Is communion cannibalism?

Jesus Christ, all the apostles, and the Catholic Church know that Jesus was speaking literally here. No symbols. No parables. No cannibals. Just miracles.

All you folks who follow later religious traditions simply weren't there, so you don't have all the facts.

Jesus is God. He can do stuff like this with no problem.

He reconstituted the rotting corps of Lazarus by his word.

He made a complete set of eyes for a blind man, plus all the nerves and brain parts necessary to make them work, out of common dirt and spittle.

He fed 5,000 people with two fish and a few loaves of bread.

None of this was symbolic.

What's the big problem with transforming a little bread and a little wine into his glorified and resurrected body and blood?

O ye of little faith!

Regarding eating his body and drinking his blood:

At the last supper, all Jesus was doing was explaining the original purpose of the Jewish Passover meal ritual, and bringing it to fulfilment.

Jesus IS the lamb of God.

At the first Passover, the Israelites had to eat the flesh of the lamb to be saved from the angel of death.

Likewise, the blood of the lamb had to be applied to the entryway of their dwelling place.

In the new covenant, which is a better and much more personal covenant between God and all the faithful, he makes it possible for us to sacramentally (not symbolicly) eat the flesh of Jesus the Lamb, and to apply his holy blood to the entryway of the dwelling place of our soul, which is our mouth.

And while the Israelites were only temporarily reprieved from physical death, Jesus promises that consuming his body and blood is the only true antidote to eternal death.

And what we eat is not the dead flesh that cannibal's might relish, but the glorified flesh and blood of the risen Christ ... body, blood, soul, and divinity ... under the appearances of ordinary bread and wine ... which makes it quite palatable.

As for claims of figurative language this is not correct.

Scripture rightly demonstrates the apostles consecrating bread and wine and sharing the authentic and genuine body and blood of Christ with all the members of the early church, well before the end of the 1st century.

They did this every Sunday, and we Catholics still do it, today.

St. Paul even admonishes the faithful to receive worthily, and only in a state of grace, for to do otherwise would bring condemnation down upon them.

Nobody ever got condemned just for eating ordinary bread and wine, no matter what spiritual condition they were in.

What is so unreasonable about God doing something that only he fully understands, something marvelous, miraculous, even mysterious, that his people might practice in faith, always looking ahead to that day when their earthly existence is complete, and when they might be privileged to personally experience the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, their old friend, brother, and redeemer, in a whole new way?

Since this beautiful and most powerful sacrament was instituted by Christ himself, and has always been practiced by the church, from the very earliest days, it is most certainly of God, and most certainly Christian.

It's also totally biblical, unless you lack faith in Christ, or subscribe to a faulty interpretation of scripture.

The body and blood of Christ is the source and summit of all Christian life, for it is through personally, spiritually, and physically experiencing the risen Christ, that we attain true communion with God, in this sphere of existence.

Catholics initially accept Christ through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. We continue to receive him regularly, for the rest of our lives, in the most blessed sacrament of the holy Eucharist, which is his authentic body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Now that's the way to have a real and personal relationship with Christ!

Protestant Christians often criticize Catholics for placing less emphasis on scripture than they do.

That may seem to be the case, and if it is, it's only because Catholics have the real, physical presence of Jesus Christ available to worship and cherish.

Holy and beautiful as scripture surely is, the written Word of God just has to take 2nd place when compared to the risen Christ!

Those who fail to understand this most basic tenet of true Christianity had better take a close look at their own set of beliefs, and try to figure out exactly how they could have missed this one.

Don't wait. By then, it might be too late.

http://www.catholicintl.com/epologetics/...

Of course, this then brings up the question... shouldn't the communion wafer be thoroughly cooked, after transubstantiation, before being served. Who knows? Maybe Christ had ring worm, or Mad Cow Disease. Communion could be VERY dangerous and unhealthy.

"The Church teaches infallibly that Christ is present through transubstantiation. As the Council of Trent says, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church repeats: '. . . by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.' Trent pronounces an anathema against those who deny transubstantiation."

This is known as transubstantiation and is a view held strictly by the Roman Catholic Church (at least in terms of it being Christ's actual blood and flesh). Some other churches believe that the sacraments change as well.

It is considered spiritually symbolic. No one believes that a physical change occurs.

It is to be one with Christ. Christ himself conducted the first Holy Communion. The change was symbolic then. it is symbolic now.

That is if you have faith. If not, well it's a dry little wafer with virtually no taste and really cheap, nasty wine that no one in their right mind would buy and drink if not for the symbolism......

And....as repugnant as the idea of cannibalism is to most folks, it has saved lives in times of dire distress.....

So even if it is symbolic cannibalism, isn't it's purpose salvation...to be saved....one's spiritual life?

Reg

No. The Lord's supper is a memorial, recalling the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. The bread and grape juice are simply symbols, but the memorial should never be taken lightly. (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) No the Catholics are not committing cannabalism, but they are reinacting the event the only happened once and for all.

Dear Fermi of Borg:

Ancient native tribes (almost non-existent today) did practice cannibalism. The question is why: From the beginnings of time, man has had a notion that if he killed his enemy he could own his soul by ingesting him! It was a sense of ownership and dominion over the other.

The Master had all knowledge. Different from us, who gave up our knowledge of the All in the Separation, Jesus maintained full knowledge of the All during his Journey thru physical life.

It is interesting - isn't it - to note that His instruction to His disciples at the Last Supper was based on a similar concept:

Eat of me - then you will contain me - you will own my presence inside yourself. We shall become one.

Those concepts are founded in the primitive notions of native tribesman - but when Jesus asks of us to do this - He is offering to YOU the bread of Life - the Glory that He held within Himself - His knowledge offered to YOU - if you would but take it!

No one is guilty of anything in this. Not even symbolically!

I hope this helps! I am non-denominational.

No. The doctrine of transubstantiation is a misapplication of scripture designed to maintain the power of the priesthood. It states that in the hands of the priest the wafer and wine are turned into the body and blood and Jesus. I have taken communion many times and grape juice and crackers is still grape juice and crackers. It is symbolic. Jesus told his disciples to do this often in remembrance of me. Taking communion honors our Lord's sacrifice, but has nothing to do with salvation.

Christ said that what he spoke was spirit.

Still today we try to find material explanations for spiritual things.

Drinking and eating are symbolic gestures of taking the spiritual power of Christ into our

spirit bodies.

This is about what its best known as Mind over matter?, and if you think is cannibalism and you aren't so sure as to why? Why don't you try the experience once, and see for your own??. there isn't a sin to do this especially if a catholic peoples like me, has ask you, as God said "everything I have create is good, and you can try it, but don't misuse it, and don't overdue it.

that's hillarious. If this is a serious question I'll answer...no. Cannibalism would be the ACTUAL eating of human flesh...not the "representative" eating of human flesh. But in case this is just a joke I'll leave with "hahaha...."