Why I Am Not Catholic Anymore - God Doesn't Taste Good.

 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." ... Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. - [John 6:51, 53-54 NKJV]

 The Roman Catholic Church teaches the context of John chapter 6 is a literal interpretation, thus in John 6:53, Jesus is saying that unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have eternal life. In other words, giving absolute and unconditional requirements for eternal life and forms the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation -- the miraculous changing of bread and wine into the living Christ: His body, His blood, His soul, and His divinity. When the lifeless wafer is raised and the priest whispers "Hoc corpus meus est", he is calling Jesus down from heaven to become the Eucharist, in which all in the mass will worship and consume.

What Does The Bible Teach?

If this truly were a miracle and that Jesus' body, soul, spirit, and divinity became the Eucharist...then there would be an outward evidence to indicate a miracle had taken place. For instance, when Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding in Cana recorded in John 2 -- the water not only tasted like wine, but had the same consistency, feel, and look as wine. Why? Because it WAS wine. Those who drank of it said it was the best wine (John 2:9-10). It was a noticeable, physical change that was verified by others. Therefore, if the wafer and wine became Christ's body and blood, it would have the same properties and taste as flesh and blood. 

Also, drinking of blood was forbidden in the bible. Mosaic law forbade Jews from drinking blood (Leviticus 17:10-14). If Jesus was teaching that we were to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood, He would be violating God's law and would be worthy of death. Thus His death on the cross would have been justified and Christians would still be unforgiven and under the penalty of sin. 

There were many times in the bible when Jesus spoke of Himself in spiritual, figurative terms. Metaphors if you will -- in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which is not litterally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.  Just in the gospel of John alone, Jesus declared of Himself that He was: 

1. "The bread of life" (John 6:48). 
2. "The light of the world" (John 8:12). 
3. "The door" (John 10:9). 
4. "The good shepherd" (John 10:11). 
5. "The resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). 
6. "The way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). 
7. "The true vine" (John 15:1). 
8.  Referred to His body as the temple (John 2:19). 

The bible also spoke in metaphors concerning other things: 

1. Jesus said of His disciples, "You are the salt of the earth." (Matthew 5:13). 
2. David said of the cup of water that his mighty men brought back for him as a gift, was the cup of their blood. (2 Samuel 23:17) He didn't mean that it was literally the cup of their blood, but that they risked their own lives, and their blood, to get it for him. 

Jesus declared in John 6:63 that His words were spiritual. He also informed His disciples that there were many times He spoke figuratively (John 16:25). This was no surprise to the disciples, and was actually confirmation that what they were believing was from God (Matthew 16:17, Matthew 11:25).

Several times in scripture the reading of God's Word is described as eating God's Word.

1. "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every [word] that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
2. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary [food]. (Job 23:12)
3. How sweet are Your words to my taste, [Sweeter] than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)
4. "Your words were found, and I ate them...(Jeremiah 15:16). 
5. as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord [is] gracious. (1 Peter 2:2-3)

Communion was done as a remembrance of Jesus. He even said regarding the purpose of communion: 

• "Do this in remembrance of Me," (Luke 22:19). 
• "Do this in remembrance of Me," (1 Corinthians 11:24). 
• "Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me," (1 Corinthians 11:25).
• "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes," (1 Corinthians 11:26). 

Therefore, communion was not about salvation, but about remembering Christ and proclaiming His death. 

How Do We Get His Life In Us?

So how do we get the Christ in us, and His life manifested in us? The life in us, the Holy Spirit, is given to us for both as a comforter, helper, and as a down payment, or promise, of the life to come.