Is Christianity ritual cannibalism? Did the apostles eat Jesus?

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   Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years ago

   Is Christianity ritual cannibalism? Did the apostles eat Jesus as he commanded? Is there a practical difference between vampires who suck blood to gain immortality and Christians who eat Jesus flesh and drink his blood for exactly the same reason?
   
   The catholic church believes the wine and wafer become the actual, not metaphorical, body and blood of Jesus.
   
   48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
   
   52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
   
   53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
   Many Disciples Desert Jesus
   
   60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
   
   61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
   
   66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
   
   67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
   
   68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

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      Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      By the way, I'm not trying to offend anyone. I think it's a legitimate question.

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         Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You've made an interesting argument, supported by source material.  It's worth consideration.  The argument that the New Testament should not be taken literally and is loaded with metaphors is also interesting.  Picking and choosing the metaphors has always confused me a little.  Where the disciples a canibbalistic cult?  Oooooh that's gonna offend a whole lot of people.

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            Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            The problem too is that all the stories of what happened the morning after are different. Some even contradict each other. Also it seems that though he said all of his followers would see him rising to heaven, the original 12 were the only ones he visited after his death. Did all but those 12/11 leave him?
            
            He visits, but with a body they can touch. Wounds and all. So much for the flesh being worthless. So much for getting a perfect body after death, eh?
            
            I would have thought he would have appeared as a spirit. Makes me wonder if he didn't fake his own death. Drugs, perhaps? Revived shortly after he is taken down and removed from his grave?
            After all, he died remarkably fast.
            
            Is undergoing something that should kill you, and then surviving it, the same as dying and resurrecting? Even though he "gave his blood" would Christians still feel the same about him? I doubt it. It would have been risky as hell but it doesn't qualify as a miracle.
            
            If he lived there are certainly a lot of questions about the bible account of his death.
            
            
            
            .

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               Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Strange you should mention the 'faking of his death'.  My husband put this argument just the other day.  It was ascension Sunday here, (very important date when not even the farmers are allowed to use noisy machinery.)  We don't normally discuss Christianity but he put forward the argument that having survived an ordinary crucifixion, he may have high tailed it out of the area, after popping in to see his mates.
               
               My argument was that the Bible, being written by man and then parts selected and edited by men, anything was possible.  You need only look at the medieval practice of selling pieces of the cross to know that believers are prone to profiteering and exploitation.  You just have to make it what you will.

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                  Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Well to make your point, The gospels of John were not written by John, in fact they were written at different times by 3 different people, and finally put in their current form, probably by a Greek around 100 ad. Most of the books of the NT were written by other than the person they claim to be written by.
                  
                  As for the goings on in the medieval period, they were notorious for forging books and all manor of things. They even came up with 4 different foreskins all belonging to Jesus, and the churches they reside in all claim having the authentic one.
                  
                  Ascension Sunday? Y'all live in the south, I take it? Never knew it was a holiday. In my neck of the woods (Eastern Canada) it was Victoria weekend. No Jesus on a stick anywhere in sight. Just fireworks and Monday off.
                  
                  
                  .

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                     Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     I live in France, were any outward display of religious symbolism is against the law but Christian festivals are celebrated with bank holidays.  Farmers tend to work on Christmas day but on Ascension, the only thing you can hear is the birds.

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                        Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        France, eh? Surprised Quebec doesn't celebrate it then. (that I know of) They just tried passing a law that forbids religious symbols. It was election time and the government fell. Sorry I thought you lived in the US. I don't get to talk to a lot of Europeans on Hub Pages.
                        
                        My wife has wanted to go to Paris for a long time now. Perhaps we'll make it there some day.

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                           Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           I wouldn't bother, it's the mugging capital of the world.  I live in rural Brittany, where people still speak Breton, a Celtic language and despise all thing Parisian.  There are 3 main religions here, Buddhist, Druid and Catholic.  All the major Christian festivals, (and there are loads of them I hadn't heard of) are celebrated with Pagan rites.  They still put a crow in a cage in a field to bless the crops and if they don't like you, a dead song bird will be hung opposite your front door.  Anyone who goes to the trouble to obtain a song bird and fix it in plan view on your property in the dead of night to curse you and your house, is a very determined person.  It hasn't happened to us but our neighbors..........  Religious practice here is shall we say; complex.  Druidism has been incorporated into Catholic practice and devout Christians keep their heads down.  You can't wear a crucifix to work but you can spot a Druid elder a mile off. 

