someone must be killed. And so it is with Christ, but He is not dead, as the victims of purely human cannibalism are.
 
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po18guy said:
, there are probably 1,000 definitions.
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I didn’t know that there were 1000 definitions of cannibalism. Can you list those 1000 definitions or give us a link to the 1000 definitions of cannibalism?
 
AlNg said:
If Jesus is whole and entire in the Precious Bread alone, which includes both Body and Blood, why is it necessary to have a separate Consecration of the Wine? Why did Jesus consecrate both the Bread and the Wine?
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To be strictly theologically accurate, the wine is transformed into the blood of Christ, and the bread is transformed into the body of Christ. But Jesus is a living person, human and divine. Where his body is, there is his blood also, and where his blood is, there is his body also. That is called presence by virtue of concomitance.
 
Can you not tell when one is being tongue in cheek? Bottom line is that cannnibalism does not apply to Catholicism, or to any form of Christianity. Show us your money that it does.

Are you sea lioning us?
 
JimG said:
But Jesus is a living person, human and divine. Where his body is, there is his blood also, and where his blood is, there is his body also
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Why then is it necessary to have a separate Consecration of the Wine?
 
I have to agree with @Unique_name. My church is not like what you’ve described. Having grown up with misconceptions about the Catholic Church, I don’t blame you for such generalizations. However, I do encourage you to investigate more, since it is absolutely true that protestant churches can be deep, can embrace suffering, and can overall encompass much, much more than you described. This has been my experience.

Of course, I’m on this site because I can’t ignore some of the research I’ve done into Catholicism, but even if the Catholic Church is the “fullness of the faith” that doesn’t mean God doesn’t move through other churches. At least I certainly don’t believe that. I am so incredibly blessed to have had the upbringing I’ve had. It’s how I’ve met Jesus.

A side analogy – have you ever seen the TV show, “The West Wing”? (It’s my favorite.) The show follows a democratic white house, but at one point the president wants to hire this really smart republican girl to work there. When the girl gets back from her meeting, her Republican friends make jokes about the people she met at the White house, teasing them, calling them stupid, elitist, etc. Then Ainsley (the girl) responds, “Don’t say that…I said don’t say that. Say they’re smug and superior. Say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders, but don’t call them worthless. At least don’t do it in front of me. The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified, their intent is good. Their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots. And I’m their lawyer.” Anyways, it just made me think of this – feel free to disagree with protestants, but so many that I know follow Christ with their entire heart, even to the cross. I plead with you to keep that in mind.
 
Hm, yes I suppose it would! 🙂 I still have many obstacles I must overcome before I can “cross the Tiber”, but I am planning on attending RCIA this fall. So perhaps a personal testimony won’t be too far off!
 
I haven’t 100% become a believer, but I am definitely close. It is the main idea drawing me toward Catholicism,
 
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