Church's statue of Mary appears to cry blood

Religion News ^ | Nov 28th, 2005 | Juliet Williams

[crymeariver]

It is a common misconception by protestants that Catholic's adore statues. The images only help to concentrate on the prayers and sacrifices. Catholic's do not "bow down to the statues nor serve them." A little research on your part would have dispelled this nonsense.

[little jeremiah]

Thank you.

[jpf]

"Why is she doing it?''

May be Mary is a Packers fan.

[Archangel86]

I read a book kind of like this once. "The Visitation" by Frank E. Peretti. Except in that one it was a crucifix instead of the Virgin Mary.

[jeremiah]

I remember now, Jesus said "no man can come to God but through me" and if you ask my mother, or one of my underlings they have an IN, you get better service.

[Salvation]

Thank you!

[Between the Lines]

I am beginning to think that it would be a miracle if a statue of Mary didn't do something.

[MeanWestTexan]

So are you against all statutes of people, animals, and plants, or just ones of religious figures?

In seriousness, your point is taken, in that too many people (and NOT singling out the Roman catholic denomination) tend toward paganism/iconism, rather than focusing on the actual Christ/ represented by some statue.

I mean people use crosses like they are magical totems -- they're not special, just metal/wood/whatever.

What they represent is what is Holy.

[frogjerk]

Exodus 25:10-21

"You shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.

Plate it inside and outside with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it.

Cast four gold rings and fasten them on the four supports of the ark, two rings on one side and two on the opposite side.

Then make poles of acacia wood and plate them with gold.

These poles you are to put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it;

they must remain in the rings of the ark and never be withdrawn.

In the ark you are to put the commandments which I will give you.

"You shall then make a propitiatory of pure gold, two cubits and a half long, and one and a half cubits wide.

Make two cherubim of beaten gold for the two ends of the propitiatory,

fastening them so that one cherub springs direct from each end.

The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, covering the propitiatory with them; they shall be turned toward each other, but with their faces looking toward the propitiatory.

This propitiatory you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the commandments which I will give you.

[irish_links]

As for the last part of the quote, Catholics don't worship statues - they revere the individuals they represent.

Zulu:

All credit to you for trying, but there is no point in educating the willfully obtuse. Just let them wallow in their ignorance.

Regards.

[sageb1]

[trebb]

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

I doesn't say anywhere in the Bible to pray to the saints. It alludes that those who have been faithful to God are, in fact saints, which under the new Covenant makes all who have accepted the Gift of the Cross saints.

Your example needs to be interpreted pretty loosely to make it prayers to saints - it says: . . . prayers of the saints . . ., which seems to be more clearly interpreted as prayers which came from the saints, which I believe to be the believers that are still on the earth during those times and who are busily sending their prayers to God.

Of course, I am non-denominational and unencumbered by rituals and other idiosyncrasies that help delineate the various religions....God's Word in the Bible is fine by me and I won't try to earn that which I could never earn by practicing Old Testament rites and rituals. It was prophesied that God would institute a New Covenant, forgive us our wickedness, and recognize our sins no more. All we need to do for that and to spend eternity with Him, is to accept that gift by admitting our sinful natures, being truly distressed/ashamed of or sinfulness, and accept the death of the Messiah as payment in full for all our sins, past-present-future. We remain sinful by nature, but with Christ residing in us, our old ways become less and less tolerable, so we tend to act sinfully less often.

Why not accept the gift and shout the Gospel to the mountaintops instead of getting tangled in all these useless rituals? Only God can remove sin - no man that walks the earth today has been empowered by Him to remove sin.

God Bless

[MeanWestTexan]

It is my understanding that that "Lamb" is Christ, and no "mere human."

But Revelations is confusing, I freely admit.

[Salvation]

ONCE REALM OF INDIVIDUAL SEERS, CLAIMS OF VISIONS NOW SPAN ACROSS POPULACE

[MeanWestTexan]

"It is a common misconception by protestants that Catholic's adore statues. The images only help to concentrate on the prayers and sacrifices. Catholic's do not "bow down to the statues nor serve them." A little research on your part would have dispelled this nonsense."

All true.

The problem, I think stems from faux Roman catholics that actually thinly veiled pagans --- a problem especially indemnic among ancestors of certain Central/North Central American native peoples.

[Salvation]

"The Lamb" is Jesus Christ! Nothing confusing there!

Also look at the Catholic Mass as it alligns with Revelation -- interesting parallels.

[Aquinasfan]

Your example needs to be interpreted pretty loosely to make it prayers to saints - it says: . . . prayers of the saints . . ., which seems to be more clearly interpreted as prayers which came from the saints, which I believe to be the believers that are still on the earth during those times and who are busily sending their prayers to God.

And who was presenting the prayers of the saints to God? The 24 elders, who are saints.

[sageb1]

God's message is simple. It is man who quibbles and confuses it. We have a much greater enemy to fight, but instead, we fight amongst ourselves.

[Between the Lines]

You might want to look in 2 Kings 18:4 to see where Hezekiah broke the bronze serpent that Moses had made because the people of Israel were worshiping it.

He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for bronze and snake and unclean thing.

[trebb]

You need to get into some highly interpreted and debatable documents to take the Assumption as a hard fact - it never made the Bible, which means, to me anyway, that it is not of any true import. Jesus instructed the apostles to pray directly to the Father and never told them to pray to other folks so they could intercede for them. Just as many Catholics would consider it blaspheme to discount prayer to the Virgin Mother, I consider it blaspheme that God will hear our prayers differently if they are filtered through a go-between. It seems to me, that this is a way to keep people dependent on other people rather than to be totally dependent on God.