"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit [compare Jn.6:63] and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (Vs. 21-24)
Proper Biblical exegesis would state that the three Feasts before the Cross found their historical and literal fulfillment in natural Israel under the Old Covenant, while they found their historical and personal fulfillment in Jesus at the cross under the New Covenant. And again, they find spiritual and experiential fulfillment after the Cross in the Church, spiritual Israel. (Rom.4:13-16; 9:6-9; Gal.3:22; Eph.2:12-14)
In the first paragraph you say "The literal application of OT religious laws, whether they be of circumcision, diet, or festal, were discontinued in the NT as Paul states clearly in Col.2:16". Let's read Col.2:16 AND 17:
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME; but the body is of Christ." (Emphasis mine)
This proves our point, that the OT ceremonial laws and feasts are but a shadow of the true! Hence our interpretation of the Passover as a SHADOW of Christ and that the lamb of Exodus 12 was but a SHADOW of the TRUE LAMB is correct.
The prominent truth that God endeavored to teach Israel was that of blood atonement. The approach to God can only be upon the foundation of blood, sacrificial blood. So, the “unbloody” sacrifice of the Eucharist has no theological leg to stand on. There can be no Feasting with the Lord or His people except on the basis of bloodshed, blood atonement. The principle of Exodus 12:13 is applicable here:
"And the blood shall be to you a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you..."
The OT ceremonial law agrees with this doctrine when it states CLEARLY:
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for you souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood."
God has nothing to say to man apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. All of God's communications in festal relationship to the believer is upon the foundation of the sacrificial blood of Jesus as clearly stated in I Cor.5:7:
"For even Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us: THEREFORE LET US KEEP THE FEAST, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (Emphasis mine)
Mr. Sungenis, for you to say that the feasts were discontinued is against the Scriptures!!! We still celebrate the Passover, only now we celebrate it in spirit and in truth. Jesus has brought in the spiritual and eternal! The same with circumcision! It was not discontinued, for now we are circumcised in the heart as Romans 2:28-29 says:
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; AND CIRCUMCISION IS THAT OF THE HEART, IN THE SPIRIT, AND NOT IN THE LETTER; whose praise is not of men, but of God." (Emphasis mine)
The bottom line is that the blood of Jesus is the perfect once-for-all sacrifice in the NT times which God accepts. It fulfills prophecy and abolishes in itself all the untold millions of animal sacrifices and oblations of the OT. His sacrifice is NEVER to be repeated. Christ died once. (Heb.9:25-28; 7:27) Stated again in Rom.6:9-10:
"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead DIETH NO MORE; death hath no more dominion over him. for in that he died, HE DIED UNTO SIN ONCE: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." (Emphasis mine)
Since he can never die again, there can be no more sacrifice...hence the "sacrifice" of the mass can be no more than a remembrance of a sacrifice and not a true "sacrifice" since a true sacrifice demands a victim.
We know that Calvary is a fulfillment of the Passover (in a one-to-one correspondence). If the mass is supposed to be a re-presentation of Calvary, then the mass must be identical to the Passover, which it is NOT! Therefore we maintain that the Catholic mass is nothing more than a gross counterfeit and not the true Feast that we are to keep in sincerity and truth!
The same can be said of the Sabbath. It found its historical and literal fulfillment in natural Israel under the Old Covenant. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, was "...made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law", thus fulfilling and abolishing the external and bringing in the spiritual and eternal. The Sabbath rest spoke of man ceasing from his own works and entering into and enjoying the work of God. We are called to cease from our own works, works of the flesh (Gal.5:19-21) and works of the law (Rom.3:27-28, 9:30-32) and find rest in Jesus Christ. As Jesus says in Matt.11:28: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Hebrews 4:3, 4 and 10 expound on this:
"For we which have believed do enter into rest...although THE WORKS WERE FINISHED FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works...For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." (Emphasis mine)
Just what works were "finished from the foundation of the world"? Rev.13:8 tells us it was "...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Jesus confirms this interpretation in John 4:34, "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and TO FINISH HIS WORK." Perhaps this will help clear up the interpretation of Jn.19:30 where Jesus says, "IT IS FINISHED", since you seem to be in confusion over what the word "it" refers to. John and Hebrews both speak of the finished work, so I fail to see why you are so puzzled!
Another point that should be made is that the Catholic church, due to her lack of spiritual understanding of the Feast days and the Sabbath, has further burdened her people. Mr. Sungenis claims that the ceremonial laws are discontinued, which includes the Sabbath. Yet, "...every Catholic is bound to assist at Mass once on every Sunday and holiday of obligation" (Catholic Dictionary, Attwater, 312). This is putting man back under the law, the very thing Mr. Sungenis said is discontinued. If a Catholic deliberately and willfully misses Mass (perhaps too lazy to attend church that day) he/she has committed a mortal sin and if "...unrepented [before death] it brings eternal death" (Catechism of The Catholic Church, 1874). Yet Gal.5:4 says, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosover of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace." So why would a Catholic be justified if he/she went to mass? Remember grace is "unmerited favor".
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." (Rom.11:6) "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal.3:3)
If the Catholic church justifies a man who keeps the sabbath law and condemns another man who breaks the sabbath law, then she has without doubt put man back under the law.
"For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise...And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." (Gal.3:18-29)
Before we move on to any other subjects, we feel that the subject of the mass and Eucharist have not been totally analyzed under the light of Scriptures. We also feel you have failed to prove that the Catholic really "eats" Jesus literally. You admitted that Jesus enters "whole and entire" and leaves "whole and entire", meaning that you did not truly "eat" him since he was not assimilated nor annihilated into nothingness. At most you only chewed him, much like one chews tobacco or bubble gum (a non- nourishing act). Chewing used to be forbidden by the Catholic church, but now is allowed. We also feel you have not adequately explained why the early church stressed the importance of receiving both elements (the bread and the wine), in order to receive the sacrament in it's entirety. Why was it necessary for newborns to receive communion for salvation in the early church, but it is not necessary now?
You used Gal.5:21 to prove we can "lose" our "inheritance". "...They which do such things" were the unsaved, not the saved. You can know them by their fruits. The same for I Cor.6:9, Eph.5:5, Heb. 6:46; 10:26-29, you seem to be confusing the saved with the unsaved. I Peter 1:4 tells us that our inheritance is:
"...incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Concerning the "church fathers", Jaroslav Pelikan, in his book The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), 68-69, makes an interesting observation:
“History is usually dictated by the victors. As the principal sources of information about the development of Christian doctrine are the writings of orthodox theologians, so most of what has been known about these heresies-at least until the twentieth century-has come from the works of those who combated them.”
The Staff of FCFC