IS IT A MASS OR ?

The evangelical church believes it is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, Catholics believe the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood." In the Eucharist Christ gives us the VERY body which he gave up for us on the cross, the VERY blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

The New Catholic Catechism of 1992 said, “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice ... In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner.” (Can it be unbloody and bloody at the same time?)

When did this view actually begin in history because It is not mentioned in the Scripture nor Apostles' Creed from the 2^nd century A.D. or the Nicene Creed 325 A.D, There had been individual opinions from this period which supported various views, but none were the teaching of the church at the time.

The Council of Trent summarized 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." This interpretation held by the Catholic Church is found where Jesus spoke the words: "Take, eat; this is My body… this is My blood," he turned the bread they were eating into his body and the wine into his blood at the Passover. The official name for this is transubstantiation. It means that the substance is changed. Although the outward appearance remains of the bread and wine look the same to the eye, no one can see that underneath they have been changed. This is done today by the priest who can then sacrifice Christ afresh on the altar. Christ becomes the actual sacrifice but  an "unbloody sacrifice". The  wafer is the "host" which means he becomes the victim. Christ is actually "immolated" or offered as the victim over and over, each week, each year throughout the world on all the Catholic altars. This current offering of the host makes satisfaction for the sins of both the living and the dead. Those receiving Holy Communion eat the actual body of Christ. Participation is essential for a Catholics spiritual life, it is essential for salvation. This is the Sacrifice of the Mass or the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

However this is not what the Bible teaches.

The word "mass" is never used in Scripture, it is an invention of their church for an unbiblical practice. The communion is referred to by using the word "Koinonia".

1 Cor. 10:16 Communion-- a memorial: a visible way of illustrating His death.

The mass is a misunderstanding of what the Lord meant when He said " Take eat, this is My body and drink, this is My blood shed for the remission of sins." Taking meanings out of  their Jewish concept and culture and giving Gentile meanings (Aristotelian) destroys the message he conveyed. Jesus took the Passover and showed that he was the fulfillment of this feast ,as he is for all of them. If he was giving his body at the last supper for our sins then he didn't have to go to the cross, it already was accomplished.

"Take eat for this is my body." For 1500 years prior to Jesus statement the Jewish people partook of this feast day ritual of Passover. It was in remembrance of their Exodus from Egypt. Jesus stated that He was the fulfillment of this (the matzoh is the bread he held up, it is unleaven, striped, with holes and broken Isa.53). It couldn't be literal or all of Israel would be partaking of his body before He ever had a human body which came by the virgin conception of Mary.  It pointed to His person as the sinless lamb and the work He would accomplish on the cross, what would happen to himself on the cross. Paul applies His death to the Passover in 1 Cor.5:6-8. If this passage was meant to be taken literally, then were the Jews eating of His body and blood before He was physically here, before He even became a man here on earth?  It couldn't be literal because He did not die yet, no blood was spilled, and His body was not broken, the Passover was looking forward to the future, just as we partake of the bread and the cup looking back to the past. If this bread turned into his body at the last supper then He gave himself for us before the cross. In fact if you think it through, there would be no need for Jesus to go to the cross, we would only have to take communion (The Eucharist) since it the actual event.
Heb. 11:28 says of Moses, "By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, "Faith that looked to the future for the substance which is Christ. It's about faith in the real thing not a ritual in manmade things.

If this was literal, which part of His body was eaten that night? Did Jesus body actually consist of bread and have wine flowing in his veins when he spoke take eat this is my body. If not, then why should we think it does now. Since His physical body was like ours in a substantial limited amount, would it not be totally consumed already? Also remember Jesus also ate the bread and wine, was he eating himself? Did he need salvation?

Jesus holding the bread he distinguished between his body and the emblem in his hand. Peter whom the Catholics hold to be the first pope said “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24).

Why does the Eucharist have the body and the blood separate, while the real Christ had the blood in his body. When He shed His blood for our sins He arose again in the same body, a body without blood but flesh and bone glorified. A new body was given, powered by a different operation than the old humanity of blood. The blood was given and accepted. The sacrifice was over, he said it is finished, not it will continue! How can he give us blood today when he himself has none to give today (Luke 24:39). What kind of Jesus are they presenting in manmade objects?

 When the Son of God became a man, he took upon himself human flesh. Is Holy Communion actually eating Christ's physical body. Why would God want us eating human flesh? Why would he want us drinking human blood? When the drinking of blood is repeatedly forbidden in the Scriptures, including the New Testament. It doesn’t matter if it was sinless blood. The apostles were Jews who would not partake of eating anything but clean food. For a Jew, you cannot find a food more unclean than blood, this is why they were shocked when he said this in Jn.6, they misunderstood him.

A careful look at Jesus' Teaching Style proves what is correct. The Jews often spoke in figurative language. Jesus, being a Jew, was no exception to this manner of teaching to bring across a point. John records in his gospel seven figurative statements that Jesus made about himself. Each uses the same verb translated "is" in the words "This is My body." Jesus said in Jn.6, "I am the bread of life," He also states in the same manner "I am the light of the world," "I am the door," "I am the resurrection and the life", "I am the good shepherd," "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," "I am the true vine." If we take the bread literally then all other illustrations should be taken in the same manner.

There are many statements that Jesus used in a figurative sense for example destroy this temple in Jn.2:19 the Pharisee’s interpreted this as the literal temple he said they were wrong it is the temple of his body. When he said to the people to beware of the "leaven of the Pharisees," they thought he meant bread. when he spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, they argued, murmured, and left baffled. He summed it up his meaning by saying my words are spirit and they are life. This should not be confused in thinking that everything Jesus said was figurative, only that he often employed figurative language to teach and illustrate truth. Jesus' Jewish audience often misunderstood his teaching. They lacked perception. They were unable to discern when he was speaking figuratively or literally.

When he said he offered new life as living water, or I am the light ", I am the Door", I am the vine" should we take these to be the actual literal meaning or symbolic of another literal substance. When he said to the disciples you are the salt of the earth were they actually salt ? We need to look at the spiritual intent of the passage.

1 Cor.11:28 Paul says, "Let each man eat of the bread and drink of the cup..." Paul clearly is stating that there is no change of the former substance to Christ, this is really bread and a cup.

In 1 Cor.11:25 Paul states this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Obviously this cup was not the actual covenant itself but a representation of it. He didn't say the new covenant is the cup! "for as often as you eat this bread drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." Do we drink the cup or what is inside it? Notice it says bread not a body. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." Did he come back as a wafer and wine? Then we can't take the bread or the cup? This is what we are presented by the Roman view. If so we should stop taking the bread.

The Bible says the very opposite

The Eucharist is either the symbol of the sacrificial event or the event itself . Scripture tells us which is true.

Whose blood cleanses us? Rom. 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

When did this occur?

Answer: Rom. 3:25, "Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, "The bible says it is a past event.

Where did this happen?  Col. 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. :20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."  The bible says it took place at the cross when he died not today.

The blood on the cross is what cleanses not the mass. One is from God the other is from man!  No where did he say it continues as a sacrifice he only said to do this to remember the sacrifice that occurred. In the OT the looked forward to it today we look backward at it.