MASS IS NOT THE SACRIFICE OF CALVARY
The Mass is the Roman Catholic rite in which bread and wine are believed to be
turned into the body and blood of Jesus Christ on the altar by the priest.
Jesus during his last supper said over bread, "Take and eat . This is my body
given up for you." And over wine, "Take and drink. This is my blood shed for the
pardon of sins. Do this in memory of me." The priest re-enacts this during Mass
thus causing the alleged transformation of bread and wine into Jesus who is
presumed to be God in human flesh.
The Mass however is considered to be principally a sacrifice. The death of Jesus
for sinners so that they might be forgiven is supposedly made present at Mass
when the bread first and then the wine are changed. It is made present for the
priest and the congregation to offer it to God. Christians are paying for
their salvation with the blood of Jesus. They are paying for it by his murder
and agony. It is striking how fanatical and extreme and barbaric and evil
this doctrine is.
Church teaching is clear that if the Mass is interrupted before the priest changes the wine into Jesus' blood then there is no real Mass. No sacrifice is present.
The Mass sacrifice is compared to the Old Testament image of the lamb without
blemish. It has been noted that Jesus indicated in the gospel of Luke in
reference to the saying, "physician heal thyself", could apply to him. He
is thought to have had a limp. Plus Jesus despite accusations of being
mentally ill did not refute them. The Mass offers a false sacrifice if
Jesus was indeed blemished and he was not a lamb either for he was violent with
his tongue and fought in the Temple. To pray to a man like that is to sow
the seeds in yourself that make you like this man idol of yours. Claims
that Jesus was blemished for he was hit and thrashed before the crucifixion can
be ignored for that is demanding too much precision. The torments were
part of the crucifixion process and can be dismissed. The main point is
that a blemished lamb is a blasphemous sacrifice. Regardless of Christian
lies about how nice God is, he does not have real compassion for invalids or
injured individuals. That is the real blasphemy of the Mass - a blasphemy
against the innocent.
"GOD’S WORD" REFUTES THE SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
The Church says that Jesus proved his love in giving us his body and blood in
the Mass. But as the Church teaches this does not affect Jesus' body then big
deal! Eating Jesus how the Church understands it is like taking chewing gum. He
is not absorbed by the body. I could give my body and blood in a Mass like he
does and I won't find any difference. The great love in the Mass is just
religious romanticism. And in the gospel of John's account of the last supper,
there is no bread and wine ceremony mentioned. It is even said that Jesus showed
his perfect love by washing his disciples feet. No mention there of him showing
his love by giving his body and blood as communion! For John, the footwashing is
what proved the love. It is a denial that Jesus used the last supper to offer his
body and blood to God for sinners!
The Bible never says that the Mass is a real sacrifice. The Catholic Church goes
into desperation mode to try and make out that it does. It scares the Church
that such a major doctrine might be absent from its pages and even worse
contradicted by them!
The function of a priest is to offer sacrifice. So accordingly, the reason why
the Catholic Church calls its ministers priests is that they are thought to have
the power to offer Jesus’ sacrifice by saying Mass. They make it present again
to offer it to God. So God goes to the trouble of a useless miracle just so that
the Catholic Church can call its ministers priests. The Sacrifice doesn’t need
to be made present to be offered. If this doctrine of the Mass being sacrifice
is untrue then priests are not priests at all.
The Catholic Bible (which the Church says men wrote but which God somehow wrote
as well with the result that they only wrote what he wanted) speaks against the
Sacrifice of the Mass.
Catholics allege that the words Jesus said at the Last Supper imply that his
sacrifice was present then. This is an outright lie. Jesus at no point
indicates, "To be at this rite is the same as being at Calvary during my death
from crucifixion." The apostles would not have understood the concept of
timelessness and eternity for they were ordinary men not philosophers or
physicists. And we have to interpret Jesus according to how they would have
understood him.
