Saturday, November 12, 2011

If Catholics are wrong about the Real Presence...

A thought provoking post thinking through the logical conclusions of the mainstream Christian view that Catholics are wrong about the Real Presence:

If one holds the common evangelical position on the Lord's Supper...that the evangelical position was the original doctrine taught by Christ and His Apostles, then that person must also hold that: 
- the entire Church, following the deaths of the Apostles, immediately and publicly fell into universal heresy and idolatry at the center of their beliefs and practices 
- this occurred in such a way so as to leave behind no evidence at all that any orthodox Christian had believed the true teaching of the Apostles immediately following their deaths in the most fundamental matters of doctrine and practice (unless you count gnostic heretics, and I don't think evangelicals would) 
- this universal heresy persisted for a millennium and a half, such that virtually no would-be Christian lived their faith without centering it around idolatry; every would-be saint of the first 1500 years of the faith - St Irenaeus, St Augustine, St Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena, etc - was actually an idolater
- the very same people who were so deluded into Eucharistic idolatry managed to hold true faith regarding the Trinity, dual-nature of Christ, etc, even amidst widespread, violent, centuries-long opposition and persecution...

Read more here.