Why is receiving the Eucharist not cannibalism?

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Simple answer- we partake through receiving the Eucharist in Jesus resurrected body, not his earthly body. In Revelatiom, John sees the lamb standing if front of the alter as if slain. This is Jesus standing and offering a continuing sacrifice on our behalf.

This is prefigured in the old testament manna from heaven. The manna was food from heaven just as is the Eucharist. Once again, the new testament is hidden in the old and the old is fulfilled in the new. 👍
 
Porknpie said:
Simple answer- we partake through receiving the Eucharist in Jesus resurrected body, not his earthly body. In Revelatiom, John sees the lamb standing if front of the alter as if slain. This is Jesus standing and offering a continuing sacrifice on our behalf.

This is prefigured in the old testament manna from heaven. The manna was food from heaven fulfilled in the new. 👍
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I agree with you. It is the same situation when Nicodemus was speaking to Jesus in

John 3:3-12

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is **born again **he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “**How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water **and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is **born of the **Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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  9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Jesus was telling Nicodemus the answer was meant to be taken in a spiritual sense.
 
1ke said:
A better question… what makes you think it IS cannibalism?
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-Because in the least nuanced and most conventional understanding, cannibalism is simply the human practice of eating the flesh of other human beings, no ifs, ands, or buts.
  1. Christ is a human being
  2. We profess that when we eat the Holy Eucharist, we are literally eating the body (flesh) of Christ.
-**Ignatius: **No need for the victim to be “dead” to qualify as cannibalism; otherwise cannibalism would be defined as the human practice of eating the flesh of a human corpse.
  • The original question could have been alternatively phrased as: "Does reception of Holy Communion constitute a sub-category of cannibalism, or a distinct category altogether. Why?"
 
The cannibalism claims were a major reason for the early Christians not having those learning about the faith (Catechumins) present during mass. they needed to be well catechised prior to learning that particular fact. It was also a claim against the Christians during the times prior to emperor Constantine.

Is it cannibalism to eat God? Jesus was fully human and fully divine. What we are partaking of is the divinity not the humanity.
 
foundthelight said:
Jesus was fully human and fully divine. What we are partaking of is the divinity not the humanity.
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I’d be careful about that. We are fully partaking of the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ. That means his divinity AND his humanity.
 
fpesce said:
I agree with you. It is the same situation when Nicodemus was speaking to Jesus in

John 3:3-12

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is **born again **he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “**How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water **and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is **born of the **Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Code: 
  9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Jesus was telling Nicodemus the answer was meant to be taken in a spiritual sense.
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We are “born again” through baptism. Jesus is speaking of the need for baptism which requires water and the work of the Holy Spirit. Immediately after these verses they go and baptize Judeans in v23 and v26. In Mark 16:16, and consistent with the text above, Jesus says whoever believes AND is baptized will be saved. The disciples understood baptism and the Eucharist were key parts of their preaching the good news in the early church. The ECF understood this as well, wrote about it and in part accepted the canon based on it. 🙂
 
I didn’t see this answer above.

The Eucharistic presence is really Christ’s body, but veiled (CCC#1404). It is his body ontologically.*…in the august sacrament of the holy Eucharist, after the consecration of the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly, really, and substantially contained under the species of those sensible things. (Council of Trent, 13.1)*In taking the Eucharist, our bodies do not metabolize empirical human tissue. Cannibalism does. The Eucharist is a sacramental consumption. Cannibalism is not. They are not the same.
 
DaddyGirl said:
I think her/his question is a good one.
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All questions asked in good faith are good ones.

I don’t think anybody has yet answered MY question, which is, what exactly is bad about cannibalism? Until we can be precise about the objection, we can’t answer it.
 
DaddyGirl said:
I don’t think anyone has said it is “bad”. (have they?)
Seems the OP just wants to know if the definition of cannibalism relates here.

Are* you* saying it’s “bad”, and you want to know why?
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People who make this charge are clearly attempting to paint the Eucharist and the Church in a bad light, and have been for 2000 years. Therefore they seem to think that cannibalism is bad, and obviously so. They may be right, but we need to determine WHY cannibalism is bad and obviously so. Because then we can see how the Eucharist compares against this obviously bad thing.
 
Problem:

P1: Cannibalism is the human practice of eating the flesh of other humans.
P2: Reception of the Holy Eucharist is the human practice of eating the flesh of Jesus (a human being).
P3: Therefore, reception of the Holy Eucharist is cannibalism.
MarcoPolo said:
In taking the Eucharist, our bodies do not metabolize empirical human tissue. Cannibalism does. The Eucharist is a sacramental consumption. Cannibalism is not. They are not the same.
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Excellent answer.

Indeed. In the conventional definition of cannibalism, it is implied that the human flesh being consumed is tangible human flesh, i.e flesh in its biological form.

Solution:

P1: Cannibalism is the human practice of eating the flesh of other humans [in its biologically empirical form].
P2: Reception of the Holy Eucharist is the human practice of eating the flesh of Jesus [not in its biologically empirical form]
P3: Therefore, reception of the Holy Eucharist is NOT cannibalism.
 
 
Cannibalism as practiced around world and historically involves killing a human being to eat their flesh…
 
Porknpie said:
Cannibalism as practiced around world and historically involves killing a human being to eat their flesh…
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You make a good point. The question here is: do we kill Jesus (over and over again)? We Catholics sure don’t think we do. Do ‘haters’ (to borrow a rap slang) think that Catholics do so? If so, do they believe that Jesus can somehow physically die again? If not, why in the world would they think that we do, when we clearly don’t? Isn’t that bearing false witness? (Leaving aside the Ten Commandments, any mature person should be fully aware that putting words in other peoples’ mouths and calumniating them is just sloppy and childish arguing, not to mention very rude and uncharitable - I mean, it’s all common sense, really no need to point that out.)
 
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