Christianity has always acknowledged that Jesus is God.Quite true, but not the point of the article. The title of God does not attach to anybody mortal. Jesus was/is fully God. Mary in Scripture was chosen as the vessel to bring Him into the human world.
But, then, Roman Catholics try and make their version into something never spoken of in Scripture. They attribute all sort of sorcery and mysticism into their cultic ideas, and try to send people down that rabbit hole.
To those with the Holy Ghost indwelling, we know the Father's plan of salvation. It is quite simple. It requires simple faith and resting in His Grace. But, Roman Catholics want to distract and pervert that message with claims of some fictional woman's ability to redeem us like Christ. They tout all sorts of mystical visions to support their UNScriptiral ideas and policies. They are a cult.
God chose to provide us with a CLEAR path to eternal life with Him. He gives us simple instructions. He did not provide an alternate plan!
No matter how many believe believe a lie, it is still a lie! No matter how old an organization grows, if it does not provide the Truth of God's plan, then it is an abomination to God. Simply repeating the same things again and again does not add to the Truth. It only deceives those who do not know better!
John 3: 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ****
Matthew 24: 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
Another in a series of provocative RC promoting threads.
Funny, last time I checked, Jesus IS God.
Correct, and by which logic Elizabeth was the grandmother of God and so forth back to Eve. But the problem is that which "mother of" most naturally conveys, which is that of ontological oneness. "Mother of Jesus" provides distinction, since Christ is Divinity who created Mary but who became flesh thru His creation.
Christ was also a son of David, yet since he called Christ his Lord, the Divine Christ asked, If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? (Matthew 22:45)
Christ was not denying David as being a progenitor of the Messiah, but makes the distinction btwn ontological oneness with the Divine Christ by asking, "If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?" Likewise the sense in which Christ is called the Son of Mary demands qualification, which "Mother of God" actually works against, inferring Divinity has a progenitor, or at least God owes something to Mary as being His mother (indeed, some teach this).
As Christ came thru Israel who also birthed other sons, and Christ is God, then God could be said to be a child of Israel. But one must reverence the Holy Spirit's use of titles when it comes to deity, and even when He states that Christ came of Israel He is careful to provide the Divinely exalting qualifier, "of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." (Rm. 9:5)
Now if Catholics typically added such a qualifier, that Mary is the mother of God as concerning the flesh (as she provided none of His Divine nature, but which provided her), who is over all, God blessed for ever," then it would be more tolerable. But even the somewhat more tolerable Theotokos, (God-bearer) is basically often shunned in preference to the misleading "Mother of God" which is seen in paganism and cults (Mormonism), not Scripture, nor consistent with its shunning of misleading titles regarding deity.
And part of the problem with "Mother of God" is that it is part of a hyper-exaltation which goes far far beyond anything the Holy Spirit ever says about any created being, and renders the Mary of Catholicism to be a type of demigoddess who is made to largely parallel Christ.
For in the seeming Catholic quest to almost deify Mary, it is taught by Catholics*,
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as Christ was sinless, so Mary was;
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as the Lord remained a virgin, so Mary;
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as Christ was called the Son of God, indicating ontological oneness, so Mary is called the Mother of God (which easily infers the same, and is not the language of Scripture);
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as the emphasis is upon Christ as the Creator through whom God (the Father) made all things, including Mary, so it is emphasized that uniquely “to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood,” shed for the salvation of mankind, (the logic behind which can lead back to Eve);
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as Catholics (adding error to error) believe Christ gave His "real" flesh and blood to be eaten, so it is emphasized that Mary gave Him this, being fashioned out of Mary's pure blood and even being “kneaded with the admixture of her virginal milk,” so that she can say, "Come and eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared" (Prov. 9:5);
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as Scripture declares that Christ suffered for our sins, so Mary is said to have done so also;
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as Christ saves us from the condemnation and death resulting from the fault of Adam, so it is taught that man was condemned through the fault of Eve, the root of death, but that we are saved through the merits of Mary; who was the source of life for everyone.
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as the Lord was bodily ascended into Heaven, so Mary also was;
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as Christ is given all power in heaven and in earth, so Mary is “surpassing in power all the angels and saints in Heaven.”
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as Christ is the King of the saints and over all kings, (Rv. 15:3; 17:14; 19:16) so Mary is made Queen of Heaven and the greatest saint, and that “Next to God, she deserves the highest praise;”
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as the Father made Christ Lord over all things, so Mary is enthroned (all other believers have to wait for their crowns) and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things;
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as Christ is the express image of God, and highly exalted above all under the Father, having the primary position among all creation, so Mary is declared to be the greatest saint of all, and the first of all creatures, and as having a certain affinity with the Father, with a pre-eminent resemblance which she bears to the Father;
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as Christ ever liveth to make intercession for the saints, so is Mary said to do so;
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as all things come from the Father through the Son, so Mary is made to be the dispenser of all grace;
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as Christ is given all power on Heaven and on earth, Mary is said to have (showing some restraint) “almost unlimited power;”
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as no man comes to the Father but through the Son, so it is taught that no one can come to the Son except through Mary in Heaven;
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and as the Lord called souls to come to Him to be given life and salvation, so (in misappropriation of the words of Scripture) it is said of Mary, “He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord;” “that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will, that we obtain everything through Mary.”
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And as Christ is given many titles of honor, so Mary also is, except that she is honored by Catholics with more titles than they give to the Lord Himself!
Mary was a holy, virtuous instrument of God, but of whom Scripture says relatively little, while holy fear ought to restrain ascribing positions, honor, glory and powers to a mortal that God has not revealed as given to them, and or are only revealed as being possessed by God Himself. But like as the Israelites made an instrument of God an object of worship, (Num. 21:8,9; 2Kg. 18:4) Catholics have magnified Mary far beyond what is written and warranted and even allowed, based on what is in Scripture.
For it Never recorded a women who never sinned, and was a perpetual virgin despite being married (contrary to the normal description of marriage, as in leaving and sexually cleaving) and who would be bodily assumed to Heaven and exalted (officially or with implicit sanction) as
• an almost almighty demigoddess to whom "Jesus owes His Precious Blood" to,
• whose [Mary] merits we are saved by,
• who "had to suffer, as He did, all the consequences of sin,"
• and was bodily assumed into Heaven, which is a fact (unsubstantiated in Scripture or even early Tradition) because the Roman church says it is, and "was elevated to a certain affinity with the Heavenly Father,"
• and whose power now "is all but unlimited,"
• for indeed she "seems to have the same power as God,"
• "surpassing in power all the angels and saints in Heaven,"
• so that "the Holy Spirit acts only by the Most Blessed Virgin, his Spouse."
• and that “sometimes salvation is quicker if we remember Mary's name then if we invoked the name of the Lord Jesus,"
• for indeed saints have "but one advocate," and that is Mary, who "alone art truly loving and solicitous for our salvation,"
• Moreover, "there is no grace which Mary cannot dispose of as her own, which is not given to her for this purpose,"
• and who has "authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven,"
• including "assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels,"
• whom the good angels "unceasingly call out to," greeting her "countless times each day with 'Hail, Mary,' while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a favour to honour them with one of her requests,"
• and who (obviously) cannot "be honored to excess,"
• and who is (obviously) the glory of Catholic people, whose "honor and dignity surpass the whole of creation." Sources and more.