CATHOLIC MASS IS NOT BIBLICAL COMMUNION

    In the Bible, the closest thing to a Catholic mass is the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20). In 1 Corinthians 10:16, this supper is described as a communion of the blood and body of Christ. But even then, the Catholic mass is at best a distortion and perversion of the Biblical Lord's Supper.

    First, the latter was a commemoration, not a reoccurrence of the sacrifice of Jesus, as the Catholic mass purports to be. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is that the bread miraculously becomes the actual, literal body of Christ when blessed by the priest, and that the eating of the bread is a "true sacrifice" of the body of Christ. But the Bible teaches that the body of Jesus was offered "once for all" (Hebrews 10:10, 9:27).

    Second, the Lord's Supper belongs to the Lord's Day (Revelation 1:10), that is, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Historically, we know that this is when Christians of the first century, as well as the second, ate it. Catholic masses by be on various days of the week. Certainly the December 25th mass falls on different days of the week from year to year.

    Furthermore, the Lord's Supper was eaten in commemoration of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:23), and specifically in commemoration of his death (1 Corinthians 11:27, Matthew 26:26-28). But the particular mass known as Christmas focuses upon Jesus' birth. In holy scripture, there is absolutely no mention of any annual commemoration of Jesus' birth. We don't even know when Jesus was born!


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