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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Mary – Mother of God? Mary – Mother of God? Luke 1:31-35; “You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High … The child will be holy and will be called Son of God.” Heb. 2:14, 17; “Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he (Jesus) too shared equally in it … It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers.” BUT… would he have been completely like his brothers if he had been a God-man? The New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “Mary is truly the mother of God if two conditions are fulfilled: that she is really the mother of Jesus and that Jesus is really God.” John 14:28; “… that I am going my way to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.” John 5:19; Therefore, in answer, Jesus went on to say to them: “Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing. For whatever things that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” John 5:30; “I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative, just as I hear, I judge; and the judgment that I render is righteous, because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.” In the fourth century, long after the writing of the Bible was completed, the Church formulated its statement of the Trinity. (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 295) At that time in the Nicene Creed the Church spoke of Jesus Christ as “very God. After that, at the Council of Ephesus in 431 C.E., Mary was proclaimed by the Church to be The-o-to’kos, meaning “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” However neither that expression nor the idea is found in the text of any translation of the Bible. (If you have questions about the Trinity, please ask.) Was Mary always a virgin? Matt. 13:53-56; "When Jesus had finished these parables he left the district; and, coming to his home town, he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, 'Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter's son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers (Greek, a-del-phoi) James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters (Greek, a-del-phai'), too, are they not all here with us?'" On the basis of this text, would you conclude that Jesus was Mary's only child or that she other sons as well as daughters? The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. IX, p. 337) admits regarding the Greek words a-del-phoi’ and a-del-phai’, used at Matthew 13:55, 56, that these “have the meaning of full blood brother and sister in the Greek-speaking world of the Evangelist’s time and would naturally be taken by his Greek reader in this sense. Toward the end of the 4th century (c. 380) Helvidius in a work now lost pressed this fact in order to attribute to Mary other children besides Jesus so as to make her a model for mothers of larger families. St. Jerome, motivated by the Church’s traditional faith in Mary’s perpetual virginity, wrote a tract against Helvidius (A.D. 383) in which he developed an explanation … that is still in vogue among Catholic scholars.” Mark 3:31-35; “His mother and brothers now arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you’. He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’” Here a clear distinction is drawn between Jesus’ natural brothers and his spiritual brothers, his disciples. No one claims that the reference to Jesus’ mother means anything different from what it says. Is it consistent, then, to reason that his natural brothers were not that but were perhaps cousins? When what is meant is not brothers but relatives, a different Greek word (syn-genon’) is used, as at Luke 21:16. So, was Mary herself immaculately conceived, free from original sin when her mother conceived her? The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. VII, pp. 378-381) acknowledges regarding the origin of the belief: “… Immaculate Conception is not taught explicitly in Scripture ... The earliest Church Fathers regarded Mary as holy but not as absolutely sinless … It is impossible to give a precise date when the belief was held as a matter of faith, but by the 8th or 9th century it seems to have been generally admitted … (In 1854 Pope Pius IX defined the dogma) ‘which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin in the first instant of her conception.’” This belief was confirmed by Vatican II (New York, 1962-1965). – The Documents of Vatican II (New York, 1996), edited by W. M. Abbott, S.J., p. 88. Rom. 5:12; “Well, then, sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.” Does that include Mary? The Bible reports that in accord with the requirement of the Mosaic Law, 40 days after Jesus’ birth Mary offered at the temple in Jerusalem a sin offering for purification from uncleanness. She, too, had inherited sin and imperfection from Adam. – Luke 2:22-24; Lev. 12:1-8. (Please read Lev. First.) Did Mary ascend to heaven with her body of flesh? In commenting on the proclamation made by Pope Pius XII in 1950 that made this dogma an official article of Catholic faith, the New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. I, p. 972) states: “There is no explicit reference to the Assumption