Are there any religions besides Christianity where followers

[MineralMan]

eat their deity and drink its blood? Now, I know that most denominations treat that transformation as a symbolic thing, but the largest and oldest primary denomination of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, maintains that the bread and wine actually change into the body and blood of Jesus. What a strange doctrine that is!

How far can faith carry people into irrational beliefs? Apparently, quite far, indeed.

[Pope George Ringo II]

1. I gather ritual cannibalism is mostly about a messenger to the gods, rather than the god itself

I'll have to look and see who else performs ritual cannibalism on the actual deity, rather than just the favored human. Although, it must be said, the Jesus character hedges this bet as a demigod-type.

[MineralMan]

3. Well, Jesus is both a demi-god and god at the same time,

if you can figure that all out. The Greeks and Romans understood that deity/human mixing pretty well. Their gods, from time to time, came down and mated with ordinary humans and produced such demi-gods.

Still, doctrine puts Jesus into the God category in its weird 3-in-1 oil idea. I don't even want to go there, though. The Trinity is an impossible "mystery." I consider it nonsense, but I consider all deity stuff to be nonsense.

[Pope George Ringo II]

6. Oh, definitely nonsense.

But it does muddy the waters on what exactly they're eating.

Heck, I'm not even clear on how many wafers you have to eat before you've eaten a whole Jesus.

[MineralMan]

13. You must eat an infinite number of them for that.

God is huge.

[Pope George Ringo II]

20. Some gods are huge.

I don't think theirs ever really made it more than a couple of hundred miles away from his starting point, though.

[underpants]

2. I think Pastafarians do

R’Amen

[MineralMan]

4. Aha! You're absolutely correct!

Thanks!

[Pope George Ringo II]

5. Good point.

That is one of those which feels painfully obvious, but only after somebody points it out.

[trotsky]

7. And how! n/t

[Mariana]

12. Do they?

Is the plate of spaghetti the literal body and blood of the FSM, or is it only a symbolic sacrifice?

[MineralMan]

19. I add parmigiano reggiano just before taking

the sacrament, and prefer a classic marinara sauce. I would never use any other cheesus. That would be an abomination, so it is anathema!

[Voltaire2]

23. God catch.

[Thomas Hurt]

8. The Gauls took heads, don't know if that was religious as we understand it...

I guess it could be bragging and nothing more. But I guess it could be some kind spiritual power taking of something without have to actually eat someone.

[RoBear]

9. i was raised Catholic

and later began telling my "christian" friends that I found it hard to follow a religion based on human sacrifice and cannibalism. That usually stops the evangelization process.

When I was a kid human sacrifice -- tossing a virgin into a volcano, for instance -- was considered barbaric, but Jesus had to "die for our sins." Isn't that some kind of pagan ritual???

[shadowmayor]

10. I Grok your post

[OriginalGeek]

11. Side note

there's a pretty funny new sitcom called the Kids are Alright that talked about that this week - A catholic family with like 7 or 8 kids and they were all at the breakfast table while dad kept an eye on the clock as they had to finish eating in time to digest everything so that the body and blood of christ wouldn't be mixing with their fruit loops. Apparently the church frowns on that lol. I didn't know they watched it that close (and still don't know that really, this was just a bit on a sitcom)

As an independent, fundmental (we put the mental in fundamental!) baptist we only did communion every few months - I don't really remember the schedule but it wasn't every week like I believe catholics do. Maybe it was just special occasions. But I remember in christian school (run by the IFB church) bible class they taught transubstantiation was a catholic thing and just one of the reasons they were wrong and going to hell.

[MineralMan]

14. Really devout Catholics consume their God daily.

Protestants don't subscribe to the literal conversion into flesh and blood, for the most part.

[OriginalGeek]

22. every day!?

what a pain in the ass that would be. Glad we didn't have to do that lol. And all we ever got was Welches grape juice. what a ripoff.

it still amuses me that they (the IFBs I grew up with) believed every single word of the KJV (and ONLY the KJV.) was the literal and inspired word of god. Except "wine". That meant grape juice.

[MineralMan]

15. One Hour. One Should Fast for One Hour before Taking Communion.

A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine. Apr 19, 2018

What Are the Rules for Fasting Before Communion? - ThoughtCo
https://www.thoughtco.com/rules-for-fasting-before-communion-542845

It used to be that you had to fast after midnight until you had taken the Eucharist. See, the RCC does change.

Mixing the sacred with the profane just isn't done, you see...

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. Better they eat the flesh and drink the blood of their own god...

...than eat the flesh and drink the blood of the poor bastard down the street.

[Pendrench]

17. Hi MineralMan - As a practicing Catholic, this is definitely one of our core beliefs and

one that I share.

I view the celebration of the Eucharist as not only a way of remembering and honoring Jesus's sacrifice (as we believe it to be), but I also see it as a way of establishing a physical as well as a spiritual connection between us and our god.

Of course I also understand and respect how this belief is viewed as strange and irrational.

Thank you for the opportunity for discussion.

Wishing you well and peace.

Tim

[MineralMan]

18. OK. I know it is the belief of the RCC.

I have no objection to anyone following their religion's rituals, as long as nobody is harmed.

I will admit that I find this particular doctrine among the strangest and least rational of Christian doctrines, though.

[Pendrench]

21. Hi MineralMan - Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

That is the great thing about this forum - it provides an opportunity to discuss and share our views in a civil and respectful manner even when we hold different beliefs and/or points of view.

Peace!

Tim

[Major Nikon]

24. ...

[MineralMan]

25. Why, that's sacrilegious, I believe!

[Major Nikon]

26. Nothing more than the interpretation of metaphor

I might still go to hell for posting it, tho.

[MineralMan]

28. It's doubtful to the point of being ludicrous that you are going to Hell.

In the first place, Hell is a mythological concept. In the second place, such a thing does not exist, either.

[Major Nikon]

29. Metaphorically speaking, of course

[MineralMan]

30. Everything is a metaphor, see.

We're all characters in a cosmic computer game, I'm pretty sure. Yeah...that's it. Right now, little Yahweh and Yeshua are getting close to reaching the 7th level in the game.

[Major Nikon]

34. With TM at level 9 you get the flying perk

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Yogic_flying

[beachbum bob]

27. a pagan ritual the ROMAN preistthood adapted for the early days of the Church when

the pagans transitioned into the Cattholic Church

[LongtimeAZDem]

31. Does Barbecue count?

[MineralMan]

32. Only if it's on a spit.

[LongtimeAZDem]

33. You mean the altar?

[Pope George Ringo II]

35. As long as they're doing it, they may as well have fun with it. You can't eat just one.

Last edited Mon Jan 14, 2019, 10:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Someone made a petition to rename communion wafers to ‘Jeez-Its’ and I’m here for it

I’ve long been skeptical of the effectiveness of Change.org petitions. It’s a rather simple process to use throwaway email addresses to artificially inflate the results, and the results can be ignored as easily as deleting an email. But finally, I think the perfect Change.org petition has come our way. The petition? To rename communion wafers as “Jeez-Its.”

Think about all the possible spinoffs. We could have white cheddar Jeez-Its. We could have jalapeño Jeez-Its. Salt and vinegar Jeez-Its. Hell, this could completely transform the Catholic Church. It’ll help them recover from the numerous scandals they’re facing, and put a fun new spin on worship.

https://ascienceenthusiast.com/someone-made-a-petition-to-rename-communion-wafers-to-jeez-its/

Edited to put the excerpt in an excerpt.

[MineralMan]

36. OMG! I almost spewed my gin and tonic!

Can't be gluten-free, though. Il Papa says no.