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Symbolic cannibalism in Christianity
Why does Christianity use symbolic cannibalism in it’s most secret ritiual?
Matthew
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mark
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Luke
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
John
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
I remember in one of my history courses at uni, in a tute were the Christian persecutions were under discussion, and this was one of the issues that motivated the Romans.
They really didn't trust the Christians for a number of reasons, including the fact they believed the Christians were engaged in a form of ritual cannibalism.
__________________
From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.
Christian history. In the early days or Chirstianity, many Christinas would wear rags ans sit ontop of wooden poles all day long...
...the Romans found this odd at best.
Add this to Christian "cannibalism"...a Roman would be very confused how one was eating the body and blood of Christ (Imperial's earlier point)...its not hard to see why Christians wer thought of as stupid and rebellious.
I don't believe there are any Christian accounts of their personal rationales...just the accounts of educated Romans who were very confused why people sat on poles.
I would imagine, (with most scholars that I've read) that they felt that this sort of simple and meager lifestyle was representative of Jesus as was a way to prove their devotion.
Yes, modern scholars would agree on that point - the concept of sacrifice bringing them closer to God. The act of sitting on poles and the like became especially popular when the persecutions ended it is was decided it was wrong to actively seek martyrdom - since dying in that way was welcomed since it made them feel like Jesus and the Saints and all that.
I believe it was called "the white death" - or something along those lines. They left the material world - died symbolically- and took up such things as living in caves, sitting on poles, all that jazz. I think there is a link to it and the formation of the monastic lifestyle. Either way their sacrifice, one assumes, was meant to be seen as brining them closer to God. Of course it likely seen as mad (and justly so) by the Romans and like of the day.
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From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.
Remember that time that Philosophicus posted something like this awhile ago? Remember when I told him that he was retarded for not understanding the symbolism?
I have more respect for you than I do for him, and I know that you know better.
__________________ Ask me about my "obvious and unpleasant agenda of hatred."
It is fine understanding the symbolism - but that still isn't an explanation for symbolic cannibalism, and such a thing hasn't sat well with many throughout history. This is not to say they didn't realise it was symbolic, but it was symbolic of something far from acceptable.
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From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.
I don't know why Jesus did it, but I've never considered it as symbolic cannibalism (that doesn't mean that it isn't, just that I've never thought of it as such). I suppose that it could stem from the idea that by "taking in God", we become closer to Him; the symbolic "eating" of the flesh and blood of God allows us to become closer to Him. [See flesh-eating bastards in Sin City for a better example.]
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
What I find strange is that symbolic cannibalism would have been frond upon by the Jews. So, what culture used symbolic cannibalism, if it wasn’t the Jews?
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Re: Symbolic cannibalism in Christianity
I do not believe that the Sacrament was a "secret" ritual in any manner, there are a number of events that Christ told the Apostles not to divulge due to the sacred nature of the event, these are secret. The Sacrament was given no such restraint.
As to its symbolism, here are the LDS prayers over the sacrament, with a short preface:
Remembrance is the key here.
For a more lengthy and rather well researched discussion on the subject, here is a paper on the Sacrament from an LDS perspective:
Robert C. Bennion, “That Powerful Ordinance, the Sacrament,” Ensign, June 1975, 30
Here is the link, sorry the url tag didn't work so it'll have to be cut and pasted into the browser: