So...wait...honest question: If the bread and blood of Christ during the Eucharist are believed to be the real body and blood of Christ, then is anyone who eats it considered a cannibal? Just wondering, amirite?

No, they're just symbols.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It's this thing called transubstantation. Basically, the bread and wine are still physically bread and wine, but they are spiritually the body and blood of Jesus Christ. :3 The more you know!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yep. And Catholics believe that this is the real Body and Blood of Christ, and other Christian denominations believe it's just a symbol. So yeah, it still keeps it's physical form, but spiritually it is Christ. One time it actually took the form of flesh though. Like the Miracle of Lanciano. Pretty interesting stuff.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

im catholic we dont believe its the real blood and body of christ for any religion that has jesus and such know that the bread and wine are spritual symbols of jesus' body and blood.. fyi

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Uh, I'm Catholic too and we do believe it's the body and blood of Christ. It's Christ spiritually but not physically, but it's still him.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

thats wat i just said.. but u said it shorter...

by Anonymous 14 years ago

mmmmk it was just a little confusing how you said "we dont believe its the real blood and body of Christ" and then it just got kind of confusing :P.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Ever heard of symbolism?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Whoa....I sense religious arguments already.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I think it's linked with the whole 'holy ghost' thing-- that we all contain a piece of the Holy Ghost, or the Divine Spark, or God himself, but that doesn't make us God or holy.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

People used to have problems with this and thought Christians were cannibals... 2000 years ago. They're not literally eating Jesus.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Another religious post... that's a surprise.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I don't see what's wrong with asking a simple question, religious or not. A lot of people wonder about that.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

u guise got my shit all wrong, bitches damn niggz dont kno shit bout me

by Anonymous 14 years ago

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by Anonymous 14 years ago

It would make more sense if it were symbolism but it actually isn't. Ask the Pope. He'll tell you it really is the body and blood of Christ. The more you know!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Another reason to not be Catholic...they are cannibals.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Well it depends on which branch of Christianity you believe in. Like in Catholicism, it's not a symbol, it becomes blessed and the spirit of God is in it, but physically it's still bread and wine. Then other religions say its symbolic, or some just do it as a reminder of what Jesus did.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

asked and answered. it does not make you a cannibal

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Like the non-trolling comments before mine say, it all depends on your denomination. Many Protestant religions believe it's just symbolism for Jesus's sacrifice for us, while Catholics believe that the bread and wine take on the divinity of Jesus. So, no, we're not cannibals.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Why would you listen to anything the pope says though? Just saying! It's not literally the blood etc because that's just plain gross. It's symbolic, so don't worry! Unless you're catholic of course, but why would you want to be catholic? 0.o and there's nothing wrong with religious posts! How else will people find answers (or attempt to)?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Because he represents Christ on earth...not listening to the Pope when he teaches infallibly is the same as not listening to Christ. And it is the Body and Blood of Christ.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I'll disregard the first part of your comment because I just don't want to argue that right now. Catholics beleive that it is in fact literally the blood and body of Jesus Christ. Look at my comment near the bottom of the comments and it's explained there. And why wouldn't you want to be Catholic? Catholicism is the only Christian church that has a structure with a definite center. There are over 35,000 protestant churches nowadays because once they broke from the Catholic church they lost the main structure.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

unfortunately i am prejudiced towards catholics, all the ones i've ever met have been horribly abusive to me 0.o i know all of them aren't like that, but the experiences have been so bad that i find it hard to be nice about them...i am however trying to work on that!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Well, I'm sorry that's been your experience. Most of us are nice though :)

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Trying to explain this in one simple comment is like trying to learn Organic Chemistry when you don't even know what a periodic table is.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

good analogy :)

by Anonymous 14 years ago

People used to believe that. Lutheranism(I think) changed it. There was an argument between Martin Luther and Ulrich Swingli(some religious philosopher dude from Germany[?]) about transubstantion and (I forgot the word for the other thing). Transubstantion is the belief that the wine and bread are sybolic of the blood and body. The other belief(it also ends in substantion but I forgot the prefix) is that it actually turned into the blood and body of Christ. Most early European religions accepted transubstantion, and therefore most modern religions accept it. This is one of the few things I actually take in from AP European history.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

No. Transubstantiation means the change of the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses (accidents) remains as before. I'm assuming the word you couldn't remember is consubstantiation, and your definition of that is wrong as well. Consubstantiation means that the fundamental "substance" of the body and blood of Christ are present alongside the substance of the bread and wine, which remain present.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

That's not what my textbook said..

by Anonymous 14 years ago

You can't beleie everything you read in a Text book.... It's actually quite sad

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Haha I'll tell my teacher he's wrong then :P

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah... your textbook is wrong. Transubstantiation is when the bread and wine become the body and blood. Catholics always have believed this and still do. Notice the prefix "trans." That means across. It goes across the substance. Consubstantiation starts with "con" meaning together. That means that the bread and the spirit so to speak are coming together.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

no.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

That's what I always wondered too!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It's not literal. Hence Jesus saying "do this in remembrance of me," rather than "do this because humans are tasty."

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It is literal to Catholics.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

- Mhmm. :) And yeah, I heard about that one during my religion class last year. Now, that's what I call a miracle!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I used to ask this in ccd or maybe to my grandma and I'm pretty sure I got in trouble either way

by Anonymous 14 years ago

The Eucharist looks like bread and wine, tastes like bread and wine, has the chemical makeup of bread and wine, yet it is the body and blood of Jesus. We are not cannibals because what we eat is sort of the "ressurected" body. In heaven, after the end of the world, we are all supposed to get physical bodies back, but they are completely flawless. Jesus, being God, had this already and that is what we eat. It is one of those things about Catholicism that you have to believe more than understand because it is a mystery of our faith.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

OP, In case you're confused, this guy above me has got it right

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Catholics are crazy.

by Anonymous 14 years ago