Does the Communion service strength faith?

[mawallace]

I was in a communion service in a independent evangelical church, and was surprised to here the following:-

"If we do not take communion regularly our faith will be the worse for it. In taking communion regularly, our faith is strengthened."

Now, the following comments were made after this:-

i. Communion is an act of obedience to Christ - he commanded it!

ii. Demons have "shut" the mouths of people to make them unable to take communion - they see such power in the act of communion

iii. The bread and wine are only symbols

iv. We are told in Corinthians - "you proclaim his death" and so on. Hence the power that there is.

Therefore, taking all of the above, communion strengthens us.

What do people here think about the general statement, and the points made?

 

[ezra]

people get big ideas and starting adding things in thats not there (man made doctrine). Communion is sacred and your personal time of remembering what Christ done for us.

The bread and wine are only symbols

this is true as oft as you do this do it in remembrance of me.. let me also add the the independent evangelical church know as independent baptist . believe they are the authority Church. the split off from the southern baptist. they think that the southern baptist was to liberal. if i am not mistaken they believe in closed communion . another man made doctrine

 

[farouk]

I think that one is to look at the Lord's Supper not so much as to 'what we can get out of it'.

But rather it is first and foremost an act of obedience to the Lord's command for His followers to remember Him (Matt. 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, 1 Corinthians 11). The Lord's Supper, or breaking of bread, was clearly part of the practice of the early believers in Acts 2.42.

But in so doing, it is undoubtedly a blessing for His people.

 

[josefnospam]

communion in itself has no saving grace but it is pleasing to our God to be reminded of what he has done and share with others in our worship of God, as we take it. Our faith is not in what communion can do for us but what Jesus Christ has done for us . Communion cannot strengeth us but if you believe him take it with gladness in your heart for what he did because he alone can strengthen you. I think it is well to do so. I think some churches believe the bread and wine are literial. Some do not. No comment on this as it would offend many either way.

 

[ejected]

The waifer and the thimble full of Welches is a pagan thing. When the Christians met from home to home they laid out a banquet. They fellowshiped by sharing a meal and edifying one another through their spiritual gifts. Check out Simple Church' and watch the videos. Many are rediscovering how the first century believers assembled and functioned.

 

[ejected]

The communion in most churches stems from the catholic mass.

 

[Deborah13]

I would agree with what [MENTION=41474]farouk[/MENTION] has said.

We do this is to remember, contemplate, on what the Lord did for us, at the Cross. I do believe we receiving a blessing from doing this and through that yes our faith can be strengthened.

 

[Claudya]

Some catholic friend told me the communion is a ritual of sacrificing HIM again (spilling His blood and eating his flesh like predators devour their prey), so we can all parttake in Christ's murder and remind our selves that each of us is His killer.
Okay I can't find that view to be particularily biblical, but it's a darkly appealing idea. There's something carnal and pagan about it - human sacrifice, eating flesh, drinking blood. Exciting! :eyebrow
And I guess when looking at it that way will strengthen your faith by making you feel oh so guilty 1. for taking part in killing Him, and 2. for enjoying it.

 

[Webers_Home]

.
†. John 6:53 . . Jesus said to them: I tell you the truth; unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

The kind of life to be obtained from dining upon the Lord's flesh, and imbibing his blood is eternal life.

†. John 6:54 . .Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life.

Eternal life is an infinite level of life that's impervious to death; therefore, it's impervious to the wages of sin.

†. Rom 6:23 . .The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.

A very important aspect of eternal life is that it's not only impervious to the wages of sin; but its infinite properties are also impervious to time, decay, and the aging process. So then, once somebody has eternal life; they never need to refresh it with additional doses of eternal life. In other words; if the Eucharist did indeed provide its users with eternal life, then they would only need to partake of it once in a lifetime rather than every seven days: week after week after week.

Buen Camino
/