Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I never really heard why the CoC uses unleavened unsalted crackers in communion. There is something about unleavened bread being eaten on the passover, I never heard anyone discuss the no salt issue. It seems to me that using unsalted unleavened bread is more a retention of a Roman Catholic tradition. Wasn't the hundred years war fought over this argument.

You can read lengthy explanations on both sides of the issue of using regular or unleavened bread in communion online. It's not an issue for me, but bothers some a lot. I remember a professor at ACC who had been a missionary somewhere where the native population did not have bread as a mainstay, nor wine nor grape juice. So, there was some kind of food they used as a staple made from berries, I believe, and another drink made from a fruit different than grapes. So, those items were used in their communion. Using bread and wine/juice would have had no meaning to them.

The point being that these are symbols of the "bread of life" (or what cultures would consume as their bread) and "blood" (which could be represented in dissimilar ways in different cultures).

But in the CofC, I believe unleavened bread is the path to heaven, regular bread brings condemnation to you. You know, like having two songs vs one song before the prayer or scripture reading, horrible, horrible.

Using bread and wine/juice would have had no meaning to them.

I love that the missionary was culturally competent enough not to have crackers and Welch's imported for the indigenous people's communion.

Ivy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:19 am

Using bread and wine/juice would have had no meaning to them.

I love that the missionary was culturally competent enough not to have crackers and Welch's imported for the indigenous people's communion.

You know how some people stand out as you look back over your life? Well, here was a CofC missionary teaching at ACC, now ACU, and he was the only one down there who made sense to me. The title of the course was "Cultural Anthropology". I could have easily gone that direction because of him.
Guess I'd have to look at my old ACC transcript to find his name. A big guy with grey/white hair.

It seems ironic that at a CofC school the teaching of cultural anthropology was tolerated since all you need to do is read the scriptures, it's all there in black and white, you know.

SolaDude wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:37 pm

Ivy wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:19 am

Using bread and wine/juice would have had no meaning to them.

I love that the missionary was culturally competent enough not to have crackers and Welch's imported for the indigenous people's communion.

You know how some people stand out as you look back over your life? Well, here was a CofC missionary teaching at ACC, now ACU, and he was the only one down there who made sense to me. The title of the course was "Cultural Anthropology". I could have easily gone that direction because of him.
Guess I'd have to look at my old ACC transcript to find his name. A big guy with grey/white hair.

It seems ironic that at a CofC school the teaching of cultural anthropology was tolerated since all you need to do is read the scriptures, it's all there in black and white, you know.

Interesting, Sola. I knew a family of missionaries who had spent years in Africa. They worked with polygamous families and, upon converting them, would have to try to help them figure out how to unravel the multiple marriages, while also ensuring that the women involved didn't have to end up in prostitution. I think what they came up with is that the converted man stayed with the first wife he married, the other women had to move out, and the man is held responsible for supporting all of the wives (and all of the children) even though they are no longer living as married. Otherwise the women would have no means at all of financial support. I don't know how successful that plan was.

Sola, did they teach physical anthropology at ACU? I would love to hear how they managed "bone lab".

Ivy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:58 pm Sola, did they teach physical anthropology at ACU? I would love to hear how they managed "bone lab".

You know, it's been a long time, but I don't think so. The college would probably have lost financial support for "teaching evolution", you know.

SolaDude wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:40 pm

Ivy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:58 pm Sola, did they teach physical anthropology at ACU? I would love to hear how they managed "bone lab".

You know, it's been a long time, but I don't think so. The college would probably have lost financial support for "teaching evolution", you know.

Yes, that's what I'm thinking. That said, though...it would be difficult to teach cultural anthropology without teaching how social behavior evolved.

I'm glad I never married or had children.

On the use of unleavened bread for communion -
I was taught in the coc, that unleavened bread was mandatory for communion, BECAUSE when Jesus said that 'this do in remembrance of me', the meal was specifically a Passover seder (by the way, historically, 'the Passover seder' wasn't even INVENTED until AFTER the destruction of the Temple) and that THEREFORE, the bread absolutely HAD to be 'unleavened'.

Also that every time 'wine' is mentioned in the NT, it REALLY means 'grape juice'.
Only in the OT did 'wine' mean 'wine'.

If there is any logic to THAT argument, I have no clue what it might be.

However, using 'real bread' for communion was clearly a sin of major proportion and and an indication that whoever used it was either a) completely ignorant or b) criminally careless, or both.