in the bible, yet the Pope insists in the decree of proclamation that the Scriptures are the ultimate foundation of this truth.” The Bible itself says: 1 Cor. 15:50; “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God: and the perishable cannot inherit what lasts for ever.” Jesus said that “God is spirit.” At Jesus’ resurrection he again became spirit, now “a life-giving spirit.” The angels are spirits. (John 4:24; 1 Cor. 15:45; Heb. 1:13, 14). Where is the Scriptural basis for saying that anyone would attain to heavenly life in a body that requires the physical surroundings of the earth to sustain it? Is it proper to address prayers to Mary as intercessor? Jesus Christ said: “You should pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven … ‘” He also said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. … If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it.” -- Matt. 6:9; John 14:6, 14. 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all – this is what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times. (I would strongly urge that everyone read all of 1 Tim. 2 for better understanding.) Is the veneration of images of Mary in harmony with Bible Christianity? The practice was definitely encouraged by Vatican II (1962-1965). “This most holy Synod … admonishes all the sons of the Church that the cult, especially the liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin, be generously fostered. It charges that practices and exercises of devotion toward her be treasured as recommended by the teaching authority of the Church in the course of centuries, and that those decrees issued in earlier times regarding the veneration of images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints, be religiously observed.” – The Documents of Vatican II, pp. 94,95. Ex. 20:4, 5; “You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God.” See also, Lev. 26:1; 2 Cor. 6:16, 1 John 5: 21. And, for further understanding, see also, John 4:23, 24; 2 Cor. 5:7; Isa. 40:18; Acts 17:29; Isa. 42:8. Was Mary specially honored in the first-century Christian congregation? The apostle Peter makes no mention of her at all in his inspired writings. The apostle Paul did not use her name in his inspired letters but spoke of her only as “a woman.” – Gal. 4:4. What are the historical origins of the adoration of Mary? Says Catholic priest Andrew Greeley: “Mary is one of the most powerful religious symbols in the history of the Western world … The Mary symbol links Christianity directly to the ancient religions of mother goddesses.” – The Making of the Popes (U.S.A., 1979), p. 227. Most of all, you can accord the worship of Mary with tradition. Concerning those who put their traditions ahead of the Scriptures, Jesus said: “Hypocrites! It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied: This people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless; the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.” -- Matt. 15:7-9. Let the games begin…….
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#4. To: richard9151, alltheking'shorseswontdoit (#0)
Holy=Sanctified=Set Apart..it does not mean "glorified." Mary worhip=idol worship. Although Trinity is not used in the Bible, what of John 1:1 and all of the other references to the 3 part God as synonyms? What of the Holy Spirit coming down after the Ascension? Is this particular point an important one to be harping over? Or killing over?
I wanted to answer this separately. Nothing in the Bible is to be killed over, Indie. That is why Jesus did not order the angels to come to his defence, nor did he permit the apostles to defend him, although they were armed. There is a very simple point here, that most people simply do not grasp. This point is the basis of baptizism as well; it is called freely accepting the lordship of Jesus Christ, and choosing to live in a manner pleasing to him and to Almighty God; Jehovah (I am going to do a post on His Devine Name sometime in the next couple of days as time permits). If you study how Jesus spoke with people, you will learn that he converted no one; he reasoned with them, and permitted them to chose. No one can be forced to chose to serve Jehovah; THEY MUST FREELY CHOSE. When you understand that, you will understand how far out of line is organized religion with their ties to governments and their support for wars. (This is also one of the major things that separate the Jehovah's Witnesses from organized religion; they convert no one. One must freely chose to join with them, AND, you have to do the studies and be approved first. Quite different!) I have always wondered how the Catholics of one nation showed their love for their brothers when they were fighting in a war and killing other Catholics. Course, the same is true for any of the organized religion; none of them is different. As far as harping over, it is a pretty important point. It is clear in the Bible that those that do not know and worship Jehovah and His Son CORRECTLY WILL NOT receive the promise made to the meek to be resurrected and inhabit the earth for all time. By the way, do not be confused about the word meek, as it does not mean what most think it does.
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