Question: Does the denomination really matter?
Person asks:
I have always believed that “a Christian is a Christian.” If we love Jesus and believe that He died for our sins, we will be saved. Promoting a specific “brand” of Christianity only promotes division. I am a Methodist, but I love Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and Pentecostals all the same. We need to learn to live together. What we have in common is more important than our differences.
Person asks:
I have always believed that “a Christian is a Christian.” If we love Jesus and believe that He died for our sins, we will be saved. Promoting a specific “brand” of Christianity only promotes division. I am a Methodist, but I love Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and Pentecostals all the same. We need to learn to live together. What we have in common is more important than our differences.
My reply:
The compromise you’re suggesting doesn’t work in matters of salvation. Let me explain. As a Christian, you believe in the Ten Commandments, right? In the First Commandment, God warns us not to worship false gods. If we do, we commit the mortal sin of idolatry and condemn ourselves to hell. Sound about right?
The compromise you’re suggesting doesn’t work in matters of salvation. Let me explain. As a Christian, you believe in the Ten Commandments, right? In the First Commandment, God warns us not to worship false gods. If we do, we commit the mortal sin of idolatry and condemn ourselves to hell. Sound about right?
Now, if a pagan comes to your door and shared with you his
religion and worship of the Great Tree, you would have a moral duty to explain
to him that what he is doing is wrong and to reject this religion, repent of
his sins and come to Jesus Christ who is the only way of salvation. Make sense so far?
Now, here’s your problem.
Catholics worship what appears to be mere bread, which the Church calls
the Eucharist. We worship the Eucharist
because we believe that, in the sacrifice of the Mass, the bread becomes the
body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ and is thus worthy of
worship. Our belief is based on
Scripture, history and the entire Christian tradition.
If the Eucharist is not Jesus Christ, but a mere piece of
ordinary bread, then Catholics are committing idolatry. If we are committing idolatry, you have the
same moral obligation to us as you had to the pagan. You are obligated to tell us that we are
committing idolatry and must reject our false religion, lest we go to hell. If Catholics worship bread, then Catholicism
must be renounced by all Christians. In
fact, the Catholic religion lives or dies with the Eucharist, for the Eucharist
is the source and summit of the Catholic faith.
If the Catholic faith is false, then you must not sit idly by and let us
Catholics commit idolatry and die in our sins.
If, however, the Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul
and Divinity of Jesus Christ, then the Catholic Church is the one and only true
religion. Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one
comes to the Father except by me.” As Catholics we are obliged to bring the
fullness of the truth to all since we wish all to have the fullness of Christ. And what could be better than to receive the
WHOLE Christ as He intended; Body,
blood, soul and divinity, into your very self both spiritually AND physically?
To recap, if we Catholics are wrong then it is the
Christians duty to bring it to our attention so that we would reject this great
sin of idolatry of a false god. But if
we are right, then of course we are obliged to bring this truth to all who are unawares.
Inspired by John Slaza’s response on his website:
http://www.johnsalza.com/p/q-a.html
God Blesshttp://www.johnsalza.com/p/q-a.html
Nathan
The Catholics are wrong at multiple multpile levels, but if when has received the Life Giving Spirit and worhsips thusly in Spirit and in Truth, their lack of spiriutal discernment shouldn't all together preculde them in fact will not preclude them from being separated from Our Heavnily Father; there is a vast chasm of difference between the Wisdom of God and hand me down tradictions which have perverted the Catholic Dogmatic Governent yet on the other hand by God's Awesome Power it keeps the name of Christ going even though it is one of the causes of Islam conflict today by the false teachings concerning Mary and idolizing dead saints. Which is another reminder, man CAN not IS not the authority on who a saint is. How the catholic church got started on 'labeling 'sainthood is just one of string of other erroneous teachings Problem though is, in virtually every church I've ever been in there is always bound to be 'something ' going on, that is not completely biblically based. Pentecostals come in a close second. P.S. Jesus is The Bread of Life and of Heaven.."Abide in Me as I in You"...consider, if we are in Him and He in Us..then The Life Giving Spirit is Already in us always in Truth...the Catholic Eucharist makes no sense at all. and is purely an outward meaningless act..because. Communion with Christ today is The Reality...before he died it was a discussion about how Jesus was saying it was going to become one. Same with Baptism...Baptism in the Spirit is the Reality..outward acts are only to be a statement to The Father as a Confirmation (just like the Eucharist) of what is to already HAVE BEEN true. I fmind my non-denominational church someitmes introduces 'new age' type stuff off an on, though that was associated mainly with the former preacher..but this 'inter-faith' stuff going on across the boards is very disturbing no matter which demon-imation one is in.