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      Titen-Sxullposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Aside from the Catholics I think most other Christian sects understand that its a metaphor though I'm sure interpretations of that metaphor vary wildly.
      
      I remember taking Communion as a kid, our church was rather large and they would do a very lengthy musical piece as they passed out the little wafers and grape juice (we didn't get wine unfortunately). I always hated having to stand because it took forever before they were finally through with it and the mind has a tendency to wander so that when they got to the actual event I had to purge all the nonsense I was thinking about and try to get serious again.
      
      As an adult and someone who has escaped religion Communion is one of those things I look back and go "what the hell kind of ritual IS that to teach people?". I mean yeah its usually seen as figurative but it is still an act of MOCK cannibalism and blood consumption. And of course the idea that the entire Christian faith is based on ancient blood magic about how you need a sacrifice to appease God is something that doesn't sink in until you're on your way out of the cult and suddenly realize that it WAS a cult.
      
      A creepy death cult about allowing an innocent man to be beaten to death to appease the blood lust of an ancient God of the Middle-East.

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         Slarty O'Brianposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         I was born Catholic, but I always thought the host and wine were metaphorical. You know, people say things like they eat and sleep their job or a favourite hobby/interest.  But I was shocked when my mother told me the nuns in her school told her not to bite the host; for surely her mouth would fill with blood.
         
         What a thing to tell a kid. (not true though; I tried it.) Then I learned by querying a priest that it wasn’t a metaphor. In fact, looking at it as metaphor is heresy, and was at one time punishable.
         
         Then I read the text myself and decided they were probably right. Which to me sent alarm bells off in my head. What kind of barbarism is this? Was Jesus just another nut ball like so many other cult leaders?
         
         One day I researched cannibalism and discovered that Christianity fit perfectly in the “ritual” cannibalism class.  Cannibals that eat parts of dead people to gain their attributes or allow them to live again through them.
         
         Jesus body was never found. Did they or some other bunch of followers that believed him, eat him? It’s possible. He went missing the first day not the third.
         
         But perhaps the Muslims are right. Perhaps he survived and lived out his life elsewhere; or was never crucified to begin with. The bible is the only place its mentioned. There are no official, authentic, Roman documents on the subject, which seems a bit odd.
         
         I’d just like Christians to realize what they are doing. But that’s not likely.

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   janesixposted 8 years ago

   Christianity is a death cult.

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      Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, the crucifixion statues kind of give it away.

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      goegoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      http://youtu.be/BtiMw0-akAM

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   goegoposted 8 years ago

   Yes they sure did, cause Jesus was mushroom... Wanna hear a song, here it go http://youtu.be/BtiMw0-akAM

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      Popitposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Mmmm.  Catchy tune and amusing theory.  Not sure believers will find it funny though.

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         goegoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Meh- it was worth a shot

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   awareposted 8 years ago

   Dont belive  in  everything that  you read. You will get a parking violation  and a maggot  on your sleeve.   Beck. Everything man writes.  Is a fish story.  Answer is no  and no.

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   William Ryalsposted 4 weeks ago

   Eating flesh of the dead was a medicinal purpose in the past.Corpse medicine. There are books on it. Eeew I'm going to have to read them

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   Slarty O'Brianposted 4 weeks ago

   Yes. From the Renaissance to the Victorian era, we know that many  Europeans including, royalty, priests etc, were given supposed medical remedies with human blood, fat and even bones in them by supposed doctors. lol...  And for centuries cannibals ate people not as food as much as either punishment if they were enemies, or for their features if they were family or leaders etc, who were smart or strong or what ever. And usually just small bits, so they would get those features too. So also almost for medical reasons.

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