Why do many christians feel that they are not worthy of taking or part in yhe holy communion?

Jesus welcomed all to this table. All are welcome. It is someone else saying they are not worthy. Who should you believe?

Absolutely everyone is able and encouraged to take communion. As far as feeling that you are not worthy, that is part of faith. God showed mercy on us, even though we did not deserve to have the son of God die in our place and pay for our sins. The idea of knowing we are not worthy, is to emphasize the great love that God the Father has for us and to come to communion with a humble heart.

Communion is practiced very differently depending on what sect you are participating in. In the catholic church, they believe in transubstantiation, meaning that after the priest blesses the bread and the wine they physically turn into the blood and the body of Christ. So they are very strict in allowing people to take the sacrament and you must go through many classes to understand the reverence of this act and your first communion is a rite of passage within the church.

For most presbyterian, post-Lutheran faiths including the church that I go to, we believe in what's called the Memorial Day view. This sites the passage in Luke where Christ said when breaking bread with his apostles during the last supper "...do this in remembrance of me". What this means is that we believe that the bread stays bread and the wine stays wine, but we are doing this to remember and reflect on what Christ did for us. So we openly welcome anyone who believes that Christ did this for us to participate.

I hope that gives you a little insight into communion in Christianity. To go back to your original question, Jesus answered this same question with a parable, so to put it in modern terms we'll talk about a debt collector. Lets say you ran up a $5,000 credit card bill during college, some for books, but also some for clothes, concerts, late night pizza runs, whatever. After getting your first job and not one payment later you start getting those notorious collection calls. The collector shows up at your house, at work, and you are terrified of answering your phone. Then you get served - the collector is suing you for your debt. You owe this debt and you know that they will win, you are doomed. When you get to court, you are humbled knowing there is nothing you can do as this debt is really yours. They ask you to defend yourself, and you say to the debt collector, I'm sorry I have been irresponsible but I cannot repay this debt because I just started working and so I don't have any extra money. The debt collector looks at you and says that's ok, good luck with your job I will erase this debt and you aren't responsible to pay.

Think of how you would feel in that situation. Would you be humble? Would you feel you were not worthy of the debt collectors mercy, but still appreciate and accept the offer. Of course you would. This is what "not worthy" means in reference to communion, not that God wants us to have a low self-esteem, because that is certainly not true!

This answer was edited by Jodi-Mesa 257 days ago.

Reason: add

Well said Jodi. Amen.

To answer your question; many people with Christian values decline holy communion because they simply do not want to be hypocritical by pretending to believe in that fantasy.

Technically no one is worthy to take communion. That is why prior to taking it you should have a time of reflection in which you acknowledge those sins you are still struggling with, and ask for God's forgiveness. You should never take communion lightly, Jesus said in Mark 14:22-24:

22And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.

23And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.

24And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.

So to take it out of habit or without regard to what Christ's true sacrifice was is not only disrespectful, but a sin, as it is a covenant.

Susu

STANGLY ENOUGH its not about worthyness, but its all about haveing your sins fogiven (jusus blood) and his body ( unlevend bread ) is to strengthen us too sin no more. the whole human race is not worthy 4 jesus 2 die 4 us. but god loves the human part of his creation so much that he sent his son jesus 2 die 4 us jn 3 v 16 & 2 build an eternal bridge over the gap 2 show us the way back
john 14 v 6 !

JESUS` PEACEB4U2 !