What Tree is This?

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Socrates4Jesus

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For me, my faith is like an inviting forest, with many wondrous trees. Each tree is a truth i find in the Bible. For the longest time i’ve wondered beneath the cool shade of these truths, thinking they were all of one kind, like the pines and oaks are the trees of a disingenuous forest.

A few months ago i discovered one tree seemingly unlike the rest. Like finding a palm tree among snow-clothed pines, it did not seem to belong. That tree is this:

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

These words of Jesus in John 6:55 don’t seem to fit. I mean, either i’ve been blind to what kind of Protestant forest i’ve been walking through, or i’m now blind to what kind of tree i think i’ve found.

Will anyone help me out?
 
Looks like pic was taken in NZ or Aus. There seem to be Eucalytus trees in background.

Yes it is possibly a date-palm or a pandanus.
Then again it could be a clever composite, a trick-shot or a computer creation.
Nothing is what it seems these days. Good luck on your quest.
 
Socrates4Jesus said:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00c79PFbkfaBY/610x.jpg

A few months ago i discovered one tree seemingly unlike the rest. Like finding a palm tree among snow-clothed pines, it did not seem to belong. That tree is this:

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

These words of Jesus in John 6:55 don’t seem to fit. I mean, either i’ve been blind to what kind of Protestant forest i’ve been walking through, or i’m now blind to what kind of tree i think i’ve found.

Will anyone help me out?
Click to expand...
If you’ll accept it, you’ve found the “tree of life” - Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, His risen and glorified body, blood, soul and divinity.

Nita

Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
 
I’m on board Soc, but at this point I’m not sure what to say.

Beyond that, I do hope that all is well with you and your family.

Welcome back, and God bless.
 
Here is a pretty good exposition on the teaching of the Real Presence from scripture and the Early Church Fathers.
 
Soc,

I have something for you that might be of interest and some help in your quest for understanding. If you’re interested PM me with your email address and I’ll send you an article of interest. It deals with the Eucharist as prefigured in the OT and gives a source for exploration of the connections between us and our older Jewish brothers and sisters in covenant relationship with God.

In Christ Jesus Crucified,

Pax
 
Nita said:
If you’ll accept it, you’ve found the “tree of life” - Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, His risen and glorified body, blood, soul and divinity.

Nita

Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Click to expand...
Perhaps the tree that seems out of place is deliberately placed among the others so as to be seen and not overlooked. Perhaps this is the pearl of great price or the treasure hidden in the field. Once a man finds it, he sells all that he has and buys that field or pearl.

I believe that you have come upon the treasure that you seek which is the source and summit of our faith.

In peace and love…Pax
 
tobbias88 said:
Looks like pic was taken in NZ or Aus. There seem to be Eucalytus trees in background.

Yes it is possibly a date-palm or a pandanus.
Then again it could be a clever composite, a trick-shot or a computer creation.
Nothing is what it seems these days. Good luck on your quest.
Click to expand...
You’re wooden literal interpretation of what i wrote would make a fundamentalist Protestant proud, Tobbias!

😉
 
Nita said:
If you’ll accept it, you’ve found the “tree of life” - Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, His risen and glorified body, blood, soul and divinity.

Nita

Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Click to expand...
Well, Nita, you missed all the fun (more than a few would call it torture) of seeing me come to the point of being willing to accept it. If you have a lot of time to read, you might enjoy the past conversation, here:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=231423

Yes, i believe the Holy Spirit helped me see the connection between the metaphor of a tree that seems out of place and the Tree of Life in Genesis and Revelation.

And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(Genesis 2)

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
(Revelation 2)
 
Pax said:
I’m on board Soc, but at this point I’m not sure what to say.

Beyond that, I do hope that all is well with you and your family.

Welcome back, and God bless.
Click to expand...
No need to say anything, Pax, but i have something to say to you: Thank you!

Our conversation led me to take a closer look at the Apostle John’s words in chapter six of his gospel. All the words might fit the Protestant understanding of the passage except these:

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
(John 6:55)

Funny how in one breath Jesus could say something that revealed the truth for which i was seeking. I’ve gained a new respect for the writer of Hebrew’s observation:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
(Hebrews 4)
 
Socrates4Jesus said:
…
…
Funny how in one breath Jesus could say something that revealed the truth for which i was seeking. I’ve gained a new respect for the writer of Hebrew’s observation:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
(Hebrews 4)
Click to expand...
Scripture has certainly hit me that way as well.
 
You continue your already prayeful journey. You have friends here to support you in your walk. There will be others that you will meet in your own locale that can meet with you face to face and also help along the way.

You will have many of us here that will keep you in our prayers.
 
