Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bgsuvax!kutz@cis.ohio-state.edu (Kenneth J. Kutz) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Importance of sacrifice Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 90 06:09:30 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh. Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , finnerty@cygnus.la.locus.com (Brian Finnerty) writes: This posting from the Catholic apologetic magazine really turned a light bulb on for me. My thanks to Brian for taking the time to post the article. > When Catholic theologians talk about the Mass being a propitiatory > sacrifice for the remission of sins, they mean, among other things, that > the objective redemption which Christ's sacrifice on the Cross merited > is subjectively applied to the individual through the sacrifice of the > Mass. > Christ's sacrifice objectively merited redemption on the Cross. > The same sacrifice of Christ, now offered sacramentally, not physically, > is applied to the individual in the Eucharist. > Far from substituting for the Cross or to make up for something that's > lacking in Christ's sacrifice, the Mass is a means by which we recive the > benefits of the Atonement. This brings me to my light bulb. This article to me seems to clear up the false protestant idea that the Mass is a different sacrifice from that of Calvary, at least in concept. The above sentences bring me to the following question: How is Christ's sacrifice in 33 AD applied to the Christian today? Does it have to happen in Church during a Mass? The book of Acts records the conversion of thousands of believers without a Mass. Somehow the blood of Christ was applied to them by virtue of some other means than the mass. Is then the Mass recognized by the Catholic Church as one of many means of applying the sacrifice to us or has it dispensationally replaced the means of salvation in the early church? Secondly, how long does this application of grace last, according to the Catholic position? One week? I have to ask this nagging question. Please don't take offense. Could the Mass be construed as an attempt by which an insecure church invents a means to "apply salvation-for-a-week" to its members, effectively becoming a "grace distributor"? It seems to me that the idea of handing out temporary grace by means of a church ceremony is foreign to Scripture, which of necessity, causes this new insecure church to adopt Tradition as having equal authority with the Word. -- Kenneth J. Kutz Internet kutz@andy.bgsu.edu Systems Programmer BITNET KUTZ@ANDY University Computer Services UUCP ...!osu-cis!bgsuvax!kutz Bowling Green State Univ. US Mail 238 Math Science, BG OH 43403