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Christians and idolatry

Riders

Well-Known Member
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?
 

74x12

Well-Known Member
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?
All of this is spiritually understood. It's symbolic of how He died on the cross. His blood brings forgiveness. His flesh was slain for the world's sins. So His blood brings a new Covenant with God. And His flesh is bread for the world. That means Jesus is the Word of God. The gospel. By believing the gospel we partake of His bread of life. The bread is given through His death. As you know Jesus "broke" the bread and gave thanks. That's symbolic of how His body must be broken or killed on the cross.

Whoever can't understand that isn't trying.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?

No. Drinking actual wine and actual bread and worshiping with people together isn't paganism nor idolotry. Idolotry in christianity is when you worship anyone other than christ (trinitarian). The church is the body of Christ, the eucharist is his communion, the worship is living his passion. It's all about christ.

Bread and wine was bread and wine in the NT. How Roman Catholics, othorodox, Baptist, JW discribe it in their congregation is not near the point at what people do in the name of christ.

Got to go beyond the physical. Those are just accidents. I'm not familiar if pagans see things as symbolic back then. But, no. A Catholic would think you crazy if you explained how they drink actual blood and flesh. Even the priest looked at me funny when I asked.

That and paganism isn't bad nor negative. All religions have culture and majority of them are influenced by their ancestors/pagans. If you took paganism out of deity religions, what exactly do you have left? Even some deities are Pagan.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
All of this is spiritually understood. It's symbolic of how He died on the cross. His blood brings forgiveness. His flesh was slain for the world's sins. So His blood brings a new Covenant with God. And His flesh is bread for the world. That means Jesus is the Word of God. The gospel. By believing the gospel we partake of His bread of life. The bread is given through His death. As you know Jesus "broke" the bread and gave thanks. That's symbolic of how His body must be broken or killed on the cross.

Whoever can't understand that isn't trying.


Can I ask? What do you mean by his death being symbolic?

Most talk about christ death as literal as catholics the eucharist and southern Baptist to their bibles.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?
Most Christins worship Christ as God so worshipping Him in the Real Presence of the Eucharist isn't idolatry. Most Christians don't view the bread and wine as mere symbols, but the actual Body and Blood of Christ after they are consecrated.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?

I don't think they're worshipping the blood, so I don't see how.
The one that always confused me was the Bible. Not that it's universally worshipped, but the way some Christians treat it is borderline.
 

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
Its worship of blood and the flesh?
The Gospel of John is purposely made up, and it is where it insists on 'eating flesh and drinking blood' (John 6:53-6) to directly contradict Noahide Laws (Genesis 9:4-6).

When we try to remove the dead corpse of jesus from the 'vultures gathering' they get offended (Luke 17:37), and yet they're all getting chucked into the Lake of Fire (Isaiah 34:15).
Is this not just a form of adolatry?
It is worse than idolatry, they defile most of the Law's in someway, and they sign up to first degree murder, cannibalism, vampirism, morbidism, martyrism, etc; where most go opposite to what Yeshua taught in the Synoptic Gospels.

In my opinion. :innocent:
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
IMO, and the opinion of the Church, is to view the "body & blood" in terms of the Greek concept of "essence", and this influence, especially Aristotle, was very strong within the Church's theology. Let me use an example.

Let's say that the reader doesn't know what a "car" is and (s)he asks me to explain. So, what I do is to mention various parts: the body, the engine, the wheels, and all the other various parts, but then I stop there. After all, I covered every single part. But then the reader looks mystified and says "But what is it used for?".

So, even though I covered all it's parts, I still didn't explain its "essence". The Eucharist can and should be viewed in that latter manner, namely that it's more than just a sum of its parts. Or, to put it another way, it's not just what the composition of the bread & wine is but also it's what its "essence" is: the body and blood of Christ.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Most Christins worship Christ as God so worshipping Him in the Real Presence of the Eucharist isn't idolatry. Most Christians don't view the bread and wine as mere symbols, but the actual Body and Blood of Christ after they are consecrated.

Christ is never God the father, but the Son. Through the Son we worship the Father.
The symbol, consecrated by the Holy Spirit, both signifies and effects, brings about, what it signifies.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Christ is never God the father, but the Son. Through the Son we worship the Father.
The symbol, consecrated by the Holy Spirit, both signifies and effects, brings about, what it signifies.
Not sure why you're telling me that. I never said Christ is the Father.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Because you stated

It is God we worship through Christ.
Er, Trinitarian Christians believe that Jesus is God, God the Son. He's the Second Person of the Trinity. So by worshipping Jesus in the Eucharist (which you should be familiar with since you're a Catholic and there's Eucharistic Adoration), you're worshipping God Incarnate.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
Er, Trinitarian Christians believe that Jesus is God, God the Son. He's the Second Person of the Trinity. So by worshipping Jesus in the Eucharist (which you should be familiar with since you're a Catholic and there's Eucharistic Adoration), you're worshipping God Incarnate

We give glory and honor to the Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Through the entire Eucharistic Prayer we pray to God the Father, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that moves us to pray in, with, and through Christ to God the Father. Christ is our mediator, the one who unites us to communion with God.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
We give glory and honor to the Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Through the entire Eucharistic Prayer we pray to God the Father, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that moves us to pray in, with, and through Christ to God the Father. Christ is our mediator, the one who unites us to communion with God.
Okay, whatever. I don't see what your point is because nothing I said is incorrect.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?
I'm not this forum to bother Christians. They are good people in my book. And Judaism doesn't proselytize -- no one needs to be a Jew to know God

But since the issue has been brought up, the very fact that Christianity teaches that Jesus is God, prays to him as God, and worships him as God, when in fact he was a regular man, is clearly idolatry at face value. It is for this reason that it is a most serious offense for Jews to become followers of Jesus.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
We give glory and honor to the Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Through the entire Eucharistic Prayer we pray to God the Father, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that moves us to pray in, with, and through Christ to God the Father. Christ is our mediator, the one who unites us to communion with God.
How does this contradict what Saint Frankenstein said?
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Drinking the blood symbolically in communion and claiming the blood of Jesus for sins and worshiping of Jesus in general seems to me to be idolatry. There were Pagans in the olden days natives who use to worship animals and put it on cave walls right? Is this not just a form of adolatry? Its worship of blood and the flesh?
Christians don't like to admit it, but most of the religion including its dogma and theology in general is modeled and based after Pagan rituals and associated mythologies. It's why it's so easy to make comparisons and identify the similarities.
 
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