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Sincere question for catholics.

Discussion in 'Free-For-All Archives' started by Gunther, Apr 8, 2005.

  1. violet

    violet Guest

    Yes, I know you quote from this author often, but I can't find where you sited the work you quote. I'm not saying you didn't, just that I can't find it. Would you please give me the proper title etc. so I can look up his works.

    Thanks.
     
  2. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    "A Concise History of the Catholic Church".

    This is actually a book that a Catholic co-worker of mine recommended that I buy to better understand the "real" history of the RCC rather than that "fake history" that my non-Catholic sources (historians) were saying about it.
     
  3. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    The majority of the quotes above were from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

    I realize of course that for the true RC devotee these are "inconvenient facts" And there is no need to do anything but villanize both the RC sources quoted AND the one who dares to quote the inconvenient facts.

    I also have some quotes from some RC posts - will you be ready to turn on them as well as soon as they are guoted ans divulging some "inconvenient fact of history"??

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  4. D28guy

    D28guy New Member

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    Living4Him,

    I said...

    And you said...

    If it sounds to you like I'm saying that then you dont hear good.

    God bless,

    Mike
     
  5. Living4Him

    Living4Him New Member

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    Then why do you say
     
  6. D28guy

    D28guy New Member

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    Living4Him,

    You said...

    </font>[/QUOTE]Because when the Catholic Church says...

    "Priests can baptise an infant and they will go to heaven"

    God says something completly different than that concerning salvation.

    And when the Catholic priest says...

    "your sins are forgiven" in the confessional booth

    God says something completly different than that concerning forgivness of sins.

    And when the Catholic Church says...

    "Wheat crackers turn into Jesus so Catholics can eat Jesus every sunday."

    God says "do this in remembrance of me" because its a memorial.

    And when the Catholic Church says...

    "If a Catholic is near death the priest can say special prayers to get them into heaven."

    God says something completly different about getting into heaven.

    And when the Catholic Church speaks of...

    "The holy water has spiritual significance"..."little statues of by gone saints on the dashboard of your car can protect you"..."if you go to any of the Mary Shrines in the world the Queen of the Universe Mary will grant a visitation or apparition"..."scapulars have the ability to give spirtual help"..."incense has spiritual significance", etc etc etc..."

    They are speaking of things that are simply church sponsored superstition.

    God bless,

    Mike
     
  7. Living4Him

    Living4Him New Member

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    Jesus’ statements in John 3 makes it clear that he was referring to water baptism. Shortly before Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the necessity and regenerating effect of baptism, he himself was baptized by John the Baptist, and the circumstances are striking: Jesus goes down into the water, and as he is baptized, the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father speaks from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son" (cf. Matt. 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–22; John 1:30–34). This scene gives us a graphic depiction of what happens at baptism: We are baptized with water, symbolizing our dying with Christ (Rom. 6:3) and our rising with Christ to the newness of life (Rom. 6:4–5); we receive the gift of sanctifying grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27); and we are adopted as God’s sons (Rom. 8:15–17).

    This sacrament is rooted in the mission God gave to Christ in his capacity as the Son of man on earth to go and forgive sins (cf. Matt. 9:6). Thus, the crowds who witnessed this new power "glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8; note the plural "men"). After his resurrection, Jesus passed on his mission to forgive sins to his ministers, telling them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21–23).

    John 6:30 begins a colloquy that took place in the synagogue at Capernaum. The Jews asked Jesus what sign he could perform so that they might believe in him. As a challenge, they noted that "our ancestors ate manna in the desert." Could Jesus top that? He told them the real bread from heaven comes from the Father. "Give us this bread always," they said. Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." At this point the Jews understood him to be speaking metaphorically.

    Jesus first repeated what he said, then summarized: "‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’" (John 6:51–52).

    His listeners were stupefied because now they understood Jesus literally—and correctly. He again repeated his words, but with even greater emphasis, and introduced the statement about drinking his blood: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:53–56).

