Questions On The Bible Compared To Catholic Teaching

Answer Yes, my understanding that this Catholic teaching, commonly known as Transubstantiation, came about in the 13th century. Before that time, it was unknown to anyone, including Jesus and His apostles. The basic teaching is, as you put it, Jesus body and blood are mystically transformed when people partake of the wafer and juice. Therefore, Jesus is re-sacrificed every time someone partakes of the mass, what Christians would call the Lord's Supper.

As to the Scriptures, there is nothing that is found that would lead us to believe such a teaching. First, Jesus has been sacrificed once and for all. There is no more sacrificing of Jesus again and again, as some would have us believe. Heb. 10:10-14.

As we partake of the Lord's Supper each first day of the week (Sunday), it is a memorial where we use symbols, specified by Jesus Himself, to help us remember the actual sacrifice that was made on our behalf. Acts 20:7, Matt. 26:26-29, 1 or. 11:23-34.

To be fair, the only passage that comes close, through misunderstanding, to teaching the Catholic view, is found in John 6. To briefly summarize, the following points are mentioned in this account.

Verses 1-13 - Jesus miraculously feeds 5,000 men, plus women and children, with bread and fish.

Verses 14-15 - Their response to Him is, they want to take Him by force and make Him king over them. Their reasoning, He will provide with al material things, without any effort being needed on our part.

Verses 16-29 - Jesus withdraws from them and then after seeking for Him, the multitudes fin Him. He reveals their motives for seeking Him (they were filled with the bread) and challenges them to believe (trust and obey) Him, for He is the true bread of life.

What is seen in the rest of the exchanges that follow is, Jesus challenge to them is that they should accept and believe in Him as the Messiah. He couches this in the figure of eating bread.

He repeats the them in verses 35-36 and verses 46-47. To eat the bread is to believe (trust and obey) Him.

Then, in verse 51, He plainly defines the living bread as His flesh, the sacrifice He is going to make for our sins.

Finally, in verses 53-54, He goes back to the idea of eating is bread, His flesh. But, how do we do this? As He stated over and over to them we do it by believing (trusting and obeying Him). Although that would include taking the Lord's Supper, it would also include all other things that relate to becoming a Christian and being a Christian. However, it has no reference to the bread and fruit of the vine becoming the literal body and blood of Jesus inside of us. Contact Gary

Question 2. Why is the celebration of Christmas designated for December 25th?

Answer Christians began to celebrate Christmas about 200 A. D. but on different dates because the exact date of His birth was not known. In 354, December 25 was declared to be the birthday of Christ by the Catholic Church and 440 the Pope decreed that Christmas should be celebrated on that date. The church at Constantinople for a while observed it on the 6th of January and it is still used by some Eastern Orthodox churches.

It perhaps never crossed their mind that if God had wanted us to celebrate His birth, he would have told us the date and day, but he did tell us to celebrate Christ death, burial, and resurrection each and every Lord’s day. Acts 20:7 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 .) When God told the Jewish people to "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy", they understood that it meant EVERY Sabbath day. The same goes for the Lord’s Day and the Lord’s Supper…upon the first day of every week. Contact Danny

Question 3. Is it wrong to celebrate Christmas?

Answer The answer to your question is yes and no. No, it's not wrong to celebrate Christmas as a national holiday on which we visit with family, friends, etc. Yes, it is wrong to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday.

God is very clear throughout the Bible that in order to please Him, we must do *exactly* what He says; no more, no less. For example, Moses said in 3 separate passages:

De 5:32 "Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. De 17:11 "According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. De 17:20 "that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment [to] the right hand or [to] the left, and that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

God has always wanted man to do *exactly* as He said. Moses understood that, and he stressed the importance of complete conformity to God's will to the Israelites.

That same idea is stated in the New Testament. In Galatians 1, Paul condemns any other gospel than that which he preached:

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9, NKJV).

And John ends the revelation of God with the same idea:

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19, NKJV).

So there you have it: God has always been interested in man's doing just exactly what He said or directed through His Son and His apostles.

So the question is, where does anyone read in the Bible that Christians are to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday? The Christians of the New Testament didn't; we don't read of any of the Apostles teaching it's observance. So why would anyone celebrate it as Christ's birthday? In fact, no one knows when Christ was born.

Christmas didn't exist until several hundred years after Christ's death. It came into existence when a denomination "christianized" a local, pagan holiday. So again I ask, why would a true Christian celebrate it religiously?

The Bible teaches in passages like 1 Corinthians 11:23ff that we are to celebrate Jesus's *death*, not his birth. Some people try to justify their attaching religious meaning to Dec. 25 by saying, "He's so important to us, why wouldn't we celebrate his birth? It was celebrated in the Bible." However, this is contrary to the teachings of the New Testament because *no where* does the Bible say that the Christians of the first century celebrated Christmas.

It's ultimately a question of Biblical authority: Is it okay to do something that is not authorized in the New Testament? And the answer, plain and simply, is no. Reread Galatians 1:8-9. Paul wanted to the Galatians to do exactly what he had taught them. Never in any of his writings will you find him promoting Christmas or anything like it. Therefore, if Paul didn't celebrate it, why should I? Contact Michael

Question 4. In dealing with Christians who sinned, the idea developed that simple repentance and confession of sins was not enough. It became the duty of the priest to determine whether or not the repentance was genuine and whether or not the church some proof of good intentions before it granted re-admittance to its membership. This of course increased the power of the priest. It gave the Catholic priest a fourth sacrament by which to subject the members to their control.

Answer The first sacrament was baptism. Then after the fifth century when infant baptism become common it was necessary to have a Confirmation service for the infants who were baptised when they became old enough to realize the nature of worship. In this the bishop layed hands on the child. Soon he added the anointing of the child with oil so he might partake communion. The second was the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper. The third was Marriage i.e. the promise not to marry a non-Catholic.

Out of the sacrament of penance came the idea of indulgences. It was claimed that God could forgive sin, but the church must require temporal punishment. The priest would determine how much it would cost for the church to forgive sins. To this was added the idea that an individual could not fully atone for his sin on this earth but would suffer in purgatory until full atonement was made. It was claimed that an indulgence was really an act of mercy which the Catholic hierarchy granted the church, through the power God had granted to Peter, whereby the church could relax the amount of satisfaction required and grant forgiveness without full atonement being made. Those living could obtain indulgences for those in purgatory to shorten their stay. The amount you paid was determined by your "social standing" and by the "seriousness of the sin". It should be obvious that this was just a way to get money and bypass the only way authorized for the church to get money which is free will offerings upon the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16: 1-2).

Penance does not apply to us today, nor has it ever. Not in Jesus day. Not in the Old Testament. This came out of misconception of what repentance is, which simply means "to turn, or change" but it must be brought about by "godly sorrow" ( 2 Cor 7:10) . In a sense forgiveness is free. We don’t pay money to obtain forgiveness, but it does cost. It cost Jesus his life on the cross. But it He purchased the church (Acts 20:28). (1 Pet. 1:18-19) It also cost us everything (Mt. 16:24).

We must first hear the gospel (Rom 10:17). We must believe that gospel (John 8:24). We must repent of your sins (Luke 13:3). We must confess our faith in Christ (Rom. 10:10). And then be baptized for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38) Contact Danny

Question 5. My son is discussing saints this week in Sunday School, and we tried to find on your web site Saint Christopher. Who he was and what he did, can you please help???