Why Do We Take The Bible Literally ?

[maryrev12]

Mary and mel you have been informative, kind, and sincere to the questions and god bless you for that, especially your patience!catholic wemon are great examples of love and patience!

thank you- I believe Melanieanne was dialogging long before I stepped in!

 

[Bill_Pick]

if I may add…
Consider this:
1 Corinthians 10:15-16
15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?

The Spirit in response to the prayers of the Priest takes the bread and the wine and gives us in return the actual body and blood of our risen Lord!

and what of Mark and matt.

 

[pismopal]

Why do Catholics believe in the real presence and others do not? It is as simple as this…If you believe in the real presence you will be Catholic. I came to the Church because of this initially and will stay because of this but not only because of this. I invite others to consider the words in John 6 carefully…and personally…without listening to what others may say. The Eucharist calls…all one needs to do is heed the call…everything else will fall into place.

 

[maryrev12]

and what of Mark and matt.

I didnt want to empty my pockets all at once!

 

[Fisher]

Why do Catholics believe in the real presence and others do not? It is as simple as this…If you believe in the real presence you will be Catholic. I came to the Church because of this initially and will stay because of this but not only because of this. I invite others to consider the words in John 6 carefully…and personally…without listening to what others may say. The Eucharist calls…all one needs to do is heed the call…everything else will fall into place.

You ask, Do you not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Some may not know the meaning of the term Eucharist. It is “thanksgiving.” Oh yes, dear friends, every instructed Christian believes in the real presence in the Eucharist, but He does not believe that the bread ceases to be anything but bread and he does not believe that the wine ceases to be anything but wine. He does not believe in a strange, mysterious transformation of cereal bread and of wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. But he believes this: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name (as Jesus said) there am I in the midst.” Some of the sweetest moments of my life have been spent at the Table of the Lord, communing with the Blessed One who of old said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and faith’s eye could discern Him there standing in the midst, showing His wounds and spreading His hands.

I heard it said that"Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; Protestants believe in the real absence." But that is false. Protestants do not believe that the bread and wine undergo any mystic change, but they do believe that as you eat and drink in remembrance of Christ, Christ is present in His sweet and wonderful way, manifesting Himself to the hearts of His beloved people so that by faith they are enabled to feed upon Him. We feed upon Him in remembrance. We look back and think of the sorrows He bore. We contemplate His cross and bitter passion, and as we do, we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, and as we feast on Christ we find our love for those things for which Christ died upon the cross becoming less, and our love for those blessed things into which He would lead us through the new and living way, through the veil into the holiest, becoming greater, for we become like that upon which we feed.

Now turn to the Gospel of Mark and get his account of the same Supper.
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.”

“And as they did eat.” I would draw your attention to that. Every Roman Catholic is instructed to take the Sacrament of the Mass fasting. Have you read that after “they did eat, Jesus took bread.” They were just concluding the Passover meal. And “Jesus took bread

Now I turn you to the account given by Luke,

“And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”

‘As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.’ If you don’t believe He is coming again you’d better cut that out. It is a witness that the Christ who died is coming again. He says, While you are waiting for Me, do this in remembrance of Me."

“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shah be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

Then in the 10th chapter of the same Epistle we read in verse 16:

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” Verse 21: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.”

The Apostle John does not give us any account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, but after Christ’s ascension and after the conversion of Saul of Tarsus when he became the Apostle Paul, a special revelation was given to him, and in the 11th chapter of 1st Corinthians we get the full account of it. Read from verse 20:

“When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What! have ye not houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord (the risen, ascended, glorified Lord) that which also I delivered unto yen, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed (the night in which He was to know experimentally the untrustworthiness of the human heart) took bread: and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come."

Observe how this feast links together the two great facts of Christianity, the death of Christ and His second coming. The Lord’s Supper is taken in remembrance of One who died, but as we take it we look forward and wait for His coming again.

 

[SpiritMeadow]

A thread that opens with why do ALL non-RC’s …is wrong from the beginning. Not all do as you say take the bible literally and many have eucharist and believe in the real presence. It would be better to define exactly what non-RC group you are referring to. The former suggests that the OP is quite unfamiliar with any faith tradition but his own I would suggest since it is on its face inaccurate.

 

[maryrev12]

Observe how this feast links together the two great facts of Christianity, the death of Christ and His second coming. The Lord’s Supper is taken in remembrance of One who died, but as we take it we look forward and wait for His coming again.

you had to give a long explanation becuase - as I said eslewhere in this thread- Catholics take the Bible more literally than prots. The title of this thread is just wrong!

anyhooo…did you read my posts? God Bless you for seeking the truth- the Lord is leading you into the fullness of truth by bringing you here. And this very issue is dear to his heart- that you understand it and seek Him in the Eucharist ( and yes I knew its meaning- I think most here do ) Keep challenging the answers are here!! Yours is the new teaching… for over 1000 years Christians have believed in the real presense of Christ’s flesh and blood in this sacrament.