    Notice that Jesus made no attempt to soften what he said, no attempt to correct "misunderstandings," for there were none. Our Lord’s listeners understood him perfectly well. They no longer thought he was speaking metaphorically. If they had, if they mistook what he said, why no correction?

    On other occasions when there was confusion, Christ explained just what he meant (cf. Matt. 16:5–12). Here, where any misunderstanding would be fatal, there was no effort by Jesus to correct. Instead, he repeated himself for greater emphasis.

    In John 6:60 we read: "Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’" These were his disciples, people used to his remarkable ways. He warned them not to think carnally, but spiritually: "It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63; cf. 1 Cor. 2:12–14).

    But he knew some did not believe. (It is here, in the rejection of the Eucharist, that Judas fell away; look at John 6:64.) "After this, many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him" (John 6:66).

    This is the only record we have of any of Christ’s followers forsaking him for purely doctrinal reasons. If it had all been a misunderstanding, if they erred in taking a metaphor in a literal sense, why didn’t he call them back and straighten things out? Both the Jews, who were suspicious of him, and his disciples, who had accepted everything up to this point, would have remained with him had he said he was speaking only symbolically.

    But he did not correct these protesters. Twelve times he said he was the bread that came down from heaven; four times he said they would have "to eat my flesh and drink my blood." John 6 was an extended promise of what would be instituted at the Last Supper—and it was a promise that could not be more explicit.

    Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). So when we receive Communion, we actually participate in the body and blood of Christ, not just eat symbols of them. Paul also said, "Therefore whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. . . . For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Cor. 11:27, 29). "To answer for the body and blood" of someone meant to be guilty of a crime as serious as homicide. How could eating mere bread and wine "unworthily" be so serious? Paul’s comment makes sense only if the bread and wine became the real body and blood of Christ.
     
  8. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    No need to "summarize" Jesus already DID the summarization in John 6 "Literal FLESH is Worthless! My WORDS ARE spirit and are life". You must EAT the Word of Christ - EATING human flesh "is worthless" -- "EATING GOD" after "CONFECTING GOD" is worthless.

    It is not your "power as a baker" that is at issue NOR is it the FAILURE of ALL in John 6 to "takne knife and fork to Christ".

    This seems to be a very confusing point for Catholics.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  9. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
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    Why then does Jesus in the Bread of Life discourse above switch from &phi;&alpha;&gamma;&eta;&iota;&nu; , which can be interpreted spiritually, I suppose, as just 'eat' or 'feed' to the much more powerful &tau;&rho;&omicron;&gamma;&eta;&iota;&nu; , which can only be interpreted literally as in 'bite', 'chew'?

    Yours in Christ

    Matt
     
  10. Living4Him

    Living4Him New Member

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    The anointing of the sick is administered to bring spiritual and even physical strength during an illness, especially near the time of death. It is most likely one of the last sacraments one will receive. A sacrament is an outward sign established by Jesus Christ to confer inward grace. In more basic terms, it is a rite that is performed to convey God’s grace to the recipient, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Like all the sacraments, holy anointing was instituted by Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. The Catechism explains, "This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord" (CCC 1511; Mark 6:13; Jas. 5:14-15).

    The anointing of the sick conveys several graces and imparts gifts of strengthening in the Holy Spirit against anxiety, discouragement, and temptation, and conveys peace and fortitude (CCC 1520). These graces flow from the atoning death of Jesus Christ, for "this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’" (Matt. 8:17).

    Mark refers to the sacrament when he recounts how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to preach, and "they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13). In his epistle, James says, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:14–15).

    "The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects: the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church; the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age; the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of penance; the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul; the preparation for passing over to eternal life" (CCC 1532).

    Does a person have to be dying to receive this sacrament? No. The Catechism says, "The anointing of the sick is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived" (CCC 1514).


    The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).

    Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16-22 (para. #2111)


    Superstition of any description is a
    transgression of the First Commandment: "I am the Lord thy God,-- thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath . . . thou shalt not adore them nor serve them" (Exod., xx, 2-5). It is also against the positive law of the Church, which visits the worst kinds of superstitions with severe punishments, and against the natural law inasmuch as it runs counter to the dictates of reason in the matter of man's relations to God. Such objective sinfulness is inherent in all superstitious practices from idolatry down to the vainest of vain observances, of course in very different degrees of gravity. With regard to the subjective guilt attaching to them it must be borne in mind that no sin is mortal unless committed with full knowledge of its grievous wickedness and with full deliberation and consent.
     
  11. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    #1. Christ did NOT say “some day at some future time my flesh WILL become food”. He claimed that the bread ALREADY came down out of heaven.
    #2. No one “bites Christ” in John 6.
    #3. The faithLESS disciples are the only ones with the too-literal view.
    #4. The FaithFULL disciples focus on the WORDS of Christ “YOU have the WORDS of LIFE”
    #5. Christ summarized His OWN point saying that they should NOT focus on “literal flesh for it is worthless! My WORDs are spirit and are life”.
    #6. Christ rebukes HIS disciples for taking the symbol of bread TOO literally and not seeing it as meaning “teaching” in Matt 16. No rebuke is given for their not “biting Him” in John 6.

    .

    #7. Christ relies on the previous teaching of Moses regarding the “bread that came down” out of heaven.

    #8. HAD the disciples all rushed Christ and obediently taken each one – his bite… the gospel would have ended in John 6 on a very very “catholic” note – but not a Gospel one.
     
  12. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    As can be seen from my summary - this point unwittingly makes the RC position even worse - for NONE of the disciples did this, Christ does not say anything about the faithFULL disciples not biting him and Christ says NOTHING about "some day in the future you must bite and chew my flesh".

    But when the faithFULL disciples get the symbol wrong in Matt 16 Christ is QUICK to point it out.

    The summary stands.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  13. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
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    Then why do the ECFs, Catholics, Orthodox, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans et al disagree with you?

    Yours in Christ

    Matt
     
  14. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    If you can show EVEN ONE point in my summary where they disagree - please quote the source.

    I was merely stating "the obvious"
     
  15. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
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    I've already quoted from the ECFs to you; they disagree with you. The Catholics and Orthodox, since they believe in the Real Presence, obviously disagree too - do you really want me to spell out chapter and verse there?! As for the Lutherans, try their numerous Confessions - Augsburg is a good starting point. For the Presbies, go to the Westminster Confession, an dfor the Anglicans, the 39 Articles are a good starting point. Type all of those into your search engine and take a look.

    Yours in Christ

    Matt
     
  16. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Then this should be really really easy for you. Just show one of my points listed in the "obvious facts" post above and show where they ACTUALLY deny the very obvious point stated.

    What could be easier - particularly if as you say "you already have" such statement from ECFs.

    This must be your lucky day --

    And as for asking me to go and try to find some placw where they deny this list of extremely obvious points - that is pretty silly. I am not sure they would go that far. But you seem convinced and as you say - you already have some quotes denying the very points listed so...

    No need to keep talking about how they are all right there just ready to be posted --- go ahead and post them.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  17. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Here is that list of "incredibly obvious" points again.

    .

    #7. Christ relies on the previous teaching of Moses regarding the “bread that came down” out of heaven.

    #8. HAD the disciples all rushed Christ and obediently taken each one – his bite… the gospel would have ended in John 6 on a very very “catholic” note – but not a Gospel one. </font>[/QUOTE]And as Matt claims -- these blatant, obvious and clear points are "denied" by the following groups...

    So here we "wait" some more - to see where the specific points listed bove are "denied"
     
  18. Matt Black

    Matt Black Well-Known Member
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    OK, Bob, here you are:-

    ECFs first:

    Ignatius of Antioch


    "I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible" (Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]).

    "Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 [A.D. 110]).


    Justin Martyr


    "We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus" (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).


    Irenaeus


    "If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?" (Against Heresies 4:33–32 [A.D. 189]).

    "He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?" (ibid., 5:2).


