Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!rutgers!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jdd@db.toronto.edu (John DiMarco) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Importance of sacrifice Message-ID: Date: 2 Sep 90 04:06:21 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu johnw@stew.ssl.berkeley.edu (John Warren) writes: >So what you are saying is that at the Last Supper the body of Christ held >in his hands (and then broke) the body of Christ. That's too hard to believe. >When Jesus said, "This is my body, this is my blood," his flesh was still on >his bones and his blood was still in his veins. Anything is possible with >God, but not everything is probable with him. The twelve never took it to >mean that they were physically eating Jesus's flesh and blood, and Jesus >never expected them to do so. I don't mean to say, and the Church doesn't mean to say that the bread and wine of the Eucharist *physically* turns into the body and blood of Christ. No, the host doesn't turn into a quivering piece of flesh when you're not looking. But you're assuming that all reality is *physical* reality. That's not so. When Jesus said "This is my body", he meant that it really *was* his body, even though the bread-become-body in question didn't turn into a piece of flesh. We have to accept a reality beyond the physical in order to understand how the bread and wine of the Eucharist becomes the body and blood of Christ. I don't want to become enmeshed in philosophical discussions about ontology. Let me just point out that we Christians believe in non-physical realities all the time: the existence of God for one. John -- John DiMarco jdd@db.toronto.edu or jdd@db.utoronto.ca University of Toronto, CSRI BITNET: jdd%db.toronto.edu@relay.cs.net (416) 978-8609 UUCP: uunet!utai!db!jdd