In Him

 

[sambos671]

Observe how this feast links together the two great facts of Christianity, the death of Christ and His second coming. The Lord’s Supper is taken in remembrance of One who died, but as we take it we look forward and wait for His coming again.

you had to give a long explanation becuase - as I said eslewhere in this thread- Catholics take the Bible more literally than prots. The title of this thread is just wrong!

anyhooo…did you read my posts? God Bless you for seeking the truth- the Lord is leading you into the fullness of truth by bringing you here. And this very issue is dear to his heart- that you understand it and seek Him in the Eucharist ( and yes I knew its meaning- I think most here do ) Keep challenging the answers are here!! Yours is the new teaching… for over 1000 years Christians have believed in the real presense of Christ’s flesh and blood in this sacrament.

In Him

This is true. Ignatius and Justin make this very clear. And Eucharist means Thanksgiving freely given.

 

[MelanieAnne]

I recently saw a talk given by Fr. John Corapi that touched on this subject. This part of the talk really got my attention so I wrote it down ~

“Jesus called the Devil a liar and the Father of Lies. And the only one who wants you to believe that Jesus isn’t really truly and substantially present in the Eucharist is SATAN for he knows that the power is in the Eucharist… only the enemy of souls wants you to believe He is not really there.”

The LIE is that Jesus isn’t there in the Eucharist. That’s what Satan wants ~ for people to believe Jesus isn’t there. If Satan can convince people that Jesus isn’t there, why should anyone believe anything else about the Christian faith? They can then fade away into something they find more interesting. It’s a LIE from the Father of Lies.

There are many lies that have inserted themselves into faith. This is not a new phenomenon. Mormonism teaches that we can all be Gods, despite that Genesis proves to us that this LIE was totally false. The LIE that Jesus is not present in the Eucharist is no different, it’s still a lie but this time it’s about Jesus Himself and His sacrifice for us.

Given the choice between what Jesus taught and some other person’s opinion, I’ll take Jesus every day! He taught what is now known as the Catholic faith. I challenge those that have doubts to read the works of the Early Church Fathers ~ those that were taught by the Apostles. Then there will be no question in your mind. The Truth is available to you ~ you just need to choose to find it!

 

[Patrick_Murebil]

I’m taking by your post that you will not agree to my rule so have a nice day.

In Christ Richard

Richard, Richard, Richard,

I see that you are still making “rules” as a condition (or would it be more appropriate to say “means of escape”) for your continuing discussions when someone (a Catholic) provides you with a wealth of Scripture to support their beliefs.

Believe me when I tell you that I know just how frustrating it is for a protestant, particularly a Seventh-day Adventist, when a Catholic provides a multitude of Bible verses to support their beliefs which you do not think are Biblical.

But don’t be so quick to leave the discussion you were having with maryrev12 and MelanieAnne…I believe that if you continue the direction you were going and listen to what they were saying, you will be deeply blessed!!

God bless all!!!

 

[scooter469]

Bread mentioned in the Bible.

bread of affliction (Deu 16:3, 1ki 22:27)
bread of tears Psa 80:5
bread of sorrows Psa 127:2
bread of wickedness Pro 4:17
bread of deceit Pro 20:17
bread of an evil eye Pro 23:6
bread of idleness Pro 31:27
bread of adversity Isa 30:20
bread of the increase of the earth Isa 30:23
bread of mourners Hsa 9:4
bread of men Eze 24:17
bread of provision Jos 9:5
bread of God Jhn 6:33
bread of life Jhn 6:48

This is truly great

 

[jargon631]

hello all…i hope no one minds if i ease my way in with a different slant…and please take no offence, for none is intended…when i was an adventist i took the bible literally because i was conditioned to do so…now…as a non-christian…i dont quite know how to take it…do i take it as a historically semi-accurate record?..do i take it as just another philosophy for guiding ones life?..do i take it as a series of interrelated stories that teach morality?..i know i dont take it literally, but to be quite honest, im not sure why…fd…

 

[maryrev12]

hello all…i hope no one minds if i ease my way in with a different slant…and please take no offence, for none is intended…when i was an adventist i took the bible literally because i was conditioned to do so…now…as a non-christian…i dont quite know how to take it…do i take it as a historically semi-accurate record?..do i take it as just another philosophy for guiding ones life?..do i take it as a series of interrelated stories that teach morality?..i know i dont take it literally, but to be quite honest, im not sure why…fd…

Well Hi
How we interpret the scriptures is of utmost importance. When you-personally- read something, it goes through your eyes- into your brain- and there its sorted and interpreted. I guess that sounded silly …- but, each person can interpret meanings differently. Thats why we have Supreme court justices to interpret the Constitution. The most important document in our country can not be subjected to everyones personal interpretation. That would lead to chaos as you can imagine!

The Bible is more important than the constitution!!

Jesus started His Church- he himself as the cornerstone, Peter and the apostles as the foundation- and it grows with each generation. The Holy Bible did not exist for about 400 years. The Church took the writings and prayed over them, and gave us the New Testament letters to include, then attached it to the Torah, and gave us the Bible. The Church- sealed by Christ with the Holy Spirit, is the interpeter.

take care and God Bless
Seek the Lord with your whole heart, and you will find Him- let Him change your life forever!

