Posted on 05/19/2008 6:44:32 PM PDT by Manfred the Wonder Dawg
What is Mariology? Essentially, it's the theology that affords devotion to Mary. Does this mean the Catholics worship Mary? Well, yes and no. Publicly, the Roman Catholic Church does not afford Mary the same status as Jesus. However, their reverence for her goes beyond their admiration for even the saints. The Catholic Encyclopedia details a view of Mary that it admits is not Biblical. Their view of her life and her role originate in Catholic tradition - that is, the writings of the popes and theologians, rather than in the Bible.
Biblically, Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Because of her faith, she was chosen to give birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. She was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and conceived Jesus. There was no physical union, and therefore Jesus was born of a virgin. While no doubt a faithful and godly woman, Mary was nonetheless just a woman. In fact, apart from Acts 1:14, Mary is not mentioned anywhere outside the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Even in the Gospels, her spiritual power and authority are almost non-existent. Neither Jesus, nor Paul, nor any other biblical writer ever gave Mary the place or devotion that the Catholic Church has given her. The New Testament epistles (letters) were written for the spiritual guidance of the Church, and have a great deal to say about doctrine and worship. Her absence from the epistles must then call into doubt the role that Catholics ascribe to her.
In Roman Catholicism, Mary (or as she's also called: Our Blessed Lady, Our Blessed Virgin, etc.) is more than human. Catholic Tradition includes the following teachings:
1 Mary's immaculate conception: This doctrine teaches that she was born without original sin, and was therefore sinless throughout her life.
2 During her tutelage in the temple as a child, Mary received almost nightly visits by angels.
3 Mary's perpetual virginity: This doctrine asserts that she had no children before Jesus (a Biblical teaching) or after Him (unbiblical).
4 Mary's physical ascension into heaven: This teaches that because of her sinlessness, Mary never experienced a physical death - the result of sin. Instead, she was raised bodily into the presence of Christ.
5 Mary's role as Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces: This doctrine holds that the obedience and sufferings of Mary were essential to secure the full redemption bought by Christ.
6 Mary's right to veneration and/or worship: This teaching holds that because of her unparalleled role in salvation, Mary is worthy of special adoration.
There are three specific terms of worship in Catholicism: latria - adoration that is due God alone, dulia - veneration afforded to the saints, and hyperdulia - special veneration given to Mary. In practice, these become practically indistinguishable. As a matter of point, Catholics pray to Mary and expect that she hears and answers all such prayers. This elevates her to a position of deity.
I have already mentioned that the role that is ascribed to Mary by Catholics is unbiblical. Let me give you more evidence of that. Below, I have included an excerpt from the Catholic Encyclopedia, where the writer acknowledges that their interpretation of a passage in the book of Genesis must be more accurate than the original Hebrew text, as their interpretation ascribes more power to Mary:
(1) The first prophecy referring to Mary is found in the very opening chapters of the Book of Genesis (3:15): "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." This rendering appears to differ in two respects from the original Hebrew text:
(2) The second point of difference between the Hebrew text and our version concerns the agent who is to inflict the mortal wound on the servant: our version agrees with the present Vulgate text in reading "she" (ipsa) which refers to the woman, while the Hebrew text reads hu (autos, ipse) which refers to the seed of the woman. According to our version, and the Vulgate reading, the woman herself will win the victory; according to the Hebrew text, she will be victorious through her seed. In this sense does the Bull "Ineffabilis" ascribe the victory to Our Blessed Lady. The reading "she" (ipsa) is neither an intentional corruption of the original text, nor is it an accidental error; it is rather an explanatory version expressing explicitly the fact of Our Lady's part in the victory over the serpent, which is contained implicitly in the Hebrew original. The strength of the Christian tradition as to Mary's share in this victory may be inferred from the retention of "she" in St. Jerome's version in spite of his acquaintance with the original text and with the reading "he" (ipse) in the old Latin version. [Highlighting added by Contender Ministries]
For the record, the text of Genesis 3:15 mentioned above is found that way only in the Catholic version of the Bible. Other versions agree with the original Hebrew text in that the seed of the woman (Jesus) will do the crushing. The Catholic Church has changed scripture to fit with their doctrines. This tactic is the only way the Catholic Church can justify many of its teachings that are unbiblical.
In his book, Revelation Unveiled, author Tim LaHaye says this"
"One of the dangerous trends during the twentieth century in the Church of Rome is the elevation of Mary to a status just short of deity. News media reports indicate that millions have petitioned the Pope to declare her a member of the Trinity, though the official line is that it is not going to happen - yet. Already she is referred to as 'the mother of God' or 'the queen of Heaven' and in some instances appears to be the dispenser of salvation, which contradicts many Scriptures...To even suggest that anyone, even Mary the human mother of Jesus, participates in dispensing the gift of eternal life is not only heresy, it is blasphemous."
