Many, if not all, Christian churches believe communion is to be strictly for Christians only. My church is one that agrees with the teaching that non-Christians should not take the bread and cup. When I asked a friend and tried to tell him there wasn't a Bible passage to support the church's beliefs toward communion, he said there is, and pointed me to 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 in order to back himself up:
"So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself."
-- 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, NLT
I took communion almost every month from December 2007 through December 2009 as a non-Christian, and my friend told me I shouldn't have been taking it. I didn't take it for several years before then, as I did not feel comfortable in taking it.
What does your church believe? Is it okay for non-Christians to take communion?
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Comments (30)
Taking communion is symbolic of completely and without reservation accepting Jesus Christ into your life and soul. If you take it and don't accept him, it's disrespectful of the tradition.
Now, what I DO think is unfair is that I can't take communion in a Catholic church. I am Christian, and I believe in Jesus, and believing and following His way is all the Bible says a person has to do. But because I am not a Catholic, I apparently don't count.
Jesus did not want his church divided. We should all try to accept and embrace one another and realize that our beliefs are, at their core, pretty much the same.
@Sirius_Fan_Girl@xanga - It bothers me to- and I m technically Lutheran.
Here's the thing... if you don't believe in it, someone telling you that you're sinning by taking it isn't going to have an effect on you. As an atheist, if I go to church with my family for some reason (usually for memorial things or whatever), I take communion because, although my parents know I don't believe (and they don't really either), my grandparents/great-aunts would flip if I didn't go up with everyone else. Plus I don't want to be the only person sitting by myself there.
Anyway, my point is, if someone told me God didn't want me to take communion, it wouldn't really make a difference to me since I don't believe in him anyway. So this whole thing is kind of a moot point...
Personally, if you are a Christian and you accept Christ into your life, you should take the Communion. There is no who-shouldn't or who-couldn't. I think the issue here is if a person is willing to take it.
Paula
http://greatwomenofgodabroad.blogspot.com/
This is very frustrating to me, my son is marrying a catholic and he can not take communion, he was baptized presbyterian 15 years ago.
I have a very good friend that is catholic and my son is getting married in that church, so she and I have been discussing this.
I found this verse today that the catholics use to back up thier reason as to why only catholics can take communion.
But, in my bible study class when you see the word "therefore" we are to ask what is the therefore therefore? And this is what the bible passages say above this verse:
23 For AA)'>I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that AB)'>the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 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.” 25 In the same way He took AC)'>the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the AD)'>new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death AE)'>until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be AF)'>guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must AG)'>examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number s]'>[s]AH)'>sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are AI)'>disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with AJ)'>the world.
I know my son's have been taught to examine themselves, the catholics apparently overlook this!! I just angers me!