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This is a perfect example of why if you walked into a church of antiquity, you would be a complete stranger. It is because the faith of the Christians of antiquity is not the faith you profess. It explains why there is even a thread asking if an altar is necessary. For the non-Catholic and...

I think many fail to recognize the book of Revelation is a beautiful representation of the Christian belief in the communion of saints. Revelation shows us the saints in heaven engaged in worship, complete with an altar, candles, vested priests, chanting the Sanctus and Alleluia, etc. The...

Indeed, you would be a complete stranger. Nonetheless, I hope you get to visit one day. The Holy Land is a special place and St. Jerome called it the Fifth Gospel. A happy Easter season to you and God bless.

John is describing the martyrs, not the Lamb in Revelation 6:9... "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." Again, the early Church recognized the symbolism in this. That is why...

Good point. It's like the argument against the belief of the early Christians who believed Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Some argued that would make them cannibals. But if what He offers is just symbolic, then logically if you use the cannibal accusation, you would have to...

How sad, as you will have missed what Christians from antiquity built and how they worshipped. In the Holy Land, the first Protestant church was not built until the 19th century, when the Anglicans opened Christ Church in Jerusalem in 1849. In fact, Protestants had to even create their own...

Again, have you ever been to the Holy Land or Rome? If so, you must have felt like a complete stranger and foreigner stepping into the churches of antiquity because the Christianity of the people who built those churches in antiquity is not the same as the Christianity you profess.

Hardly, as the Church existed before St. John put those words to papyrus. Hence Christians were being martyred before those words were written. Building churches, with the altar directly above a martyr, was the ultimate sign of profession of belief in the resurrection and the communion of...

What you call "superstitious idolatry" was what the early Christians built their churches on and around. In Christianity there is an old axiom, which states lex orandi, lex credendi. The Church's earliest altars were built over the tombs of her saints. The Church's earliest liturgies include...

Here's also the late Reformed theologian and historian Philip Schaff describing early church interiors: "In the middle of the sanctuary stood the altar, generally a table, or sometimes a chest with a lid; at first of wood, then, after the beginning of the sixth century, of stone or marble, or...

You are incorrect. The oldest Christian Church in Rome is a domus ecclesiae (what you term "home fellowship" meeting) named Santa Pudenziana. It belonged to St. Pudens (cf. 2 Tim 4:21), who was the son of the Roman senator Quintus Cornelius Pudens and St. Priscilla, two of Rome's earliest...

The book of Hebrews is in essence a homily on the Christian Eucharistic sacrifice, taking the reader from the Old Testament sacrifice of the blood of the covenant in Exodus 24 to Christ’'s blood of the new covenant and our participation in it.

My thoughts are best expressed by Fulton Sheen… “He did not ask that men should write down His Words into Scripture; He did not ask that His kindness to the poor should be recorded in history; but He did ask that men remember His Death. And in order that its memory might not be any haphazard...

Exactly!

You cannot read the institution of the new covenant (testament) narratives without recalling Exodus 24, where after Moses offers the blood of the covenant, he and the others are taken up to eat and drink in the presence of God (communion)... "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the...

Thanks so much for your reply and the info. How do I know which one was founded by Christ and hence the authentic Baptist denomination? Is there one that can authoritatively declare what is or is not the real and authentic Baptist faith?

Who or what then gets to decide what is or is not the Baptist faith?

Sure thing! We'll start here: "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 partaking of the Body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, all that partake of this bread." (I Corinthians 10:16-17). Me...

I agree. I believe in an actual altar and an actual Jesus who offers His actual self. I do not believe Jesus offers us a symbol. If He did, it would render salvation, which was gained by His very flesh, merely symbolic as well. I enjoyed the discussion. I do wish you would have answered my...

No, it's based on your assertions. Your posts are there again for all to see. And no, you never did answer my question. Here it is again: If you are communing with and commemorating other believers, why go through the trouble of a ceremony involving bread and wine and not just bring other...