Roman Catholics (questions asked by them)
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13. Why do you refuse to accept the doctrine of transubstantiation? |
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Because according to this doctrine during the Lord’s Supper, when the
bread and the wine are blessed, they change substance and become the true
body and the true blood of Christ. Here is what we read in the Catechism of
the Catholic Church: ‘Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the
dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is
present in many ways to his Church: ….. But "he is present... most
especially in the Eucharistic species." The mode of Christ's presence
under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all
the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to
which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the
Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of
our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and
substantially contained." This presence is called 'real' - by which is
not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be
'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say,
it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself
wholly and entirely present." It is by the conversion of the bread and
wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this
sacrament. ….. The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by
declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body
that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction
of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that 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." The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the
moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species
subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole
and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the
bread does not divide Christ.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1373, 1374,
1375, 1376, 1377). |
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And that’s absolutely unscriptural for the bread and the wine do not
undergo any change of substance during the Lord's Supper, for they are only
elements which represent the body and the blood of Christ which are still
bread and wine even after they have been blessed. For Jesus, after He gave
thanks for the cup, said to His disciples: “Drink from it, all of you.
"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins. "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit
of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My
Father's kingdom.” (Matthew 26:27-29 - NKJV). Please note that Jesus called
what was inside the cup “this fruit of the vine”. |