Join the new world

You may have heard of Christians eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood during an event called Communion. While this may seem like some cult-like cannibalistic tradition, what it really is, is a reminder that we are saved by Christ’s perfect life (represented by his body symbolized by bread) and by Christ’s sacrifice of dying on the cross (represented by his blood symbolized by a drink). In fact, Christians are commanded by Jesus to keep this tradition of Communion as it says in 1 Cor 11:23b-24 says “[Jesus] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Similarly, Jesus took a drink and told his disciples to remember him by drinking his “blood” (which was really just a regular drink). Essentially both eating the bread and drinking the drink both help Christians to remember what Christ did for them, that is, he died for our sins. Furthermore, those who don’t remember Jesus while participating in Communion are actually sinning and are likely punished. 1 Cor 11:27 says “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”

Now there are differences in some churches in how they do Communion and some of the churches have less than sanitary methods of serving the drinks. For example some churches used to have a single goblet or cup for everyone to drink from, so you can imagine the amount of saliva that is shared which is quite unsanitary. Back in the day, some churches even had the priest “feed” the people the bread and why they did this I have no idea.

Therefore, the next time you hear of Christians eating Christ’s body or drinking blood, it’s not cannibalism but is only symbolism to help us remember.