ReplyDeleteWhat is EQUALLY disturbing is the nature of this blog. "Defending the CATHOLIC Faith"..what on earth is that? Is that in difference to The Faith of God in Those of and in Christ? Some will argue Catholic are not Christians and apparently that is true if 'The Catholic Faith' is not the faith of God fo those in Christ. The Reality is for those who are In the Faith of Christ.
ReplyDeleteThe "Catholic Faith" is that ONE (universal) faith not only IN Jesus Christ, but was TAUGHT BY Jesus Christ, PASSED ON to the Apostles and they PASSED ON these teachings from generation to generation to the present day. Those who would argue Catholics are not Christians are ignorant of the fact that Catholics are the FIRST Christians!
DeleteYou've also responded to a posting from December and comments are automatically moderated on all postings more than 4 weeks old. I say this because you appear to have repeated yourself three times. I let the first one go through - and then the last message you sent too (as it was completely different). The other two duplicated ones I've "held" for now. Unless you see/feel the need for them to be posted as well (I didn't see any vast changes in the content) I will delete them.
So, that being said - you've raised many topics... pick one and I'll present a new posting on it and there will be no moderation for 4 weeks.
AMDG,
Scott<<<
Greetings.
ReplyDeleteLet me begin by confessing that I am not well versed in the Catholic faith, so please forgive me of my ignorance. Are you claiming that the bread and grape juice/wine is literally human flesh and human blood and that this comes from the physical body of Jesus Christ? To make myself clear, if someone took this flesh and did a DNA test on it, would it show to be human? I am surely not the first person to ask this question, I would like to hear how the Catholic Church addresses this question. If this is true and the Catholics can prove this amazing claim then I would love to be part of this. The thought of eating human flesh does not appeal to me at all, but if this is the will of God, count me in. I look forward to your reply and thank you for your time.
Grape juice,so much - but bread and wine, when consecrated by one empowered to consecrate according to the precepts set by Jesus Christ Himself then yes, it becomes His body and blood in substance. That which it "IS" is Christ's body and blood, hence the "substance" truly is what He said it would be. The accidents, on the other hand, those things which we can perceive through our senses and through scientific equipment, still appear to be bread and wine. This is what we refer to as "The Mystery of Faith." Our Lord said "This IS my body..." and "This IS my blood..." and we believe Him! We do not doubt that what He has said is so, IS SO! The majesty and awesomeness of God Himself hidden under the appearances of bread and wine.
DeleteThat being said, there are cases of "Eucharistic Miracles" (several documented here on CathApol) where the accidents too have been physically changed into flesh and/or blood.
AMDG,
Scott<<<
That should say, "Grape juice, NOT so much..."
DeleteGreetings.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for your reply. Are you saying that the bread may "appear" to be regular bread to our eyes, taste buds, and scientific instruments but it is physical human flesh? Is God just blocking our ability to see the obvious? This seems to be a rather convenient answer to a most powerful claim. I am sure you would not accept this type of answer form a Pentecostal
who claimed to raise the dead yesterday and you just missed it. Thank you for your time and I look forward to reading your reply.
What I am saying is that when God says "This is My body" - we believe Him. An Aristotilian explanation would be that we have "accidents" and we have "essence." A chair may be made of wood, steel, plastic, etc. and those are the accidents - the essence is "chair" regardless of what it is made of. With the Eucharist, while the accidents may be bread and wine - the essence, or substance, is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Once wood has been fashioned into "chairness" that which was just wood is now "chair." Likewise, once bread and wine are validly consecrated, they are the body and blood of Christ.
DeleteAMDG,
Scott<<<