Wayfaring Stranger

Thank you for the response. For most of the past 11 years I've this yearning for...mysticism I guess you could say. Esotericism. I think the Lord is revealing to me that not all things mystical or "spiritual" are good or Godly. The rather "plain" nature of Baptist theology and worship lost it's flavor with me and I went searching only to find myself parched in a land of shallow wells. I guess I have much spiritual growth to do, which is ironic because I considered myself spiritually advanced, but I was just a dog chasing my own tail.

When you have time do you mind linking anything on the canon of the Bible being completed before the Catholics (claim to have) created the canon? I'm honestly curious as I haven't ever heard that before.

Hi, nice to meet you and congratulations on the new baby!

Hello everyone. I'm a married man with a daughter and a child on the way(!) rapidly approaching 30. I currently reside in Indiana. 
I grew up a Baptist and converted to Catholicism 11 years ago as a senior in high school. For the better part of the last decade I've spent time in and out of the Catholic Church and have gone through several religious "phases" one could say. A few months ago I made the decision that I was done forever with Catholicism. I've come to realize through hours of prayer, study, and reading that their version of history just simply doesn't add up and their theological claims (i.e. papal infallibility) simply do not add up either. I immediately started looking at Orthodoxy, but I've begun to realize that Orthodoxy has many theological shortcomings as well and operates very similar to Catholicism but with an Eastern "mystical" sheen to it.
 
I've felt (for some time, through the "still small voice") that I'm being called home to my roots. Called back, not to a "denomination" but perhaps to faithful obedience to the Bible and to the Word of God made flesh.
 
I am still seeking and trying to discern the voice of God, so I will have questions. I hope no one takes my questioning or searching as challenging or disrespectful. I look forward to learning and growing spiritually. 
God Bless
 

Friend, just acknowledging what you have says a lot. I can tell you this...plain theology may seem boring on the outset, but that's because our flesh wants to "experience" something. When we are saved, we have a very real warfare that goes on between our flesh and our spirit. The flesh wants experiences, tangible evidences, signs, and wonders...or...our flesh wants to reason things intellectually.
That's one major reason that much of this mysticism, signs, and wonders are so popular...they appeal to the flesh. Did you know that despite all of the signs and wonders that God performed for Israel when they were released from bondage in Egypt, it wasn't enough? The most important thing to God is for us to believe him...to have faith in him. Despite all of the miracles, signs, and wonders...they still didn't believe him or have faith...
Numbers 14:11
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
On the other hand, our spirit feeds from the truth revealed to us in God's word. Our flesh doesn't want to study his word; our spirit does.
When we understand that the greatest tool, gift, and tangible evidence that we have is God's word, that's when things will begin to click (for lack of a better word). The more we read his word, the more it becomes real. The more we study his word, the more it shines a light on the truths revealed therein...that we would otherwise scoff at when looking at it through the eyes of our flesh.
What once seemed boring becomes exciting. What once may have seemed a waste of time, becomes of utmost importance. Plain theology...it may seem shallow at first, but the more that you study it, it only gets deeper and deeper.
Mysticism is just another way of seeking signs. Though thinly veiled as a "spiritual" experience, it's still an experience that appeals to the flesh. Before long, the focus is on the experience itself.
You will have no greater true joy than to first be saved. Then read and study his word...putting into real tangible practice what is revealed in his word. The greatest gift that mankind has ever received is the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. In my opinion, the second greatest gift is that we have his word...and you can't have one without the other.
Read it, study it, and you will begin to grow as the Holy Spirit reveals more truth to you. It may look plain from the outside, but on the inside, it's will fill you to overflowing.
Give me plain theology! The more I learn of it, the deeper it grows, and I realize that it's so deep that I'll never grasp it all.
May the Lord work in your life and bless as you seek the truth.