    Clement of Alexandria


    "’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children" (The Instructor of Children 1:6:43:3 [A.D. 191]).


    Tertullian


    "[T]here is not a soul that can at all procure salvation, except it believe whilst it is in the flesh, so true is it that the flesh is the very condition on which salvation hinges. And since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh which actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed [in baptism], in order that the soul may be cleansed . . . the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands [in confirmation], that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit; the flesh feeds [in the Eucharist] on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may be filled with God" (The Resurrection of the Dead 8 [A.D. 210]).

    Lutherans: Confession of Augsburg:

    Article X
    Of the Lord's Supper
    _______________
    [cf. Confutatio Pontificia]

    Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed to those who eat the Supper of the Lord; and they reject those that teach otherwise.

    Presbyterians/ Reformed/ Calvinist:-

    Westminster Confession:

    CHAPTER XXVII.
    Of the Sacraments.
    I. Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and his benefits, and to confirm our interest in him: as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church, and the rest of thw world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to his Word.

    II. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.

    III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments, rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it, but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of institution, which conatins, together with a precept authorizing the use thereof, a promise of benefit to worthy receivers.

    IV. There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the gospels, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord: neither or which may be dispensed by any but a minister of the Word, lawfully ordained.

    V. The sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the same with those of the New

    CHAPTER XXIX.
    Of the Lord's Supper.
    I. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his Church unto the end of the world; for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body.

    II. In this sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sins of the quick or dead, but a commemoration of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all, and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same; so that the Popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominably injurious to Christ's one only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.

    III. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution to the people, to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.

    IV. Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise the denial of the cup to the people; worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and the reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.

    V. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the thigns they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly, and only, bread and wine, as they were before.

    VI. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to common-sense and reason; overthroweth the nature of the sacrament; and hath been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.

    VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

    VIII. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament, yet they receive not the thing signified thereby; but by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and can not, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.

    Anglicans: from the 39 Articles:-

    XXV. Of the Sacraments.
    Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

    There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.

    Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not like nature of Sacraments with Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.

    The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as Saint Paul saith.

    XXVI. Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments.
    Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ's ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such as by faith, and rightly, do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

    Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally, being found guilty, by just judgment be deposed.

    XXVII. Of Baptism.
    Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New-Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed, Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God.

    The Baptism of young Children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

    XXVIII. Of the Lord's Supper.
    The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.

    Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.

    The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith.

    The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.

    XXIX. Of the Wicked, which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord's Supper.
    The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ: but rather, to their condemnation, do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing.

    XXX. Of both Kinds.
    The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people: for both the parts of the Lord's Sacrament, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.


    And you know full well that both the Catholics and Orthodox believe in the Real Presence likewise.


    Yours in Christ

    Matt

    [ April 21, 2005, 06:44 AM: Message edited by: Matt Black ]
     
  19. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Matt --

    I have to assume that in English courts - asking for proof of Point-A only to find that all you get is deafening silence and then something about Point-B instead -- is an acceptable form of "communication".

    But in this case it is not a compelling form of debate. You STILL have to respond to point-A.

    I listed 8 "obvious" points from the chapter of John 6.

    You gave a long post that never said anything about "denying them" though you claimed that those sources DO deny these blatantly obvious points.

    So please SHOW them denying any one of those 8 points or admit that they do not.

    I am still waiting.

    So far you only SHOW that Catholics believe their own story "anyway" as do some non-Catholic groups. I never disputed that point.

    But you CLAIMED that they actually denied the obvious points. That you have yet to SHOW.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
  20. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Now getting BACK to those SPECIFIC "obvious" points and a discussion that actually addresses them.

    Here we see some ECF quotes ACTUALLY speaking about John 6 AND at least one of the specific points listed above.

    (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 1, Chapter 6)

    (Tertullian, On the Ressurection of the Flesh, 37)

    </font>[/QUOTE]Now SEE how easy that was?

    You try it now. An ECF source THAT SPEAKS TO the John 6 chapter and actually MENTIONS one of the 8 obvious points.

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
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