Socrates4Jesus said:
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00c79PFbkfaBY/610x.jpg

For me, my faith is like an inviting forest, with many wondrous trees. Each tree is a truth i find in the Bible. For the longest time i’ve wondered beneath the cool shade of these truths, thinking they were all of one kind, like the pines and oaks are the trees of a disingenuous forest.

A few months ago i discovered one tree seemingly unlike the rest. Like finding a palm tree among snow-clothed pines, it did not seem to belong. That tree is this:

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

These words of Jesus in John 6:55 don’t seem to fit. I mean, either i’ve been blind to what kind of Protestant forest i’ve been walking through, or i’m now blind to what kind of tree i think i’ve found.

Will anyone help me out?
Click to expand...
Dear Soc,
Code: 
              nice to see you're back !  :)
I don’t know whether I may be helpful ( although I know I’d like to be ) .

Probably it’s not our words now that count, but yours own.

You may want to up-date for us the status of your spiritual journey. The direction of your reflections and research in these months.

And, above all, your present main feelings and sensations.

You’re in my prayers.
 
Hello Soc, May we say welcome home, I’ll be praying for you.

How shall I make a return to the Lord
for all the good He has done for me?

The cup of Salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon
the name of the Lord. Psalm 116: 12-13
 
Sometimes we forget what the cross was made of.

Wood.

From a tree.

At the begining of Genesis we remember another tree.

Genesis 3:17
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have **eaten from the tree **about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

Adam disobeyed God’s command to not eat from the tree. The first sin. We call Original Sin.This sin is called original because it comes down to us through our origin, or descent, from Adam.

Romans 5:12 **
Therefore as through one man sin entered into the world **and through sin death, and **thus death has passed unto all men **because all have sinned.

The chief punishments of Adam which we inherit through original sin are: death, suffering, ignorance, and a strong inclination to sin.

**Wisdom 2:24 **
But, by the envy of the devil, death came into the world.

Genesis 3:19
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

Because of Adam’s sin heaven’s doors were closed to us.God the Father promised us someone who would redeem us.

**Genesis 3:15 **
I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait his heel.

Jesus the Christ bore all the sins of the world and sacrificed His life for us. He redeemed us.And God opened the doors to heaven for us.

1 Peter 2:24
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us–for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”–

**1 Corinthians 15:3 **
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

It had been written in the Old Testament that …

Deuteronomy 21:22
"If a man has committed **a sin worthy of death **and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

Well Jesus was carrying all our sins on His body.

1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Acts 10:39
"We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross.

Through a tree came death, Adam’s sin. And through a tree came life, Jesus’ crucifixion

What grows on a tree?

Fruit.

What do you do with fruit?

You eat it.
 
Pax said:
You continue your already prayeful journey. You have friends here to support you in your walk. There will be others that you will meet in your own locale that can meet with you face to face and also help along the way.

You will have many of us here that will keep you in our prayers.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Pax. As always, your prayers are desired.

🙂
 
pneuma07 said:
Dear Soc,
Code: 
              nice to see you're back !  :)
I don’t know whether I may be helpful ( although I know I’d like to be ) .

Probably it’s not our words now that count, but yours own.

You may want to up-date for us the status of your spiritual journey. The direction of your reflections and research in these months.

And, above all, your present main feelings and sensations.

You’re in my prayers.
Click to expand...
Thanks pneuma, for your prayers et. al. In answer to your request, i’ve spent some time at forums like these, winning arguments but losing something in the process. My gut feeling was that debating for debating’s sake was unfruitful. Then, i became influenced by Protestant teachers, some of whom quoted Mother Teresa: “Once you see truth, you can’t unsee it.” (Good quote, that!)

So, my visits here (especially the last one) were quests for truth. I began each new day’s series of posts with a prayer that my eyes would see the truth and my hands would type the words that would help others discover the same for themselves.

I suppose I have Socrates to thank for my quest for truth. He was one to always be willing to admit that anyone (especially himself) could be wrong. This was the only way to keep from being duped, he believed, and i agree with him. I adopted his method of seeking truth by asking probing questions, holding on to what stood up to such scrutiny and disregarding the rest. I eventually focused on the one issue that was the most important dividing line between Catholics and Protestants–the Eucharist.

After hundreds of posts, it all came down to the words of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. After all the words i typed and all the words so many typed in response, only these words opened my eyes:

“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”

I find it interesting that there are so few words He spoke in the 55th verse of the 6th chapter of John’s gospel that made the difference for me. Also fascinating is that there are 12 words (in English) which is the Jewish number for completeness. The words together form a complete answer to my question, “Is the Eucharist the true body and blood of Christ?” No words need to be added nor should any be taken away. In one breath He caused me to see the truth i cannot unsee.
 
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