18 October, 2006

False Doctrine Words of the Day - "Mary, Mother of God"

As taken from a number of sources:

The Immaculate Conception: The formal active essence of original sin was not removed from her soul, as it is removed from others by baptism; it was excluded, it never was in her soul. Simultaneously with the exclusion of sin. In other words, Mary wasn't born into sin and she never committed sin for the duration of her life. She was perfect.

Co-Redemptrix: Mary is not only a special person in God’s eyes but also a faithful servant that is a “co-worker” in winning us our salvation and the salvation of the entire world. Pope Pius XII dedicated the entire human race to Mary in 1944.

Hail Mary: Each time that we say the Hail Mary we are repeating the very same words with which St. Gabriel the Archangel saluted Mary on the day of the Annunciation, when she was made Mother of the Son of God. Many graces and joys filled the soul of Mary at that moment. Now when we say the Hail Mary we offer anew all these graces and joys to Our Lady and she accepts them with Immense delight. In return she gives us a share in these joys.

Ever-virgin: Mary never had sexual relations with her husband, before or after the birth of Christ.

Mother of the Church: This title was given to Mary by Jesus when he was hanging on the cross.

Mediatrix: By definition, "a woman who mediates". Another title of Mary. She is our guide and intercessor.

Assumption of Mary: Having completed the course of her earthly life, Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. This means that Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united.

I'll be honest, when I think of the millions of deluded people out there who worship Mary (although they'll say they don't worship her, they only pray to her), I feel ill. Why anyone, in their right mind, would elevate Mary to be virtually equal with Christ simply defies logic. And that's just ignoring that fact that every single one of these beliefs listed above isn't found, or hinted at in Scripture (something which the Catholic Church openly agrees with).

We shouldn't be praying to Mary, we shouldn't be worshipping Mary. It's overwhelming in its simplicity.

8 Comments:

Blogger Matthew said...

Readers of this article, I completely disagree with EVERYTHING in this post. The Catholic Church honors Mary as the Mother of God and prays (asks) for her intercession like I would ask for your prayers to God in a time of need.

"There are not one hundred people in this world who dislike Catholicism, but there are millions who dislike what they mistakenly believe Catholicism to be." - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Want to learn more of the Truth about Mary, I suggest, readers, you check out this website of mine:

http://www.freewebs.com/acatholiclife/index.htm

October 20, 2006 5:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've seen these same quotes before and I'm pretty sure they're from Catholic sources. If I read your comment right, you disagree with everything in this post including the Catholic quotes...?

You know what's funny, I was just looking over this thing really quickly and it just now struck me: none of these words are actually used in the New Testament (at least to my knowledge) and yet they form the basis for a Christian belief. How does THAT work?

Anyhow, just my two cents worth.

October 21, 2006 12:36 AM  
Blogger Matthew said...

John 19:26-27
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

Revelation 12:17
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Luke 1:46-49
And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name...

Luke 1:39-45
Mary Visits Elizabeth
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

October 21, 2006 9:29 AM  
Blogger Jason said...

Moneybags,

I’m not sure what John 19 and Revelation 12 have to do with your belief about Mary…?

These are the same verses over and over again but no explanation or examination of meaning and context.

Luke 1:46, there is no doubt that to be selected for such a role, Mary was obviously a very special and remarkable woman. That can’t be argued. But “blessed” doesn’t mean “let’s all pray to Mary so she can redeem our souls” and assume by these words that she was sinless and perfect. Blessed in this verse is the same Greek word used in James 5:11 where it’s translated “count happy”. Mary is overjoyed to have been given the role of giving birth to the future king of Israel and certainly we consider her to be blessed (happy) because of it. That’s about all there is to it.

Luke 1:39-45. Mary got to be part of something never before seen and would never be seen or done again. She would go down in history as the mother of Christ. No one else can ever lay claim to this title. This is why she's blessed. But Mary being part of this event (birth of Christ) doesn't mean we should hold Mary to be the cause of the event.

Nothing in any of the above verses gives cause to elevate Mary above mankind or angels or to assume she’s an intercessor.

God chose Mary the same way he chose David and Moses and Abraham and John and the Jews: He just did. But regardless of their calling, they're still all mortal, sinful human beings who found favour in the sight of God. And during their lives, they looked forward to a time when they will receive what's promised (Hebrews 11).

October 21, 2006 12:39 PM  
Blogger Matthew said...

I’m not sure what John 19 and Revelation 12 have to do with your belief about Mary…?

In John 19, Jesus symbolically gave Mary as a Mother to the Church. Mary is the woman in Revelations 12. She is in Heaven and queen of heaven and earth.

Nothing in any of the above verses gives cause to elevate Mary above mankind or angels or to assume she’s an intercessor.

How many other people have been called "Full of grace" by angels??? I present thus: "From now on all generations will call me blessed". No other human has ever said that because no one other than Jesus Christ and His Mother were sinless.

October 21, 2006 5:17 PM  
Blogger Jason said...

Revelation 12

We'll tackle this from a slightly different perspective: There is no Biblical support for Mary being the woman travailing in child birth, as this would simply be illogical. Revelation 1v1 says:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation contains prophecies of things that will happen in the future, not the past. Since Jesus was born around 100 years before Revelation was written, this can't be prophesying of Jesus' birth. It would be like a prophet turning up today and saying "I prophesy that World War II will happen very shortly!".

John 19

Once again, this verse mentions nothing about anyone being given to "the church". Where's the proof of Mary being a Mother of the Church? Col 1:18 tells us that Christ is the head of the church. Mary isn't mentioned. 1 Cor 11:3 "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." Not only is Mary not mentioned, but elevating Mary above man contradicts the heirarchy. Woman – man – Christ – God. There's no room for Mary alongside Christ using this model.

Maybe you're missing my posts:
There is no doubt that to be selected for such a role, Mary was obviously a very special and remarkable woman. That can’t be argued. But “blessed” doesn’t mean “let’s all pray to Mary so she can redeem our souls” and then assume by these words that she was sinless and perfect. Blessed in this verse is the same Greek word used in James 5:11 where it’s translated “count happy”. Mary is overjoyed to have been given the role of giving birth to the future king of Israel and certainly we consider her to be blessed (happy) because of it. That’s about all there is to it.

Gen 30:13 "And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher." I wonder if Leah was worshipped. No, probably not. Because "blessed" means "happy". Hm.

October 23, 2006 9:50 AM  
Blogger Matthew said...

Revelation contains prophecies of things that will happen in the future, not the past.br/>i>

The image is of Mary as Queen in Heaven. Since she is Queen now, she certainly will be Queen later on when that prophecy is fulfilled too.

October 23, 2006 8:28 PM  
Blogger Jason said...

So in Revelation then, at the beginning of Chapter 12, we have the woman giving birth. Rev 12:2 "And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." If the woman in this chapter is Mary, who's she giving birth to?

October 23, 2006 10:11 PM  

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