The Catholics say that as Jesus said the bread was his body sacrificed to God
for many and the blood shed for the divine pardon of their sins that to
celebrate the ritual is to offer Jesus crucified to God. Equally untrue. The
words are symbolic. The words imply that he offered himself to God for others -
yes. But he asks for the rite to be celebrated in his memory but does not say,
“Say these words that the bread is my body and the wine is my blood in memory of
me”. Also, some theologians say this rite could have been a drama that we are
meant to copy. Then the use of the words by a minister don’t imply that he is
offering Christ. And even if the rite looked back to the sacrifice of Jesus and
offered that sacrifice that does require it to make the sacrifice present!!
Offering a sacrifice is not necessarily the same thing as making a sacrifice.
Revelation 5:6 speaks of a lamb standing as if it were slain. Incredibly that is
taken as proof that the book validates the offering of Mass. The lamb represents
Jesus Christ who is understood as the Lamb of God. The problem is that
Revelation is full of symbolic visions. Revelation does not claim that the lamb
represents the perpetuation of Jesus' sacrifice.
Catholics hold that Psalm 110 says that Jesus would be a priest according to the
order of Melchizidek. Since this man offered bread and wine to God it is
reasoned that Jesus would do the same. But the Bible never says that Mel did
that (Genesis 14:18) so the argument is wrong. The lie about Mel pops up in the
First Eucharistic Prayer where God is asked to accept the sacrifice as he
accepted the bread and wine of Melchizidek. Some Bible versions have it that Mel
brought these things for he was a priest and others say he brought them and he
was a priest. For and can have the same force in Greek but not necessarily here
or all the time (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, page 253).
In Malachi 1:10-11, God says that among the Gentiles one perfect sacrifice will
be offered all the time. Catholics say that this predicts the Mass for it speaks
of one sacrifice being offered in many rites in many places. But perhaps Malachi
is thinking of many animal sacrifices as a whole. All offerings to God are one
in the sense that they are offered to honour him by a fellowship and in a spirit
of union. But Malachi we must remember gave no hint that he meant blood
sacrifice so it could be the sacrifice of lives offered to God – unbloody
sacrifices or sacrifices of love not the cessation of life.
The letter to the Hebrews says that unbloody sacrifice is useless against
sin. The Church says the Mass is indeed unbloody but its case is different
for the priest does not shed the victim's blood but connects you to Jesus who is
doing just that. So it is an unbloody sacrifice that makes a bloody one
present. But the letter sees the blood sacrifices of the Bible is reaching
out to Jesus's bloody sacrifice so they do the same thing. So the Mass is
useless against sin and indeed helps sin by pretending to fix it. The
letter stresses that repeated sacrifices are no good and that is the main point
for God fixes sin decisively with the once for all and all sufficient
sacrificial death of Jesus. The sacrifices of the Law were no good despite
being connections to Jesus just because they were repeated!
The New Testament never says that there are sacrificing priests in the Christian
Church. The word translated priest in fraudulent Bibles is presbyter which
simply means elder.
FINALLY
The Sacrifice of the Mass is a heresy and a blasphemy. It is pagan idolatry and
to be utterly rejected. It is enough to prove that Roman Catholicism is not
Christian. It shows that the Catholics WANT to be present at the murderous death
of Jesus. That is why they believe the Mass is a Sacrifice and love that twisted
belief. There is no need to be present. People may hate to do evil directly but
they like doing it indirectly (by letting it happen, by enabling) and enjoy it
when "bad" people thump people they don't like. That way people are hurt but
they have a smug glow for their hands are clean. It is more rewarding than
actually thumping them themselves.
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London, 1950
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Pinsent, CTS, London, 2010
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Mission, North Carolina, 1980
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1988
Christian Order Vol 36 8-9 and Christian Order Vol 36 Number 4 53 Penerley Road,
Catford, London 1995
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Chino, 1985
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London, 1986
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The Web
Transubstantiation, Is it a True Doctrine?
http://www.geocities.com/christian_apologist2001/
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