As for the Catholic view of Mary as Mediatrix, let me refer you to:
1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"
Note: RM has declared Contender Ministries to NOT be a hate site.
Yet, she seemed kind of doubtful when told her role, and later seemed surprised when Jesus was hanging out at the temple.
She also acknowledged she was a sinner ....
The New American Bible recommened by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops DOES NOT have the translation error that is common to the older versions translated from the Latin Vulgate. I am not sure if the error was in the Vulgate, or was in the translations from it, but it was an error, not a deliberate attempt to re-write Genesis.
Anyhow, about 30 years ago when I was attending a University in Boston, I had some dialogue exchanges with some Jesuits who were certainly not interested in defending the elevation of Mary in the Catholic Church.
Au Contraire, they were adamant in their opposition to the dogma of Mary worship. Who woulda thunk it?
I figured back then that the Vatican was leaning away from certain traditions. I can't say if that has happened to any great degree but I sense there have been some adjustments.
Wrong. Worship (latria) belongs to God alone, while due reverence (dulia, hyperdulia) is accorded to Saints. And yes, we believe Mary is in Heaven. Since Heaven is not bound by our rules of time or physics, she can hear all our prayers, as the Angels in Heaven heard the Psalmist when he addressed them. She "answers" our prayers only in that she prays to God on our behalf - through no power of her own are they "answered" as we think of it.
Being Catholic, don’t know how many times I been ask about worshiping Mary. I’ve always said “She’s the most important woman in the New Testament and a saint. You may venerate her but that does not means she is deity. Catholics are not required to venerate her and she has nothing to do with personal salvation. Worship her? No, but we show her quite a bit respect.” I think it is proper.
News media reports, eh?
Where is this petition?
True.
This elevates her to a position of deity.
Absolutely false.
Contender Ministries is not a hate site. It is, however, a website filled with hate.
What “translation errors” are you referring to? Are they in the Book of Genesis? I have both the Douay-Rheims and New Oxford Annotated Bibles ... could you direct me to these issues? Thanks.
Unless one prays only to one of the divine persons of the Holy Trinity, one is worshiping an idol, in my view. The fact that the person doing the praying "doesn't consider it worship" is irrelevant. God considers it worship, that's all that matters. If it's not directed toward the Father, Son or Holy Spirit then it is worshiping the "creature" and the "created" and that's idolatry.
Also, because the Pope is God on earth, he does have the power to change the Trinity. /sarc
That would be your personal interpretation of Scripture.
I can certainly understand why the creator of this garbage would refuse to sign their name to it.
LOL
Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
Amen.
“author Tim LaHaye says this”
If I see this in any article it goes into the trash can!
Yet another expose of ‘Catholic beliefs’ by a Protestant who relies on lies and distortions. Shocking.
Why would his mother think he was out of his mind if she were without sin and knew from the beginning who he was? Why would she have shown doubt?
Further, once she shows up, Jesus doesn't show her any preference or overt favor - he doesn't run right out to greet her. No, in fact, he stays inside and says, "Who are my mother and my brothers? These are my mother and my brothers. Everyone who obeys the word of God is my mother and my brother and my sister." (I'm paraphrasing from Matthew).
Jesus does not show any preference to Mary. When she asks him about the wine at Cana he doesn't jump right up and do what she asks. In fact, it's almost a rebuke. He says, "Woman, what does this have to with us?". He ultimately agrees to help out, and performs a miracle, but he almost acts annoyed by her request. His time had not yet come.
Mary is mentioned all of six or seven times in the New Testament. Apart from the beginning of Luke, the Magnificat, there isn't a whole lot more about her. We know she was with him at various points, and among the "women" who followed him, and was in Jerusalem during the Crucifixion. But none of the New Testament writers show that she had any special role or position apart from agreeing to cooperate with God in giving birth to the Messiah. This makes her a wonderful and blessed girl, and mother, but apart from that special respect and memory, every other thing about her that the Catholic Church developed as doctrine is simply baseless.
It doesn't take any deep searching of history to quickly determine that the pagans coming into Christianity in Ephesus in the 2nd century latched on to Mary and that the cult of Mary developed out of those Christians who came out of goddess worshiping cults and were looking for a substitute.
It wasn't any kind of conspiracy or anything deliberately malevolent. In my view, and from everything I've read, it simply was an organic process that set in, and the more focus placed on Mary, the more important she became, leading to even more focus on Mary, etc. All of this set up a cycle of increasing attention paid to Mary, eventually justifying "prayers" to Mary and all the additional doctrines that came along after.
This does not remove the fact that it isn't a true part of Christianity, it's unbiblical, it takes away from the Son, it focuses worship (prayer, in my view, and the view of many others, is a form of worship) on the creature not the creator, and it's a big, unnecessary distraction in general. There is no historical basis for it. There's definitely no scriptural basis for it.
Douay-Rheims Gen. 3:15
they talk about it above.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.