Does this not sound like the most Catholic passage in the Bible? John 20:21-23 "Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
One reason it seems very Catholic is that you have the mystical element where Jesus breaths on them. This reminds me of the transmutation that I read about in college that they used to teach in Catholic churches throughout church history. They literally believed that the bread and wine literally became the body and blood of Jesus before they consumed it in communion, which would be cannibalism obviously. But the Catholics had lots of crazy teachings back then.
Now also realize that most, if not all, of the monks who copied the Bible over the years were Catholic.
Then in this passage you have the very strange verse that if we forgive the sins of others they will be forgiven, but only God can forgive sins! We all know that! So I think the crazy monks inserted this passage, as in they made it up, to justify their teaching that you HAD to confess your sins to a priest to have your sins forgiven. Because they loved to have that power. And I think they inserted, as in made up, this part about Jesus breathing on the disciples because it sounds very mystical, and many things they did were very mystical and strange. Like praying to Mary and the saints. That was and is very odd and not biblical.
The other reason I think this passage was not meant to be in the Bible and that it was inserted is look over at Acts 1. "Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” IF Jesus had already breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit, why would he say they will receive the Holy Spirit again. This does NOT make any logical sense. Read what Jesus said to them again. They were to WAIT for the promise of the Father. Meaning they did not already have it. Therefore, I think the passage in John was falsely inserted and not meant to be part of the Bible.
In the same way most recognize that the end of Mark 16 was inserted and was not meant to be in the Bible. Why? Because it simply is not true and the entire passage does not happen. "These signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Yes some speak with other tongues, but no one has drank a deadly poison and lived or taken up serpents. Or at least for sure not EVERY Chrisitan has done that. Therefore this passage was not meant to be in the Bible.
I think the same is true for the passage about Jesus breathing on the disciples. They did not receive the Holy Spirit twice. They received the Holy Spirit once, as we all do. We receive the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus. Feel free to comment your thoughts on this. May God bless you all!
