Another strange Catholic paradox

Posted on by Tom

The Roman Catholic church has an enormous catalog full of rites, rituals, ceremonies, observances, and laws. But of all of Romes’ many practices, it says the most important is the celebration of the eucharist as the prime component of the mass.

“The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), paragraph 1324.

At Catholic mass, it’s claimed the priest changes bread wafers and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. The priest then offers the Jesus wafer and Jesus wine to God the Father as a sacrifice for the sins of the congregants and others who are mentioned (the pope, the local bishop, suffering souls in purgatory, etc.). The congregants who claim they have no major, unconfessed sin on their soul then line up to receive a small Jesus wafer from the priest. Catholics are taught that the Jesus wafer imparts graces for fifteen minutes as it is being digested. The graces are alleged to help the Catholic avoid sin so as to remain in a “state of grace.” Every Catholic’s goal is to be in this mortal-sinless “state of grace” at the moment of their death in order to merit entry into Heaven.

Got all that? Okay, now we can get to the paradox mentioned in the title.

As I mentioned, Catholics are taught that Jesus Christ physically resides inside of them for fifteen minutes as their stomach acids dissolve the Jesus wafer. Catholics believe those fifteen minutes that Jesus is inside them are profoundly special.

But wait! The Catholic church also teaches that God the Holy Spirit is imparted to every Catholic at the sacrament of confirmation:

“(Confirmation) is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation” – CCC 1316

So, Catholics are taught God the Holy Spirit seals them at their confirmation and indwells them. But if God the Holy Spirit allegedly indwells them every moment of every day of the year, why do they so highly prioritize the fifteen minutes when they are consuming and digesting the Jesus wafer on Sundays???

The stark truth is the tremendous emphasis given to the faux Jesus wafer keeps the Catholic laity dependent upon their priests.

As a Catholic, I also consumed the Jesus wafer at obligatory Sunday mass. However, nothing happened to me and nothing happened to my Catholic family members or classmates. There were no graces imparted. We all continued striving unsuccessfully to merit salvation by obeying the Ten Commandments (impossible!) and our church’s rules and by being “good” as we were taught. Well, on second thought, we didn’t really strive all that hard to be “good.”

“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” – Mark 10:18

But no one can really be “good,” which is why Jesus Christ, God the Son, had to die on the cross for our sins. But He beat sin and death when He rose from the grave and offers the free gift of eternal life to all those who repent of their sin and accept Him as their Savior by faith alone. Won’t you accept Him today?

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12

Receiving Jesus doesn’t mean eating a faux Jesus wafer, it means repenting of sin and accepting Him as Savior by faith alone!

36 thoughts on “Another strange Catholic paradox”

  1. So FOREVER grateful the Lord allowed the veil to be dropped from in front of my eyes!!! SO GRATEFUL FOR THE NEW EARS AND EYES HE HAS ALLOWED ME!!

    John 14:6
    6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

    🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Thanks, Beth! Yes, what a joy to be pulled out from under the crushing weight of sin and religious legalism and hoisted upon the shoulders of our Savior and Shepherd. I praise Him for all He has done for you as well.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Good point. Its strange one has the Spirit but then not have Christ for 15 minutes. Also I never knew that Roman Catholic theology states the sacrament of confirmation is where the Spirit begins to indwell the believer. I like to see Dave Armstrong give some Bible verses for that…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. RE: Roman Catholic theology and the Holy Spirit

      You raise a good question. After doing some more research, I see there is some confusion among Catholics as to exactly when the Holy Spirit is received. However, their catechism does say an infant (or adult) member receives the Holy Spirit at baptism, but that upon confirmation, they are “sealed” by the Holy Spirit and hence “confirmation completes the grace…receive(d) at baptism.” I’ve revised my text to match the ambiguity of their teaching.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. You’re right. In my Catholic experience, there was almost zero emphasis on the alleged indwelling Holy Spirit. It was ALL about receiving the Jesus wafer at mass. Only after I accepted Christ it’s then that I became aware of the Holy Spirit and His leading and convicting through the illumination of the Word. We can KNOW our Lord and His salvation with assurance through the Holy Spirit. Catholics do not have that knowledge.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Thank you Tom, keep exposing the deception and may God set the captives free like He did with so many of us.
    “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
    ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. RE: Catholic Jehova’s Witness

      Well, that’s an unfathomable dichotomy. The JWs are quite upfront about their condemnation of the RCC although both groups practice religious legalism. I’m guessing the person has had only a few sit-downs with the JWs and hasn’t been indoctrinated into their system yet. Sad.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. One of the things he asked us was that is Jesus is God then He prayed to Himself when He was on earth 😢. We spoke with him for a long time . He promised he will be back this Friday. I am praying his eyes will be opened. He was very confused.
        God bless you Tom

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I will pray for this man, too. I once had a JW person at work who was very aggressive in their criticism of the Trinity, calling it the “three-headed-monster,” just repeating slurs she heard at the kingdom hall. God bless you in your witness, Crissy!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Francis, thanks for pointing out my sloppy error. I have revised the post. I apologize for deleting the rest of your comment. If people desire to study pro-Catholic material they won’t find any resources on this blog. I’m sure you understand.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Tom, I do understand why you probably deleted that link. You seem to harbor hatred in your heart for some reason. When a person’s mission is to tear down the Church, and it is done in a spirit of hatred such that even free will to reason and act are taken away, then it defies God directly – Who wills that all be allowed to seek and find Truth where He Is.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I’m certainly not comparing myself to the apostles, but neither did Paul lend support to the Judaizer legalists infiltrating the early church. Was Paul also filled with hatred?

        Like

  9. We don’t believe it’s the literal body and blood of Christ, we believe
    it’s essence is transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. Catholics believe that the true presence of Jesus Christ is now embodied in the bread and wine… thus the essence is no longer the same. Just as you were once a Catholic and are now not. You physical presence stayed the same, but your substance and essence did not.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Fair enough. “Literal” is not the best word according to how Catholics teach transubstantiation. It would be more acceptable to Catholicis to say the bread wafer is transformed into the ACTUAL body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus “under the appearance” of the bread wafer.

      This is much ado about nothing because with all of this precise ritual and formality, Catholics do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith alone.

      Like

      Reply

  10. Tom, thank you for continually posting about the errors of Catholicism. I am 9 of a family of 10. Five are born again christians and five are DIE HARD catholics. I gave my life to Jesus in 1983 and since then have been witnessing to them on and off over the years. I have prayed for them almost incessantly but give up from time to time. I am becoming convinced that they will die catholics who are longing for purgatory to purify them of sins of omission…OH MY WORD! I have tried everything – from exposing the early church fathers who were into greek philosophy to the idolatry of pagan worship of the sun. These family members are afraid to think for themselves. I only have 1 other brother who had witnessed to them twice. He gave up because of their blindness. I could use some advice. Should I give up witnessing to them and just keep praying for them instead (which I’ve done all along)? To them I am just an idiot who does not accept their beliefs…ARG!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi embassysweet! Thanks for the encouragement. I can relate to your situation. I have five older siblings, all sisters and while none of them attend mass and would even consider themselves agnostic, they still identify with their Catholic upbringing to some degree. All we can do is pray for them and always be ready to witness for the Lord when opportunities arise. Some people are not open to the Gospel until they are sick or approaching death. However, some souls resist the Gospel, even in those circumstances. It’s sad when family members choose religion over Jesus Christ. I have said a prayer for your lost family members. Continue to pray and be ready when opportunities arise. Opportunities will arise.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment