Is the Roman Catholic Mass a Continual Offering for Sins?
Having Sunday fellowship is one thing. What the Roman Catholic Mass is for and its purpose is another. There is the ongoing heresy that priests save souls. There was even this rage-induced Roman Catholic fanatic woman who says pastors damn souls. Wait, so priests can save souls and pastors can damn souls? This really brings in a strange thought for that lost woman.
Here is the Roman Catholic stand on their Mass and the doctrine of transubstantiation:
Here is the Roman Catholic stand on their Mass and the doctrine of transubstantiation:
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 sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.” “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 is offered in an unbloody manner.” – 1367, Catechisms of the Roman Catholic church
“Communion with the body and blood of Christ increases the communicant’s union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the church as the mystical body of Christ.” – 1416, Catechisms of the Roman Catholic church
I used to believe in transubstantiation that I was partaking in a true power meal. Every Sunday, my estranged parents would beg the priest to "bless" me with "holy water" after the mass so my behavior will improve. Guess what? My behavior never improved. I was taught many times that the bread was now an extension of the Body of Christ. The very idea that the bread and wine are now the flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus is something. It still tastes like bread and yet how can it be the body and blood of Jesus? The priest raises up the host and calls the bread the Lamb of God after the blessing. They have this ceremony asking God to turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. It really is a very confusing ritual indeed! However, people just follow it because they were raised that way.
In the book The Faith of Millions - John O' Brien a Roman Catholic priest writes this heresy:
When the priest pronounces the tremendous words of consecration, he reaches up into the heavens, brings Christ down from His throne, and places Him upon our altar to be offered up again as the Victim for the sins of man.
It is a power greater than that of monarchs and emperors: it is greater than that of saints and angels, greater than that of Seraphim and Cherubim. Indeed it is greater even than the power of the Virgin Mary.
While the Blessed Virgin was the human agency by which Christ became incarnate a single time, the priest brings Christ down from heaven, and renders Him present on our altar as the eternal Victim for the sins of man—not once but a thousand times! The priest speaks and lo! Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows His head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.
This is really blasphemy and even disrespectful to Mary. Wait, I thought they regarded Mary as their spiritual mother? Now, the Roman Catholic priest has "greater power" than Mary entrusted to them? It's just like some delusional nutjob who thinks people should obey him because the Son of God allegedly made him the king of the universe. Greater than the power of monarchs and emperors and that of saints and angels? I wonder how they would affirm it for Popes and priests who were canonized as "saints" then? The very statement that O' Brien makes left me speechless because I didn't really have that much high regard to the priests of Rome. Jesus who they say is Christ the eternal and omnipotent God bows His head in humble obedience to the priest? It's mind-blowing because prayer doesn't change God - it changes me! When I ask God for something - He isn't a genie. If God gives me what I ask for - it's because it's in accordance with His command and what He wants me to do. The very statement that Jesus bows His head in humble obedience to the priest is very mind-blowing!
A continuing sacrifice for sins? Studying through Hebrews 7 up to 10 for a few days has given me some insights. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then he sat down at the right side of God." Just reading through McGee's study guide presents the real problem of the Old Testament priesthood. Do you know that the Old Testament priesthood couldn't even allow Levities with physical flaws to enter? Do you know that the sin sacrifices were done daily? It's because those sin sacrifices couldn't remove sins. They were but a foreshadow of things to come when Jesus the Great High Priest would offer that one sacrifice that would abolish all sin sacrifices. The only sacrifice for sins. When Jesus died on the cross on that Good Friday - the veil was rent from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). The veil covered the Holy of Holies. Before, only the High Priest can enter there. Civilians entering it would be destroyed in an instant. Jesus offered only one sacrifice for sins.
Do you know the real meaning of the Lord's Supper? The Lord's Supper was instituted as a practice where unleavened bread and non-alcoholic wine were served. The Apostle Paul gave instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, "This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Both the bread and the wine were to be part of the ritual or sacrament. Yet for Roman Catholics, only the priest gets to drink the wine. They have their twisted misinterpretation of John 6:53-56 to justify transubstantiation. Yet, why isn't the wine even drank? If transubstantiation were real then born-again Christians who truly partake in the unleavened bread (in this case, the use of pita bread) and the unfermented wine are the ones who benefit from it. The practice was done to be in remembrance of Jesus. The bread and wine are both symbolic.
Do you know the real meaning of the Lord's Supper? The Lord's Supper was instituted as a practice where unleavened bread and non-alcoholic wine were served. The Apostle Paul gave instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, "This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Both the bread and the wine were to be part of the ritual or sacrament. Yet for Roman Catholics, only the priest gets to drink the wine. They have their twisted misinterpretation of John 6:53-56 to justify transubstantiation. Yet, why isn't the wine even drank? If transubstantiation were real then born-again Christians who truly partake in the unleavened bread (in this case, the use of pita bread) and the unfermented wine are the ones who benefit from it. The practice was done to be in remembrance of Jesus. The bread and wine are both symbolic.
How did the Reformers view it? Martin Luther had the consubstantiation view which is, "By consubstantiation, we mean that Jesus Christ is present in, with, and under the bread and the wine whenever the Lord's Supper is celebrated." John Calvin had a similar view with the spiritual presence view. Huldrych Zwingli had the memorial view. The truth is that the Lord's supper is something that acknowledges the one sacrifice made for sins. It's not a continual sacrifice yet it also can't be taken lightly either because it would be disrespectful to participate in it if you're backslid or not leaving a clean life.
Unfortunately, some Roman Catholics sin lavishly from Monday to Friday, go to confession on Saturday, accept communion on Sunday then rinse and repeat. It's because Romans 10:3 says such people are ignorant of God's righteousness and trying to establish their own righteousness. What they need is the righteousness of Christ!