re: Much Needed Clarity Regarding the Pope and the Recent Document Regarding Blessings

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So... Catholics actually have a Jesus PLUS salvation? The only way is Jesus plus the Catholic church? Or am I mis-reading?

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Not Jesus plus, Jesus through. We believe he operates through the Church.

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This is hilarious. Outside of passing time on TD, I don’t give the RCC a second thought

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You may not think about consciously, but from my limited interaction with you on here, it's quite clear that you harbor a very deep resentment toward Catholicism that informs your beliefs. It comes across quite clearly in your incessant mischaracterization of the Church and her teachings.

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So... Catholics actually have a Jesus PLUS salvation?

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Yes. I pointed this out many times in many different posts which they deny. Then they keep going back to the plus for arguments.

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I do have a resentment because I believe they taught me lies, but my feelings are in no way based in any type of desire to be reconnected to them.

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Well, I have an honest suggestion for you. Go learn what the Church actually teaches, because it seems you've let Protestants teach you what Catholics believe rather than the actual Church. I'm sorry you seem to have not been around any well-formed Catholics, but you obviously do not grasp the Church's own arguments.

Even if you don't become Catholic again, you'll be able to better contribute to future discussions if you actually understand the Church's positions instead of sticking to the tired Protestant misrepresentations of which you seem fond.

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Even if you don't become Catholic again, you'll be able to better contribute to future discussions if you actually understand the Church's positions instead of sticking to the tired Protestant misrepresentations of which you seem fond.

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Listen, the reasons for me leaving the RCC was way more than simply what they taught. The Church was dead and repetitive , the people were dead, the music was dead,
The very first service I was invited to join at the Baptist church, the Holy Spirit started convicting me right then. The preaching was like nothing I’d ever experienced, and the service was joyful and people were sincerely happy to be there. This goes way beyond just a belief system. But, if you’ve never experienced this for yourself, it’s hard to explain.

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Listen, the reasons for me leaving the RCC was way more than simply what they taught. The Church was dead, the people were dead, the music was dead.
The very first service I was invited to join at the Baptist church, the Holy Spirit started convicting me right then. The preaching was like nothing I’d ever experienced, and the service was joyful and people were sincerely happy to be there. This goes way beyond just a belief system. But, if you’ve never experienced this for yourself, it’s hard to explain.

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Well, I can sympathize with a dead Church, and unfortunately, there are many such Churches around, Catholic and otherwise. All I can say, is that it isn't that way everywhere. There is still great beauty and life in many Catholic parishes. And I do believe your experience of being moved had something real to it. I suppose I'd just say that being moved isn't enough on its own, it's a starting point.

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So... Catholics actually have a Jesus PLUS salvation? The only way is Jesus plus the Catholic church? Or am I mis-reading?

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My job is in Sales. I sell the RCC to people. I try to make my sales pitch as logical and persuasive as I can.

The Management decides who goes to Heaven. Almighty God is the management. I would never try to do His job.

Now, Jesus Christ Himself said: Unless you eat my Flesh and drink my Blood, you have NO LIFE in you. We Catholics believe in the Real Presence. If a Baptist absolutely rejects the literal words of Jesus Christ and insist that there is no Real Presence, then this Baptist will refuse to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Jesus said that this Baptist has "no life" because of that choice.

Is this Baptist going to Heaven? I don't know. I'm in Sales, not in Management. I would advise this Baptist to STOP denying the Presence of Jesus Christ in the unfathomable Gift of the Holy Eucharist. Stop denying Christ. Do not be a Christ-Denier.

Can that Baptist still get to Heaven, despite denying Christ in the Eucharist? That's up to Management. I'm in Sales. The Catechism of the RCC sort of says the same thing that I say here - Salvation through the RCC is the recommended method. However, whatever God Wills, will be done. The Catechism does allow for the circumstance of non Catholics getting to Heaven.

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I would advise this Baptist to STOP denying the Presence of Jesus Christ in the unfathomable Gift of the Holy Eucharist. Stop denying Christ. Do not be a Christ-Denier.

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I’d advise the Catholic priests to stop trying to re-sacrifice Jesus Christ over and over again at the mass.
Jesus died once for all and is seated on the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. If we were supposed to eat his real body, why didn’t the disciples start eating him right there at the Last Supper.
It’s symbolic, just like when he told Nicodemus he needed to be born again and Nicodemus thought he had to go back into his mother’s womb.

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I’d advise the Catholic priests to stop trying to re-sacrifice Jesus Christ over and over again at the mass.

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it is not a resacrifice, it is a participation in the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Being that God exists outside of time, this is entirely possible.

edit from the Catechism: 1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.

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Jesus died once for all and is seated on the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. If we were supposed to eat his real body, why didn’t the disciples start eating him right there at the Last Supper.

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You make a good point, but you don't understand Catholic Sacraments. A Catholic Sacrament takes on what it symbolizes. Baptism symbolizes cleansing, and it really does cleanse someone from their sins. Marriage symbolizes unity, and when someone is sacramentally married they really take on the unity it signifies. Eucharist symbolizes the body and blood of Jesus, and it really becomes his body and blood, even though it still tastes like bread and wine.

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It’s symbolic, just like when he told Nicodemus he needed to be born again and Nicodemus thought he had to go back into his mother’s womb.

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sure that is clearly being symoblic, but it is an error to say the same thing of John 6.

Baby steps.