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The Mother of God calls us to be 'Bearers of God'
Catholic Online ^ | 11/30/2008 | Deacon Keith A Fournier

Posted on 12/30/2008 8:43:49 PM PST by GonzoII

Men have crowded all her glory into a single phrase: The Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her.(Martin Luther)

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - From antiquity, Mary has been called “Theotokos”, or “God-Bearer” (Mother of God). It is a relatively recent phenomenon among some Christians that this term has even become controversial. Yet since the Protestant reformation – it has. So, sadly, it is this title which prevents some Christians from experiencing Mary as the gift that she is meant to be for the whole church and for the world. The word in Greek is “Theotokos”.

The term was used as part of the popular piety of the early first millennium church. It is used throughout the Eastern Church's Liturgy, both Orthodox and Catholic. It lies at the heart of the Latin Rite's deep Marian piety and devotion. This title was a response to the early threats to 'orthodoxy' or the preservation of authentic Christian teaching. A pronouncement of an early Church Council, The Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., insisted “… If anyone does not confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the holy virgin is the “Theotokos” (for according to the flesh she gave birth to the word of God become flesh by birth) let him be anathema.” The Council of Ephesus, 431 AD,

(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...


TOPICS: Catholic; History; Orthodox Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; spirituallife; theotokos; virginmary
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To: Aggie Mama

The Son existed before the Mother.


41 posted on 12/31/2008 6:02:56 AM PST by seemoAR
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To: seemoAR
I don’t have to read any thing except my Bible. You are free to read anything you desire.

I never said you needed to.

Do you even know what Nestorianism is?

42 posted on 12/31/2008 6:06:05 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: seemoAR; Aggie Mama
The Son existed before the Mother.

Then Who, EXACTLY, did the Blessed Mother give birth to?

43 posted on 12/31/2008 6:07:21 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: seemoAR

“I don’t have to read any thing except my Bible. You are free to read anything you desire. Good luck with that. :0)”

Well, in the Bible it say she is the Mother of our Lord. And in the context of Luke “Lord” means God, not a person.


44 posted on 12/31/2008 6:07:58 AM PST by GonzoII ("That they may be one...Father")
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To: wagglebee

No, I don’t see any need to either. What group wrote it?


45 posted on 12/31/2008 6:08:42 AM PST by seemoAR
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To: GonzoII; seemoAR

“not a person”.

I should have said not a mere person.


46 posted on 12/31/2008 6:10:13 AM PST by GonzoII ("That they may be one...Father")
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To: seemoAR
No, I don’t see any need to either.

You really should, you seem to subscribe to it.

47 posted on 12/31/2008 6:12:39 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: GonzoII; wagglebee

Jesus was with his “Heavenly Father” in heaven from the beginning. He was in heaven before He was born and after He died. He did the bidding of His Father. He came to Earth in human form to die as a blood sacrifice for us.

Enough is enough. Have a nice life.


48 posted on 12/31/2008 6:29:24 AM PST by seemoAR
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To: seemoAR; wagglebee
I don’t have to read any thing except my Bible.

That's probably exactly what the Nestorian heretics said. Peter taught that there was no truth in personal interpretation.

49 posted on 12/31/2008 6:33:39 AM PST by FormerLib (Sacrificing our land and our blood cannot buy protection from jihad.-Bishop Artemije of Kosovo)
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To: seemoAR
He came to Earth in human form to die as a blood sacrifice for us.

Was He born of a woman?

50 posted on 12/31/2008 6:34:48 AM PST by FormerLib (Sacrificing our land and our blood cannot buy protection from jihad.-Bishop Artemije of Kosovo)
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To: count-your-change; D-fendr
"Praying FOR someone is not the same as praying TO someone."

This definition from Webster's shows what Catholics mean when they "pray to" someone for something, we're doing exactly what you say, we are "praying" or "asking something for somebody":

(1)PRAY : to ask (someone) to do something usually humbly or as an inferior to a superior : CRAVE (prayed the king to give them land) — often used as a function word in introducing a question, request, or plea (pray tell me the time) (pray let us hurry) — compare PLEASE (2) : to ask earnestly for (something) : supplicate for : BEG (I know not how to pray your patience— Shakespeare) c : to ask (someone) for or on behalf of another (we pray you ... be ye reconciled to God— 2 Cor 5:20 (Authorized Version)...

Webster's Third New International Unabridged Dictionary

51 posted on 12/31/2008 6:39:01 AM PST by GonzoII ("That they may be one...Father")
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To: FormerLib

And how does one ask or call upon the Saints for their prayers?

Did not Jesus say that anything we ask in his name HE would do? And that we should pray to “Our Father in the heavens..?
(John 14:13,14 Matt. 6:6,9)

James said we could ask fellow Christians to pray to God on our behalf. Is this what you meant?


52 posted on 12/31/2008 6:45:47 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: seemoAR; GonzoII

Are you saying that Luke 1:43 is a LIE?


53 posted on 12/31/2008 6:46:10 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: FormerLib; seemoAR
Peter taught that there was no truth in personal interpretation.

More to the point, the Bible states that it is DESTRUCTIVE:

15 And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you:

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.
-- 2 Peter 3:15-17

54 posted on 12/31/2008 6:49:17 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: doc1019
Ave Jesus!

Don't remember reading that in scripture...can you help me out?

55 posted on 12/31/2008 7:12:43 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
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To: GonzoII

“Praying FOR someone is not the same as praying TO someone.”

Mea culpa! Perhaps I could’ve been clearer by saying,

Praying FOR someone is not the same as praying TO that same person”

Where in the Scriptures does anyone pray to the saints in heaven? For any reaason?


56 posted on 12/31/2008 7:16:31 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: GonzoII

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 our death.
Amen


57 posted on 12/31/2008 7:23:44 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: wintertime

Is it possible for Protestants to actually learn what Calvin, Luther and Zwingli believed about the Blessed Virgin Mary and then explain why they’ve strayed so far from those beliefs?


58 posted on 12/31/2008 7:25:47 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: doc1019
Doesn’t matter. caucused or not, if you say anything against Catholics on this site, you are in deep dodo.

Rather fitting that a load of feces like that gets posted on the last day of the year.

59 posted on 12/31/2008 7:28:18 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: count-your-change
and certainly not treated as “Mother of God”.

Time for you to brush up on Scripture.

"And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43

60 posted on 12/31/2008 7:31:46 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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