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interesting things I learned from talking with an evangelical

He claimed both that Catholics rely upon a priest to mediate between them and God AND that God is bodily.  His reason for the former:  the passages in the Old Testament where God is depicted bodily.  Walking in the Garden with Adam; as a Pilar of Fire guiding the Israelites; etc.

It occurred to me that his two points are related.

But before describing that point, let me add that Catholics believe that they are relating directly to Jesus Christ in the Mass, even though the priest does play a priestly role in helping make Christ present bodily.

After all, if God is never present to us via a mediator, then when it says that God is truly present via these phenomena, then God is identical with them.

On the other hand, affirming that identity is to go against the claim that God is unchanging.  And if God is bodily then God could not be a Trinity.

Solution: God is truly present to His People in the Old Testament via His Creation.  But that opens the door to a Catholic understanding of the sacraments.  And it allows God to be unchanging in His nature AND bodily present, through the ministry of the priest, in the Mass.

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