What Is The Brown Scapular

Eternal Life Blog ^ | August 29,2014 | Eternal life

[RnMomof7]

Millions of sincere Catholics wear the brown scapular thinking by doing so it will help them spiritually. They believed the report that Mary made and is backing a salvation promise in connection with the brown scapular hundreds of years ago based on their religious traditions. Over the years wearing the brown scapular has been perpetuated by sincere Catholic leaders, such as the one in this video, but it is in complete futility that it is worn. It is a false hope and a spiritual snare. It is not based on God’s truth and is, therefore, just as deadly for the sincere Catholic as it is for the Hindu who bathes in the Ganges River thinking his sins will be washed away in the water or for the Muslim who kisses the black stone of Kaaba to be forgiven! [The picture to the right is Mel Gibson, the director of the Passion of Christ, wearing a brown scapular as he smokes.]

I too once wore the brown scapular as an Ex Roman Catholic. I know what it is like to be taught something and accept it as truth to find out later it is not only unscriptural, but anti-scriptural. It hurts, but TRUTH is what we must stand on to be safe. It takes humility in such cases to turn.

NOTE: At about 2:23 time-wise into the video, the speaker is quoted below. How could anyone deny that Mary is deified in Catholicism? Surely, this rampant idolatry is grieving to the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. This is what Catholicism teaches about the brown scapular:

Brown Scapular Catholic Propaganda

And so, wearing of the brown scapular reminds us, should remind us, of three things. First, that we are children of Mary. Second of all, that we need to work for our Lady. And finally, it should be a garment of humility and penance. First, by the brown scapular we profess ourselves to be children of Mary. The scapular of our Lady is a badge or a uniform so to speak by which we profess to whom we belong and who we serve. Likewise, our Lady in turn by wearing the brown scapular, she recognizes us as her children, as her special children. And because of that, she consequently protects us and watches over us. The brown scapular should also remind us that we need to work for our Lady because the scapular, which means shoulder garment, was originally that, it was a garment worn by religious in order to protect their habit, their religious habit that they wore on a daily basis during those periods of work to keep it from getting dirty, stained, from ripping, etc. and so therefore the scapular is a working garb. And so this should remind us that there’s no room for lazy piety. If we wear the brown scapular and we consider ourselves our Lady’s children, there’s no place for lazy piety but rather we should fill our lives with good works. This brown scapular should remind us the need to faithfully fulfill our daily duties, and to make another adaptation of Scripture, to labor as good soldiers of the Immaculate. Finally, the third place, the brown scapular is also a garment of humility and of penance. So in a spirit of penance, we should accept all the difficulties of our state of life and all the sufferings that our Lady may want to send us. And the scapular will give us the strength to do this. In all of our difficulties, we can always grab onto our brown scapular, remind ourselves of our Lady’s protection, her watchfulness, her presence and especially at the moment of death, when we can call to mind our Lady’s promise of salvation. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

* Not a single word about Jesus was mentioned there.
* The brown scapular is 100% religious mythology and idolatry, as Mary is deified as a type of Savior.
* No Bible light shines from such brown scapular Catholic tradition.

[Springfield Reformer]

Thanks for responding (howevermuch delayed).  The passage you cite in Numbers does not prove your point.  In fact, it proves that God can and does make his will and word known by means other than vision and dreams.  Moses in this very passage is singled out as just such an exception.  

Which gets to your deeper point, and you may be surprised to learn that it is something all Bible-believing Christians would accept as true.  Yes, we would all agree that everyone who speaks for God has been in some form of communication with God.  Your insistence that it always be a vision is what is at odds with Scripture, and your own passage in Numbers proves that alternate modes are possible.

Now you may counter that God here is telling Israel that visions and prophets will go together, and in the context of God's covenant with Israel, that was certainly the norm.  But there are, as already repeatedly shown, other ways God has of giving men His word.  King David, with no record of a vision, still claims God spoke with him:

Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
(2 Samuel 23:1-3)

Because we know to a certainty that God used David to speak prophecy, we know that A) yes, God did communicate with him, but B) no, it is never presented as a vision.  

Now you may find it easy to add to the words of God and suggest there was an "undocumented vision."  But for myself I choose to be cautious rather than reckless in handling God's word.  There is no record of a vision, and we already know there are exceptions to the Old Covenant norm, that He can speak through the unwilling and unaware (Baalim and Caiaphas).  So it become a matter of presumption to insist God acted in a particular way when there is no record that He did so:

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
(Proverbs 30:5-6)

Besides, even if that was the Old Covenant norm (allowing for exceptions), we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
(Hebrews 1:1-2)

Can  God still speak by visions and dreams?  Absolutely.  Is He limited, or even self-limited, to visions and dreams?  Absolutely not.  Note the above passage agrees with the principle that God used different ways to speak through the prophets to the ancient ones.  But now God has spoken by Jesus Himself, God come in the flesh to dwell among us.  Everything spoken to the apostles was on a par with the superior revelation received by Moses, in which we see that God made that early exception because it was every bit as good as a vision or a dream, better in fact.

And what did Jesus say about our ongoing fellowship with Him after His departure from Earth?  Who who be His direct presence with believers?

These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
(John 14:25-26)

How much better this is, to have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within every single believer, no matter how humble! This New Covenant is truly glorious, resplendent in every aspect, and so far superior to the limitations of the Old Covenant that we should be careful not to fall into the trap off falling back into the shadows of the past.  Such a falling back to the shadows, especially after knowing the truth, amounts to a rejection of the revelation we have received, and should count as precious, and hold to tightly as the great prize that it is:

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
(2 Peter 1:19-21)

.. and this same Spirit of God is He who speaks to us now, whether by vision or dream or by God simply speaking heart to heart with one of His beloved children, because any who place their faith in Jesus already have access to all the prophetic truth they need to find salvation, and to live a life pleasing to God, and they will not trade that great treasure for the cold and tasteless stew of a false prophet.

Peace,

SR

[mlizzy]

Ha! I’m not on Free Republic much anymore, Brian, and just ran into this commentary. It seems both Alex [being snippy] and the Religion Moderator [doing his RM thing] answered you within 2 minutes of one another. So I guess your commentary is still being seen, and responded to....