Regarding transubstantiation:
When we read the passages regarding the Lord's Supper, there are a few things that are evident.
Christ was physically there administering the bread and cup. If there was ever a chance for literal substantiation, I would think this would have been it. Yet, he was giving them actual bread; he wasn't ripping pieces of his flesh off and giving it to them to eat. He wasn't giving them his actual blood to drink either; he made it very clear that it was "the fruit of the vine". So, Christ was using the bread and the cup to represent his body and blood.
Secondly, and most importantly, Christ told them to do this "in remembrance of me". It was instituted for us to "remember" what Christ did for us; in that, his body was broken for us, and his blood was poured out for us. We are to remember that...not reconstitute or re-sacrifice his body and blood from bread and a cup. He was sacrificed once for all, and in taking the Lord's Supper, it sets our minds and hearts back on what he did for us in the past. It's a time of remembrance...not re-sacrifice.
Regarding it even further...this is going to sound too simple, because we often want deep, hard, theological answers...when the simple truth lies right before our eyes.
In the verses that you pointed out, Christ said that one would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. He was very specific. He said nothing about transubstantiation or the possibility thereof...he said his flesh and his blood. He gave no wiggle room for anything else. You either eat his actual flesh and drink his actual blood, or you have no eternal life. The wording doesn't allow for transubstantiation.
The Jews were actually pretty smart in their response; which was, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They understood the dilemma posed; they just didn't understand what was actually being said.
So, how does one eat the Lord's flesh and drink his blood if transubstantiation isn't possible?
The Lord likened his flesh to the manna which the Jews ate in the wilderness. What did the Jews have to do to get the manna (bread)? Nothing. It was a free gift from God. They just had to accept it. 
How does one eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood? Christ said that unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you have no life in you...no eternal life. However, we can't eat his actual flesh or drink his actual blood...
Christ also said that "he that believeth in me shall never die", whosoever believeth in me should not perish but have everlasting life". So...which is it? Must we eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life, or must we believe in Christ to have eternal life?
Just as the Jews accepted the free gift of manna, believers accept the free gift of Christ's flesh and blood which was broken and spilled for us for the forgiveness of sins. We eat his flesh and drink his blood by believing and accepting what he did for us when he sacrificed himself for us. 
There's nothing mystical about true Christianity, and I mean no disrespect to you personally, but transubstantiation is about as mystical as it gets in my opinion. 
All of that to say this in answer to your question...
My view is that there is no such thing as transubstantiation; there is no true biblical basis for it. There is nothing in the Bible which describes it. There is nothing in the Bible which validates it. It's a man-made doctrine. The Bible says in more than one place that the Lord's Supper is to be done in remembrance of what Christ did for us. It's a solemn time of remembrance. The bread represents his flesh; it doesn't become his flesh. The fruit of the vine represents his blood; it doesn't become his blood.
 

The word “Church” is used 3 different ways in the Bible
 
EXAMPLE OF 3 CHURCH DEFINITIONS
“The Noel Family”
Local – My wife, the children and I. "We are the Noel Family".
Visible - Dad, Mom, sisters, Uncles, aunts, cousins. All Noels alive, but not all of a local household. "The Noels will have a reunion in Kentucky in Oct."
Universal - All ancestors from the time of first founding Noel. "The Noel family can be traced back to the 1100's"
All usages are legitimate and proper, and determined by context. Why is this so hard to understand in the church today?!?
 
Universal Church – Spiritual - All saints, past, present and future, whose names the Father knows and are written in heaven. – UNDER CHRIST, UNDER NO OFFICE OR MAN ON EARTH.
Hebrews 12:22-23
Eph 5:23,25,27,29
Col 1:18-24
Revelation 19:7, Revelation 21:9 and (2Corinthians 11:2 – proof text that the bride is the church)
 
Visible Church made of all saints alive on earth, general reference to believers as a whole.
1Co 12:13
1Co 15:9
Galatians 1:13
Philippians 3:6
 
A particular assembly of believers that meet together in one place, such as the churches addressed in the epistles. The word “churches”, plural, appears 36 times.
Ro 16:5
Col 4:15
Acts 13:1
All three usages exist in scripture to refer to the church, and all three are legitimate, based on scriptural context. If we throw out scriptural doctrine simply because the reprobate misuse it, are we any better than they are? We must stop studying doctrine, and start prayerfully studying the scripture with humility and courage. 
 
 

1. In short: God called John, "The Baptist"; Baptist is a title, not a family name. The name Baptist  was God given.
2. John Baptized Jesus with Baptist baptism, making Jesus a Baptist.
3. Jesus built His church during His earthly ministry, making that church a Baptist church.
I posted a devotional about this subject here.