July 30, 2003
The hidden Bible
The Bible is an incredible book containing layers of information, knowledge and spiritual depth. However, because of its comprehensive nature, it contains far too much knowledge to keep in your head at one time. In fact, most of us have favorite passages that we go back to time and again.
This is one of the issues with Protestant doctrine. A protestant pastor often ends up giving sermons on his favorite passages more often than on the less well-liked verses; especially verses that aren’t totally understood or explained by protestants. An example of this is the second half of John chapter 6. These verses are vital to our understanding of the Church after the resurrection, but because of misunderstanding and apprehension, most protestants pay little attention to them. Let’s take a look at one section:
51. “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.” 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53. So Jesus said to them, “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; 54. he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Wow. The Bible doesn’t get much more beautiful then this – our God announcing that he will give us himself to eat and offer us eternal life. Protestants, however, don’t often hear these verses in church, primarily because they suggest that we must eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ in order to get to heaven. And protestants churches don’t teach this.
So how is it that we have so many protestants claiming to be ‘Bible-Christians”? Well, they’ve found a way out of these verses. Here’s the scapegoat, just a little further down the page:
63. 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.
So – a protestant would contend – Christ is strictly speaking metaphorically. He means we must symbolically consume him to get to heaven. They utilize this verse to strip the earlier passage of it’s meaning. But, in order to do this, you’ve got to ignore the next passage:
64. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that should betray him. 65. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66. After this many [Ed. Emphasis] of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
Here Jesus notes that many do not believe his statements above. And because of that disbelief, many of his disciples left – further passages suggest that all but the twelve stopped following him. If the protestant interpretation is correct, why didn’t Christ simply say, “No – wait! I was only speaking symbolically. You don’t really have to eat my flesh.” In the mind of the Jews that left, this probably would have been enough. However, this statement would have been untrue, so Christ allowed them to leave.
In Jewish law, the punishment for cannibalism was being cut off from your people and hung on a tree to die. Clearly, Christ intended to start the Eucharist from the beginning and the protestants have misread his intentions. He repeats the necessity of eating (also translated as chewing) his flesh three times in these verses. Other important verses associated with the reality of the Eucharistic presence include (but are by no means limited to):
1 Cor 10:17. Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread.
1 Cor 11:27-30. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Luke 22:19. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
To top it off, I encourage everyone to read the writings of the ‘Early Fathers’ – the first Christians after Christ’s ascension to heaven. Even in the protestant versions of these texts, you can find the word “Eucharist” and the seriousness with which the early Christians accepted these teachings.
I think it’s time for the protestant pastors to revisit their interpretations of these verses. If you begin with a clear, open mind, the only doctrine you’ll find in the Bible is Catholic. More to come in future articles . . .
Jay
Posted by Jay at July 30, 2003 08:32 PM | TrackBack |
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we all know that Jesus taught in parables or do we? whatever a pastor decides to teach his' congregation is his' and God's business. as on other topics i have highlighted about; those teaching not unto God but unto themselves. Jesus knew that the kingdom of God wasn't for everybody so Him being God told them something that they couldn't percieve, to see where their faith was. he also told the disciples they couldn't eat the food that He ate, nor drink of His cup. he was talking about the Word, who He is and the suffering that He was to take upon death and resurrection. did the disciples know everything-no, do we know everything-no, that's why it is written. the Bible is God's reference book, like an encyclopedia of Life. then which one of the disciples faced everything that man could suffer including death and win every battle. none but Jesus. there is none like Him, He understands what it is to be a man, God and a Spirit. forget the disciples, do we ourselves understand that? God will reveal so much more to us when we stop being divided as believers and start seeking Him according to His Word. satan created division not God. that is what denomination means division. let's all get in one accord in this one life that we have on one earth and teach about one God, one Son and one Spirit who all together made one Kingdom for all of us.
Posted by: Paul Baccus at January 3, 2004 01:27 PMPaul,
It's clear when Jesus is talking in parables, these aren't parables. These are clear, concise teachings of Christ that protestants ignore. Jesus, not someone else, said you must eat my flesh and drink my blood - I don't think it gets any clearer than that. He was talking about His flesh. The Bible also makes clear that this would be a reason many people did not make it to heaven - virtually all of Jesus's disciples left him because of this teaching.
By the way, when Jesus refers to His "cup", He's not referring to His Word, the Bible, He's referring to his suffering on the Cross.
Remember, we're divied believers because you are part of a "protest" against God's Church - you are a "protestant", which by definition is the divided part. We'd love to remove the divisions by welcoming you home to the fulness of Truth!
Finally, the Bible says the Church, not the Bible, is the fulness of Truth. So you should try and remember that God didn't intend for the Bible to be a "reference work" that contained everything. He meant for the Church to be that.
God bless,
Jay
jay,
Adam said flesh of my flesh bone of my bone, when he looked at Eve. to eat of Jesus' flesh, some thought was cannibalism, and they left His side but the 12 He picked remained because later they would serve the world a greater purpose. i don't have spiritual cholesterol clogging my heart and i don't have satan interferring with my mind as far as clouding the truth revealed in God's Word. thanks for the offer though. i just haven't read all of the Bible and you and a few others help keep my ol' steel sharp (i'm only 24, though). thanks. i did state the Jesus meant taking up the Cross as His suffering but He also meant it as His death for the resurrection too. again oh holy man of God, you are the church, you are the reference, the unbelievers come to us and we tell them the hope that lies in Jesus, if we have others skills that we bless the world with we tell them about those too! i can't be against the church if i am the church, a man with a divided mind is unstable in all his ways and is an abomination to His majesty's work.
thats the worst thing i have heard / seen in a long time. Posting something like that on a religous board where people come to learn about God is just disgusting. At least my post will take that off the link on the right hand side of the website until it can be deleted.
Posted by: Tom Ace at February 27, 2004 12:03 AMThanks, Tom. We periodically get hit by "comment spam" which links to scummy websites in an attempt to steal Google PageRank. I remove them as quickly as possible (we have a system that weeds out most of it), but occasionally it stays up overnight. I've deleted the comments (there were several) at this point.
Thanks again for removing it from the homepage.
God bless,
Jay
