PraiseHimAlone
Active member
Roman Catholics please answer.
Ok so, In Roman Catholicism baptism is necessary for salvation and eating of the Eucharist is important and imparts grace.
The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude;… (CCC 1257)
Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. (CCC 1416)
These two paragraphs are from the official teachings of the Catholic Church. Notice there is a lot of emphasis on baptism but not as much on the Eucharist. For the most part Protestants see baptism as an outward sign of an inward change spiritually that is done only after having been saved. The Eucharist as the RCC says or the communion is also for the most part a symbol of what Christ has already done for us. My question is this though. If you are taking John 6:53 literally as the RCC do than how is it that baptism does anything? If you say it’s by baptism that God justifies and “…assures entry into eternal beatitude…” as per CCC 1257 then what does the Eucharist even do exactly? According to the RCC the Eucharist “…increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins…” as per CCC 1416
But if they are taking John 6:54 literally which is what they do, then it would actually be a lot more important than just increasing increasing our union with the Lord as they say.
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. John 6:53
if you are taking this literally then listen to what it says. It says “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” If you are taking this literally than it doesn’t matter what you did before this point if you were confirmed or baptized or did many good works or confessed your sins. It would not matter because according to this literal interpretation that Roman Catholics subscribe to unless you eat Jesus’ flesh “and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” What then does baptism do? Does baptism assure you into eternal beatitude as the official Roman Catholic Church teaches or does the Eucharist? If baptism does as is the official teaching of the church than how is this statement in John 6:53 possible. If using your interpretation of this verse that it’s literal than that means there is no life in you. You do not posses eternal life in you until you eat the Eucharist which means that your baptism did nothing, it did not save you and in fact did nothing to give you assurance of eternal life because until you eat of the Eucharist according to your own interpretation than you do not have assurance of eternal life at all. You would still be not saved even after baptism until you eat of the Eucharist. But this is not what the RCC teaches. They teach you can be saved after having repented with faith and having been baptized. But if you take this verse literally than this is not true. You would still be lost in your sins with no salvation because unless you eat his flesh and drink His blood there is no life in you. You do not posses eternal life or salvation because you have not eaten of the flesh of the Son of God. of course there is a perfectly good explanation for this. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is explained in context. Earlier in the passage it says in John 6:40
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40
This is what He meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. It is trusting in and believing in Jesus and his death and resurrection for our sins. It is not talking about literally eating the flesh and blood of Jesus.
Ok so, In Roman Catholicism baptism is necessary for salvation and eating of the Eucharist is important and imparts grace.
The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude;… (CCC 1257)
Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. (CCC 1416)
These two paragraphs are from the official teachings of the Catholic Church. Notice there is a lot of emphasis on baptism but not as much on the Eucharist. For the most part Protestants see baptism as an outward sign of an inward change spiritually that is done only after having been saved. The Eucharist as the RCC says or the communion is also for the most part a symbol of what Christ has already done for us. My question is this though. If you are taking John 6:53 literally as the RCC do than how is it that baptism does anything? If you say it’s by baptism that God justifies and “…assures entry into eternal beatitude…” as per CCC 1257 then what does the Eucharist even do exactly? According to the RCC the Eucharist “…increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins…” as per CCC 1416
But if they are taking John 6:54 literally which is what they do, then it would actually be a lot more important than just increasing increasing our union with the Lord as they say.
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. John 6:53
if you are taking this literally then listen to what it says. It says “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” If you are taking this literally than it doesn’t matter what you did before this point if you were confirmed or baptized or did many good works or confessed your sins. It would not matter because according to this literal interpretation that Roman Catholics subscribe to unless you eat Jesus’ flesh “and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” What then does baptism do? Does baptism assure you into eternal beatitude as the official Roman Catholic Church teaches or does the Eucharist? If baptism does as is the official teaching of the church than how is this statement in John 6:53 possible. If using your interpretation of this verse that it’s literal than that means there is no life in you. You do not posses eternal life in you until you eat the Eucharist which means that your baptism did nothing, it did not save you and in fact did nothing to give you assurance of eternal life because until you eat of the Eucharist according to your own interpretation than you do not have assurance of eternal life at all. You would still be not saved even after baptism until you eat of the Eucharist. But this is not what the RCC teaches. They teach you can be saved after having repented with faith and having been baptized. But if you take this verse literally than this is not true. You would still be lost in your sins with no salvation because unless you eat his flesh and drink His blood there is no life in you. You do not posses eternal life or salvation because you have not eaten of the flesh of the Son of God. of course there is a perfectly good explanation for this. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood is explained in context. Earlier in the passage it says in John 6:40
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40
This is what He meant by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. It is trusting in and believing in Jesus and his death and resurrection for our sins. It is not talking about literally eating the flesh and blood of Jesus.
