Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

[HTacianas]

Paul's point is that by consuming the bread and wine together, participation in communion is symbolically participating in the body and blood of Christ. Symbolic ... not the real presence of His blood and body invoked by an earthly priest.

Matthew 26:26-29
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."

Even Jesus himself stated that what was in the cup was from the fruit of the vine (symbolic of the blood of the covenant)

A blood covenant is a promise made by God that He will choose a people for Himself and bless them. The covenant was for Abraham’s physical descendants and also Abrahams spiritual decedents in the future ... to all those who, like Abraham, believe God (Galatians 3:7; Genesis 15:6). God’s promise of eternal blessing is given only on the basis of faith in the saving blood of His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:12).

Communion serves as a memorial (brought to mind) of Christ's death as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and the believer. Same as with baptism ... symbolic of us dieing with Him and being resurrected. Communion was instated by Jesus Himself during the Last Supper before his death. When we take communion, we are remembering Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

I mean really ... are we to think ... Jesus drank his own blood and physically ate his own body. Of course not ... It's obviously symbolic ... was symbolic then and is symbolic now.

The word of God is highly symbolic ... not exclusively. It is not uncommon at all for the Lord to use the literal to help us better understand the spiritual.

It's all about what God/Jesus has done for us and us believing and trusting in the promises He made ... from the beginning to the end.

You keep going on and on about your own opinion of things. Now, you're certainly welcome to have your own opinions, but you are not the one who decides these things. Christianity has held since the beginning that the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the body and blood of Christ. That is a given. If the writer of that article you linked to was being honest with you he would have quoted Justin Martyr:

For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus. - First Apology

But instead he chose to mislead you by cherry picking quotes from the Church Fathers and even then demanding that they said what he wanted them to say. Now, the bread and wine becoming the body and blood began somewhere. It's quite plain that it began at first with Paul, then all four of the gospel writers and on to the Church Fathers then right down to the Church today. If that is not the case, what is?

 

[eleos1954]

You keep going on and on about your own opinion of things. Now, you're certainly welcome to have your own opinions, but you are not the one who decides these things. Christianity has held since the beginning that the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the body and blood of Christ. That is a given. If the writer of that article you linked to was being honest with you he would have quoted Justin Martyr:

For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and blood of that incarnated Jesus. - First Apology

But instead he chose to mislead you by cherry picking quotes from the Church Fathers and even then demanding that they said what he wanted them to say. Now, the bread and wine becoming the body and blood began somewhere. It's quite plain that it began at first with Paul, then all four of the gospel writers and on to the Church Fathers then right down to the Church today. If that is not the case, what is?

We are just having conversation about this and yes we have different beliefs about the matter ... nothing wrong with that.

"But instead he chose to mislead you by cherry picking quotes from the Church Fathers" Catholic teaching is handed down from the Catholic church fathers so what they said is relevant to Catholic beliefs/doctrine ... it is based on their teachings.

We have a spiritual relationship with the Lord ... nothing physical ... and that has been since the fall of mankind.

Jeremiah 15:16 says:

“Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart.”

In Matthew 4:4, Jesus responded:

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.’”

We receive spiritual food from studying the word of God ... not by a ceremony that supposedly turns earthly substances into the physical blood and body of Christ.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, in the Eucharistic offering, bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. The affirmation of this doctrine on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was expressed, using the word "transubstantiate", by the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215.

Transubstantiation Catholic teaching/doctrine put in place by the Catholic church.

Per The apostle Paul ...

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Communion is a proclamation (remembrance) of the Lords death.

 

[Valletta]

-
​

The way i see your church is, tradition is valued more than The Bible.

False. The Word of God, which the Catholic Church breaks down into Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, is of equal weight. We are to stand fast to the Word of God whether passed down in oral or written from. Make sure to differentiate between mere tradition and Sacred Tradition.

 

[Valletta]

Ok so you literally believe that everyone who received the Eucharist will receive eternal life and everyone who hasn’t won’t?

Catholics believe the Bible is the Word of God:
John 6:53-58 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.” Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

 

[Akjv]

So. All that eating a drinking Paul talked about was just some metaphor for whatever we want it to be a metaphor for?

Deu 6; 4-14 is a good example of what it means imo

 

[Mr. M]

That sounds fairly serious. Unless you do this thing, you have no life in you. That quote is John 6:53, but the earliest mention of the idea in the bible is found at 1 Cor 10, where Paul identifies the Eucharist as the sharing of the body and blood of the Lord, 1 Cor 10:26. He says he received the teaching from the Lord, 1 Cor 11:23, but there is no mention of just how he received it from the Lord. He seems to repeat the institution of it nearly verbatim from the gospels. But he seemed serious about it, stating that anyone who ate and drank the Eucharist in an unworthy manner could even die from it, "not discerning the Lord's body", 1 Cor 11:29-30.

The Eucharist is mentioned again in Acts 2:42 and 2:46. Acts 2:42 identifying it as an Apostolic Doctrine.

This, as does Paul's emphasis, clearly states the requirement to remain in fellowship to abide in Christ.
John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
John 15:
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me,
and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

 

[Mr. M]

My Church did not get that from the bible. The Church got that from the Apostles before the bible was written. It was the Apostles who went out evangelizing and teaching the doctrine of the Apostles. The Eucharist has been central to Christianity since that time. That is the reason that all Apostolic Churches hold to the same belief and teaching, and the reason why there is an unbroken and unanimous chain of commentaries reaching from the Church Fathers down to this very day recording that teaching.

The Lord's Supper is to partake of His Life Everlasting in this life.
This is not about eternal life after death.

Psalm 133:
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life eternal (olam)

 

[Valletta]

The Lord's Supper is to partake of His Life Everlasting in this life.
This is not about eternal life after death.

Psalm 133:
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life eternal (olam)

John 6:51–52 “‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”

 

[Mr. M]

John 6:51–52 “‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”

No doubt. Breaking bread is access in this life to the Spirit of Life in Christ.
The Anointing manifesting in our gathering together.
Hebrews 6:
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become
partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again
for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

 

[Valletta]

No doubt. Breaking bread is access in this life to the Spirit of Life in Christ.
The Anointing manifesting in our gathering together.
Hebrews 6:
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become
partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again
for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

You are correct that this life is part of forever. But forever is much longer than this life.