Posted on 04/03/2008 3:24:39 PM PDT by annalex
The scripture you posted does not say that, "doctor". Please post the scripture that supports your opinion.
One is not committing their life to Christ when they dictate for themselves what that commitment will look like.
It is mohammedans who are lead by their own interpretation of ancient writings: not Christians.
Please remove me from your pinglist
I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Regaredless, no one is saved "through" Mary.
Quote-o-matic broke?
Please post any Scripture at all that tells us to come to Christ through His mother. Any.
Again, please post the Scripture that supports any of your bizarre, hyper-inflated opinions of Mary.
Luke 1. He came to us through her.
Will you — it is about 5th time I ask on two threads — substantiate your mariophobic opinions with any scripture? You, not me, are supposed to be the Bible-alone superstitionist, remember?
John 2.
You alleged a scriptural contradiction in Catholic Mariology. Please show the contradiction.
Then I suggest you are not qualified to offer unsolicited advice.
It sure looks like an angel to me, but that's not how it's listed (and I don't see how it'll support the Savior on her shoulders)...
“His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye.” John 2:5
I couldn't tell. Then again, I didn't peek at her backside or lift up her dress to look for the requisite "Made in China" label.
"Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." John 2:4
"The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy. It's that I just don't care."
There is no scriptural basis for the "veneration" of Mary. None. It is purely made up out of whole cloth. My own take is that it came about with pagans who were used to worshiping a goddess (there was the huge cult of Artemis, in Ephesus, the same city where Mary ended up with John according to tradition) and as Christians were in competition they naturally gravitated toward the "mother of God".
It's not that I don't have profound respect for Mary as the mother of God. It's just that there is nothing within scripture that indicates Mary has any special position outside of agreeing to bear the Messiah and cooperate with God. That's it. She's only mentioned about a half dozen times in the gospels. There's no mention of her at all in any of the rest of the New Testament writings (I know that Catholics argue that the "woman clothed in the Sun" in Revelation is Mary, but I disagree).
It's an undue emphasis and focus on Mary that keeps me away from the Catholic church to this point. There's no basis for it except a tradition that developed within the church (in my opinion, at least) out of old goddess worshiping pagans who were brought into the faith.
Christ repeatedly says he is the only way to the Father. 1 Timothy says there is one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. Hebrews talks about Jesus as our great High Priest and there is no one between man and God but Jesus. No priests. No Mary. No one. Just Jesus. It was for this very symbolic reason that the curtain of the temple was torn in two. The barrier between men and God was removed. Jesus has now made a direct relationship with the Father possible.
I know that the Catholic Church claims Mary isn't "adored" but only "venerated" but this is a bit disingenuous because it is quite clear that when you see these various peoples in the third world carrying around statues of Mary on biers, and kneeling before them, etc, they are quite definitely "worshipping" her - I doubt the average lay person, especially in the third world where there is little education, knows the difference (splitting hairs) of "adoration" vs. "veneration". They are quite clearly praying to Mary in the worship sense.
Putting anyone in between Jesus and the believer is not only wrong, it's idolatry. Nowhere does the Bible indicate Mary has any special status in the afterlife, nowhere does anyone else in the New Testament treat her as having any special status in the afterlife (she's not even mentioned).
Okay, this got longer than I planned...
Did He do something, or not?
Your first test is invalid. You assume everything from God has to be in Scripture. The voice of the seven thunders is purposely omitted, yet will that not be from God?
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