Let them come

GillDouglas

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The Lord’s Supper is a great meal. It is an ordinary means of God’s grace to his church and a representation of the great sacrifice on the Cross. Along with baptism, the Supper is one of Jesus’s two specially instituted sacraments for the signifying, sealing, and strengthening of his new-covenant people. Some also call this Communion, or the Eucharist. We baptize our children, yet many children (in my denomination) do not participate in communion.

Paedocommunion was the universal practice of the Church until the late medieval period (c. 1200). Biblically, paedocommunion is grounded in the status of children within the covenant. Just as the children of the old covenant were admitted to sacramental communal meals (such as Passover), so too the children of the new covenant belong at the table of the Lord.

Sharing a meal with the Lord has no bearing on salvation anymore than baptism does. I will bring my children to the table and administer the sacrament to them so that they might eat and drink with their Savior. If need be, as their spiritual head I will discern the meaning behind the practice on their behalf, and teach them the meaning. I feel that God welcomes all of His to the table to fellowship with Him and all of His body in celebration of the great gift He's given us.
 

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One of the best reasons most churches do not commune young children is found in 1 Cor 11 and involves self-examination.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Unlike Baptism, through which God grants initial faith in Christ to a sinner regardless of ability to form rational thoughts, Communion requires an ability to examine oneself, to know what one believes and why one believes it.
 
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Schroeder

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The Lord’s Supper is a great meal. It is an ordinary means of God’s grace to his church and a representation of the great sacrifice on the Cross. Along with baptism, the Supper is one of Jesus’s two specially instituted sacraments for the signifying, sealing, and strengthening of his new-covenant people. Some also call this Communion, or the Eucharist. We baptize our children, yet many children (in my denomination) do not participate in communion.

Paedocommunion was the universal practice of the Church until the late medieval period (c. 1200). Biblically, paedocommunion is grounded in the status of children within the covenant. Just as the children of the old covenant were admitted to sacramental communal meals (such as Passover), so too the children of the new covenant belong at the table of the Lord.

Sharing a meal with the Lord has no bearing on salvation anymore than baptism does. I will bring my children to the table and administer the sacrament to them so that they might eat and drink with their Savior. If need be, as their spiritual head I will discern the meaning behind the practice on their behalf, and teach them the meaning. I feel that God welcomes all of His to the table to fellowship with Him and all of His body in celebration of the great gift He's given us.
agee with the last part but it is not specifically given sacraments. the sealing is spoke of in eph. 1:13-14. the holy Spirit seals us and strengthens us. those sacraments may helps many but its not the act itself but the Spirit in them that helps. in times of need one doesn't wait for the sacraments to be done to be restored or strengthened they pray.
 
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Schroeder

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One of the best reasons most churches do not commune young children is found in 1 Cor 11 and involves self-examination.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Unlike Baptism, through which God grants initial faith in Christ to a sinner regardless of ability to form rational thoughts, Communion requires an ability to examine oneself, to know what one believes and why one believes it.
actually in water baptism one general should now what its about. to many simply do it because the church they attend says it is reguired. I know many that did it simply because they were told if they didn't they weren't actually saved. as for the communion it says to not do it unless you forgive those in need of it. because communion isn't about a rite its about your walk with Christ. if you communion with Christ yet don't forgive or live worldy you fool yourself not God. and you will surely die. 1 cor. 10:18-22.
 
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actually in water baptism one general should now what its about. to many simply do it because the church they attend says it is reguired. I know many that did it simply because they were told if they didn't they weren't actually saved. as for the communion it says to not do it unless you forgive those in need of it. because communion isn't about a rite its about your walk with Christ. if you communion with Christ yet don't forgive or live worldy you fool yourself not God. and you will surely die. 1 cor. 10:18-22.
your rite
 
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Tree of Life

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The Lord’s Supper is a great meal. It is an ordinary means of God’s grace to his church and a representation of the great sacrifice on the Cross. Along with baptism, the Supper is one of Jesus’s two specially instituted sacraments for the signifying, sealing, and strengthening of his new-covenant people. Some also call this Communion, or the Eucharist. We baptize our children, yet many children (in my denomination) do not participate in communion.

Paedocommunion was the universal practice of the Church until the late medieval period (c. 1200). Biblically, paedocommunion is grounded in the status of children within the covenant. Just as the children of the old covenant were admitted to sacramental communal meals (such as Passover), so too the children of the new covenant belong at the table of the Lord.

Sharing a meal with the Lord has no bearing on salvation anymore than baptism does. I will bring my children to the table and administer the sacrament to them so that they might eat and drink with their Savior. If need be, as their spiritual head I will discern the meaning behind the practice on their behalf, and teach them the meaning. I feel that God welcomes all of His to the table to fellowship with Him and all of His body in celebration of the great gift He's given us.

I am sympathetic toward the paedo-communion view as are many ministers in my denomination (PCA). However, the PCA (at this point) officially rejects the practice of paedo-communion. Ministers are allowed to personally believe in paedo-communion but PCA churches are not permitted to practice it.

I don't think that the argument against paedo-communion is totally ungrounded. The standard speech is that in the OT it was adult males that appeared before the Lord to celebrate the feasts - not children. And that in the NT communion seems to explicitly include self-examination (1 Cor 11), something of which children are not capable. But I don't think these arguments are clinchers. In the OT children certainly participated in the Passover meal. I think that this fact alone goes a long way in establishing the paedo-communion view. If the PCA ever allowed paedo-communion then our family would practice it.
 
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FaithfulPilgrim

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Idk if it is essential to salvation, but if one professes to be a Christian and refuses to participate in the Supper or refuses to be baptized probably isn't a Christian.

For example, a Baptist and a Catholic may disagree about whether a person is saved at baptism, but both would agree that one who is not baptized is not a genuine Christian.

While Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Catholics may have differing beliefs about the role of the sacraments in our salvation, I'm sure they would all agree that those who do not observe those sacraments are not really saved.
 
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