10andBOUNCE said:Appreciate your time to chime in. There is too much here for my brain to handle; I don't want to hijack the intent of the thread to pepper out a bunch of my questions!FTACo88-FDT24dad said:The church teaches that one can be forgiven of a mortal sin (1) by an act of perfect contrition10andBOUNCE said:So just to be clear, in your judgement and interpretation based on the dual authority of scripture and church tradition, because I have not taken of the holy catholic communion, I am likely not saved and will be separated from God for eternity?jrico2727 said:10andBOUNCE said:jrico2727 said:At one word God brought everything into existence.10andBOUNCE said:So, can you explain this to my protestant brain? I have heard this before, but never dug into it, so I apologize in advance for my extreme ignorance. What does this even mean? I am genuinely curious. You walk up and take the wine and bread, but they aren't actually wine and bread?BluHorseShu said:Taking communion in the Catholic Church is partly stating that you believe that the Eucharist is the actual body of ChristT dizl televizl said:
Hello friends.
I've been contemplating on posting this topic as I don't want to flare tempers, but it is something that has been on my mind as of late, and was hoping some of our resident Catholics could help me out. My intention is to keep things civil, as best we can.
I was born and raised in a non denominational church. As i got older I was baptized in a baptist church (in my teenage years) and as an adult joined into a Methodist church.
I recently married a catholic woman and have since been attending a lot of events in the Catholic Church (weddings, funerals, etc.)
Non Catholics are not allowed to take part in communion in the Catholic Church. Whenever I am going to attend one of these events, I'm aware that communion will be taking place and try to prepare myself mentally for the fact that I will not be allowed to take part but for whatever reason it always rubs me the wrong way that my choices are to either remain in the pew or go to the front of the church with my arms crossed and receive a blessing instead of taking communion.
I think my frustration centers around if Catholics believe that Protestants for the most part don't go to heaven. I've tried to research online and found that the commonly stated belief is that Jesus has the power to save anyone, including Protestants, but there is never a strongly given statement on if people outside the Catholic Church are in general saved. The general implication as far as I can tell is that they aren't.
My thought process is that Catholics believe (I think) that in order to be saved (for the most part) one must take part of the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Therefore if someone isn't able to take part in these sacraments (ie not take communion) then the probability of being saved and taken is into heaven is low, saving Jesus making an "exception" and calling you home.
Without getting into my personal biases, I'm just hoping our friends here can shine a little light for me on this. It's a difficult exercise for me to think through as I was raised outside the Catholic Church, but would like to understand their beliefs.
Thanks for the help.
Jesus commanded water to turn into wine.
Even Satan tempted him to turn a stone into bread.
The creator of all matter and substance can transform anything into anything that he wishes.
When he took the bread and the cup he said this IS my body and this IS my blood we believed him, also that is what the Apostles and all of their successors taught he meant. The mystery of remaining under the appearance of bread and wine is honestly a mercy, but if you look up Eucharistic miracles sometimes the veil is lifted.
Appreciate the feedback. I agree with your first few thoughts - God does speak things into existence and Jesus did in fact turn that water into wine at Cana. I'll have to disagree with the rest. I can definitely understand why OP would interpret that the taking of the Eucharist is essential for eternal life, since John 6:51 and 6:54 both plainly state. I'm not sure how you explain that away.
I don't explain that away. Our Lord clearly states unless you eat his body or drink his blood you do not have life, in fact eternal life, within you.
I'll just go with one for now...does the RCC believe that "perfect contrition" is possible from a sinful man? What does that look like?
That's a good question, and one I've never looked into. Looking forward to others answers.
My guess is that it's the willingness to confess those sins publicly that would meet the contrition standards. The first confessions were done in front of the congregation. More privacy was granted as time went on. The fact that you are willing to tell a priest (and possibly others) shows that you are actively trying to turn from the sin, even if you fall again. But again, I don't say that having researched the Church's position.