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To: Mark17

This is made clear by the context. The reference to John’s greatness occurs in a discussion of his role as a prophet (11:7-15). And the declaration of his greatness is occasioned by Jesus quoting the prophecy of the coming prophet (v. 10) who would herald the Messiah (Mal. 3:1). Jesus follows up the remark by pointing to John as the terminus of the Law and the prophets (v. 13) and as the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah (or one like Elijah) would come (v. 14).

This explains the sense in which John is greater than all others: He is the greatest of the pre-Christian prophets in the sense that he gets to be the herald of the Messiah himself. Indeed, some manuscripts of Luke’s Gospel give the parallel to this saying as, “I tell you, among those born of women no prophet is greater than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:28, var.). Needless to say, the class of Old Testament prophets is a set to which Mary does not belong.

Further, Jesus’ universe of discourse at this point is limited by another factor: time. “The kingdom of heaven” refers to the Christian age, to the Church that Jesus will found. John thus may be the most blessed of the line of Old Covenant prophets because he is the Messiah’s herald, but even the humblest Christian will be more blessed than John is. And of course Mary-unlike John-lived into the Christian age and became part of the Church.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-universe-of-discourse


571 posted on 01/17/2018 7:14:24 AM PST by ADSUM
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To: ADSUM; aMorePerfectUnion; ealgeone
I think the whole thing comes down to one issue. You believe Mary was sinless. I don’t believe she was. Blessed among women, yes. One who should be admired and respected, yes. One who is a sinless demigoddess, no. I have a feeling we are NEVER going to agree on this, so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.
So, where do you plan to spend eternity? In the same place as me? Interesting subject isn’t it?
573 posted on 01/17/2018 8:01:41 AM PST by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
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To: ADSUM
And of course Mary-unlike John-lived into the Christian age and became part of the Church.

Not!

Mary was the fulfillment of prophecies about Messiah, made to Jews
Mary lived before she bore Messiah - as a Jew
The Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out at Pentecost.
Christ had not yet died

In summary, your quoted link is just not true Adsum.

577 posted on 01/17/2018 10:23:27 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: ADSUM; aMorePerfectUnion
I don't think you really want to rely upon Tim Staples' for your apologetics.

Would he really apply the limited discourse argument to John 6??

578 posted on 01/17/2018 10:39:44 AM PST by ealgeone
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To: ADSUM; Mark17; metmom; aMorePerfectUnion; daniel1212; Elsie
To further illustrate how disingenuous Akin is he continues to perpetuate this more than once debunked claim on his website: It is the failure of the prohibition of the right of private judgment that has resulted in the over 20,000 Christian Protestant denominations listed in the Oxford University Press’s World Christian Encyclopedia.http://jimmyakin.com/library/practical-problems-of-sola-scriptura

If Akin were honest, which he's not, he'd also note the same source indicates there are 224 Roman Catholic denominations!

There's a whole lot more that can be used to illustrate how disingenuous he is....but this is a starter.

584 posted on 01/17/2018 2:13:20 PM PST by ealgeone
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