Dear, dear...
I'm afraid he just doesn't get it. What's really a bit odd about the post is this part:
Frankly, I find it quite egotistical that any person/church/denomination would refuse fellowship to a fellow believer in Christ over a man-made interpretation of what actually transpires during communion. Don't you think if it was that important an issue, the Bible would have something to say about it?
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Gospel of St. John, 6:48-58
I think that does say something about it.
One could also argue that having a closed communion is charitable, citing First Corinthians Chapter 11:
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
What's really fascinating though is that this blogger is presuming to criticize churches with a closed communion without understanding that for the largest Christian bodies which have closed communion (Catholic and Orthodox), the teaching on the Real Presence is not considered a man-made teaching but a non-negotiable fact believed since the time of the Apostles and no more expendable than the teaching on the Resurrection.
I'm afraid he just doesn't get it. What's really a bit odd about the post is this part:
Frankly, I find it quite egotistical that any person/church/denomination would refuse fellowship to a fellow believer in Christ over a man-made interpretation of what actually transpires during communion. Don't you think if it was that important an issue, the Bible would have something to say about it?
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Gospel of St. John, 6:48-58
I think that does say something about it.
One could also argue that having a closed communion is charitable, citing First Corinthians Chapter 11:
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
What's really fascinating though is that this blogger is presuming to criticize churches with a closed communion without understanding that for the largest Christian bodies which have closed communion (Catholic and Orthodox), the teaching on the Real Presence is not considered a man-made teaching but a non-negotiable fact believed since the time of the Apostles and no more expendable than the teaching on the Resurrection.
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