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life in heaven, and communion.
If God tells us in the book of john: "Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. He who eats this Bread will live forever” (John 6:54,58). Then how come we have to confess and repent and all, and how come we still have a chance of going to hell?
Comments
If God tells us in the book of john: "Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. He who eats this Bread will live forever” (John 6:54,58). Then how come we have to confess and repent and all, and how come we still have a chance of going to hell?
because as i say to answer ALL questions like this, we cannot just take one verse of the Bible and ignore others!
gbwu
the gospel is Luke 12 :32-64 and tells the story of a master with many servants who goes on a long journey - so this is about God, and us, his servants.
some servants are good and are always ready to serve the master. others think 'he will be away a long time' and begin to get violent and drunk. the passage explains that the master will come at an unexpected hour and punish the bad servant and 'appoint him his portion with the unbelievers'
so you can't 'accidently' end up in hell by forgetting to confess one sin, but if you continuously insult God's grace by living as if God does not exist, then you can't expect Him to save you as if He does exist.
in reality we are all weak and sin (especially me), this is why we are exhorted in the book of James to 'confess you sins to one another'
confession is the outward expression of a servant seeking to do God's will all the time.
If God tells us in the book of john: "Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. He who eats this Bread will live forever” (John 6:54,58). Then how come we have to confess and repent and all, and how come we still have a chance of going to hell?
We still have to confess and repent because nobody is perfect and all of us sin.
i dont understand what you mean by worthily to take communion
To be worthy to take communion, one must be leading a life of prayer and repentance. I believe it's around the age of 13 or whenever your FOC deems appropriate that one must start confessing regularly. You must have also forgiven everyone their trespasses against you and have made amends, etc. before approaching the Holy Mysteries, for if you remember, the Lord said in Matthew 5:23-24, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
The verse that marmar speaks of is 1 Corinthians 11:29: For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
The Word of God became man, without ceasing to be God, so that by living as man he could undo the sin of Adam, living a life of holy obedience, and make mankind once more a fit place for God to dwell. In Christ we find all the aspects of our own lives recapitulated. He was born as man, obedient as man, fasted as man, was baptised and sanctified the waters as man, he suffered and died, and breaking the power of death he was resurrected and entered into the glory of God as man.
The whole purpose of our Christian lives is not to earn points so that we can be let into heaven, but it is to be so united to Christ that we might participate in His renewed humanity and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.
In baptism we are born again into a new humanity, the old humanity enters the waters, and a renewed humanity rises from the waters. The Holy Spirit descends upon us at the prayers of the priest and the one who is our true Life makes his dwelling in our hearts. But this is only the beginining. Now we must live a life of holy obedience and must seek to preserve the grace of the presence of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
God has granted us several means to preserve this grace, which is a relationship, not a thing. The verse that was first quoted speaks of us receiving eternal life - but what is this eternal life - we must read the Bible with the Bible. And John 17:3 says "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". So eternal life, true life, is knowing God, being in a relationship with God, indeed being indwelt by God.
When we are baptised we are made new so that God can dwell within us, and He comes into us with the anointing with oil. But on an ongoing basis He has chosen and promised to renew that indwelling relationship through our proper reception of the Holy Mysteries of His Body and Blood. When we receive these with faith then the relationship is renewed and strengthened. Both our bodies and our souls are healed by the physical reception of His body and blood and the mystical reception of His own spirit.
This is why confession is important, and indeed the whole arsenal of spiritual weapons which are given to us: prayer, fasting, Bible reading, doing good. We should seek to preserve a holiness of life so that Christ is welcome in our hearts, not to earn points. We should seek all our life to do nothing which grieves the Spirit and drives Him away as Adam's first sin drove the Spirit away. But when we do, because we belong to Christ and our humanity is grounded in His by baptism, it is still possible for us to be made clean by confession, reception of the Mysteries, and strenuous effort or ascesis.
Just like any relationship we have as humans, we must work at it. If we take the presence of Christ our God for granted then that presence will diminish. If we ignore His presence it will diminish. If we sin against Him it will diminish. And so we must play our part in seeking to restore a proper relationship with Him, not as though we can demand His presence, but because He loves to live in us and will give grace if we ask with faith and energy.
None of the sacraments are magic. They are means of grace, ways in which God comes to us. But if we do not desire Him with our whole hearts then how can we receive Him, how can we make welcome one whom we fail to acknowledge. Imagine if the Queen or the President announced they were coming to visit us. How would be prepare? And when they had arrived and said they wanted to stay how would we treat them? How much attention would be give to them.
The Holy Mysteries are an awesome gift of the Word Himself to us, but we must be prepared for His coming as far as we are able, and even if we are spiritually sick, if we desire Him, if we lift ourselves a little on our sick bed and greet Him, then He comes to us and makes His home in us.
But we receive Him often because we need to renew our life-giving relationship with Him often, and if we receive Him often then we must prepare ourselves often, which is why we confess, and why we fast and pray and worship and study the Bible.
In Christ
Deacon Peter
Sorry for bothering you if I have please forgive me
[coptic]mark[/coptic]
So if you take communion unworthily what does that mean? judgment will be harder on you?
Sorry for bothering you if I have please forgive me
[coptic]mark[/coptic]
Peter has given a good lecture.
In Cornithinas,St. Paul says that what he received from Christ Himself, was that anyone who eats of the Body and drinks of the Blood of Christ unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself because he has not discerned that it is truly the Body and truly the Blood of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion!
1 Corinthians 11:23-29-- "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
If we are able to say 'I cannot live without you, O my God. Give me the grace to never offend your Holy Spirit' then we are on the right track rather than 'Lord I am afraid you will punish me for the things I have done'. Fear of punishment brings us to our senses but in the end we must desire God above all other things if we are to truly find Him.
Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
In Christ
Deacon Peter
I highly recommend you read it again. I believe you'll find your answer there.
It's not just about faith. It's faith that works.
God bless.