ljs (02/02/83)
As a "Liberal Christian" with some knowledge of RC (Roman Catholic) - Anglican - Mainline-Protestant Churches, I have never heard of a Church which offers the sacrament of Communion to a non-Christian. Often Communion is even denied to members of other denominations. (By the way, in some churches Communion is not even a sacrament - the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace - it's a "memorial.") Often the test of the acceptability of persons of other denominations is whether or not they are baptized members of some Christian body. Again, I have never heard of a Communion service without some form of confession preceding it. Sincere repentence is generally considered a requisite to the communion, but mainline Protestantism generally maintains that confession need not be heard by anyone but God; an intercessor like a priest or other "trustworthy believer" is not necessary. They're 'hard-wired' and don't need a dialup. These religious articles on the net indicate a rather surprising ignorance about Christianity in general. Most people seem to think there is much more coherence and unanimity of belief in the Christian world than is generally true. Any two Christians, even of the same denomination, can have widely divergent religious beliefs. That's what all the fuss was about during the Reformation, when Hus and Zwingli and Luther and Calvin got in their licks. They didn't agree with one another, and their religious descendants are even more widely at variance today.
ljs (02/02/83)
As a "Liberal Christian" with some knowledge of Roman Catholic - Anglican - Mainline-Protestant Churches, I have never heard of a Church which offers the sacrament of Communion to non-Christians. Often Communion is even denied to members of other denominations. (BTW, in some Churches Communion is not even a "sacrament" - the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace - it's a "memorial.") Often the test of the acceptability of persons who are not members of the congregation is whether or not they are baptized members of some Christian body. Again, I have never heard of a Communion service without some form of confession preceding it. Sincere repentence is generally considered a requisite to the Communion, but mainline Protestantism generally maintains that confession need not be heard by anyone but God: an intercessor like a priest or "other trustworthy believer" is not necessary. They're 'hard-wired' and don't need a dialup. These religious articles on the net indicate a rather surprising ignorance about Christianity in general. Most people seem to think there is much more coherence and unanimity of belief in the Christian world than is generally true. Any two Christians, even of the same denomination, can have widely divergent religious beliefs. That's what all the fuss was about during the Reformation, when Hus and Zwingli and Luther and Calvin got in their licks. They didn't agree with one another, and their religious descendants are even more widely at variance today.
hutch (02/03/83)
First, a minor point, but one dear to my heart, my name is spelled Hutchison, not Hutchinson. This has caused me considerable trouble with the local phone company, since there is a Stephen Hutchinson who lives in Beaverton, apparently even on the same road I live on. Regarding nonchristians being given communion, I can say from my personal experience that there are cchurches which serve Communion to nonchristians. I attended a Methodist church in my childhood, before I accepted Christ. This was, for me, a social thing. I took communion those once-per-month times it was served. The only thing I was ever told about it was that it was a matter of my own conscience and that it was not required. After a while, I stopped. It made me too uncomfortable. The point is, most churches have a prayer with confession before they do serve communion, although I am not sure about any flavor of Catholic church. Since they have a separate ritual of confession, I suspect that they have at best a minor prayer of confession. Yes, some churches are more responsible than others about making sure that the Holy Communion is not given to unbelievers. Incidentally, the theology of Communion has traditionally dealt with it as a sacrament. Those churches which refer to it as a memorial are using the phrasing from the last supper where Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of Me." The two terms are NOT mutually exclusive. A sacrament is any ritual which is sacred, i.e. set aside as special to God. Steve Hutchison