Some things are easy to understand in scripture- others may need defining. We look to His Church for guidance, since He Himself is the head.

 

[jargon631]

hi maryrev12…well…the bible is more important than the constitution if you regard it as an absolute truth…i think the bible has a great deal of cultural signifigance due to the fact that our society was originally based on the judeo-christian ethic(my deist friends would argue that point, though)…now it seems to be based on the credit-celebrity non-ethic…i think that the bible has a number of good principles to be followed, but (just my thoughts mind you) i think that hinduism, buddhism and islam do also…fd…

 

[maryrev12]

hi maryrev12…well…the bible is more important than the constitution if you regard it as an absolute truth…i think the bible has a great deal of cultural signifigance due to the fact that our society was originally based on the judeo-christian ethic(my deist friends would argue that point, though)…now it seems to be based on the credit-celebrity non-ethic…i think that the bible has a number of good principles to be followed, but (just my thoughts mind you) i think that hinduism, buddhism and islam do also…fd…

We do not regard the Bible as an absolute truth… Jesus is the absolute truth. But I think I get your meaning. We use the Bible to grow closer to Christ. Without trusting in Jesus, then yes, it becomes a book filled with good information on the times of Jesus and it has good rules to follow for a happy life.

But it is not the Bible we trust, it is Christ. We trust that Jesus loves us, that he gave his authority to first Peter, then the other 11 bishops and he promised he would always lead them as they pray and hand that authority over to each new generation. Jesus wants to be in a personal relationship with each of us. Whenever we as human beings try to follow the rules laid out in scripture, we find ourselves failing from time to time. Without that relationship with Christ, it can be a daunting task to follow them. He promises to give you the help you need when you trust him. You have to admit that He is greater than you- and ask Him to forgive you for your sins and failures. Allow Him to be your strength when you are weak.

I agree that hinduism, buddhism and islam have some good teachings. Theres a saying in christianity, that says " you will know them by their fruit" We as Christians profess the love of our triune God by actively working to spread that love. What impresses me about christianity is… I have never seen a Budhist Hospital or an Islamic Hospital- ya know? But Christians not only have hospitals, but we are the largest charitable organization on the planet!

 

[jargon631]

We do not regard the Bible as an absolute truth… Jesus is the absolute truth. But I think I get your meaning. We use the Bible to grow closer to Christ. Without trusting in Jesus, then yes, it becomes a book filled with good information on the times of Jesus and it has good rules to follow for a happy life.

But it is not the Bible we trust, it is Christ. We trust that Jesus loves us, that he gave his authority to first Peter, then the other 11 bishops and he promised he would always lead them as they pray and hand that authority over to each new generation. Jesus wants to be in a personal relationship with each of us. Whenever we as human beings try to follow the rules laid out in scripture, we find ourselves failing from time to time. Without that relationship with Christ, it can be a daunting task to follow them. He promises to give you the help you need when you trust him. You have to admit that He is greater than you- and ask Him to forgive you for your sins and failures. Allow Him to be your strength when you are weak.

I agree that hinduism, buddhism and islam have some good teachings. Theres a saying in christianity, that says " you will know them by their fruit" We as Christians profess the love of our triune God by actively working to spread that love. What impresses me about christianity is… I have never seen a Budhist Hospital or an Islamic Hospital- ya know? But Christians not only have hospitals, but we are the largest charitable organization on the planet!

you know what?..that is probably the most sensible and sincere answer i have ever recieved to my feelings about the bible…most of the time people just “verse” at me…that doesnt help much when one is not a christian…thanks…fd

 

[maryrev12]

you know what?..that is probably the most sensible and sincere answer i have ever recieved to my feelings about the bible…most of the time people just “verse” at me…that doesnt help much when one is not a christian…thanks…fd

Well- wow. Sure. thanks! You know I’ve been involved in many different christian churches. What I love about the Catholic Church is that it was the first denomination that I ever belonged to with Jesus’s name as the founder. Names like Calvin and Wesley and Luther were very prevelant.

the Catholic Church also gave the holy scriptures to Christians of every generation. Without His Church to interpret it those outside the church authority define there own interpretations as true and hence the body of Christ known as the Church has been splintered and fragmented. It causes our Lord great sorrow.

In the teachings of the Church you will find the deep meanings of life including the meaning of suffering. Again I am not a cradle catholic and discovering the truths here has been mind blowing… surprisingly!! I thought it was just a stuffy old institution that was outdated and in need of reform!! wow!! was I wrong!

Yes the Holy Scriptures are beautiful and true. But only because Christ willed His Church to make it. It is His Church that guides us because Christ wills it. And the Church is filled with imperfect people yet because of Christ - she will never teach a lie when it comes to our salvation. It is Gods promise- and yes it is in the scriptures!

We are very glad you are here- there are many very knowledgable people here- ask seek and yes pray. One thing I know is absolutely true… God wants you- God loves you…intimately.

in Him
mary