Posted on 08/16/2023 6:39:10 AM PDT by zucchini bob
(2 Peter 1:20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (Isaiah 28:10) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (Isaiah 28:13) But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
We gain a lot more focusing on converting hedonist Dims to Christians than we do trying to convert Catholics to Protestants.
A lot of Catholics are Democrats, for some reason.
heavy sarc
...that’s another reason I left, I was tired of these pro-aborts and Woke types presenting themselves in the Communion line like they are immaculate beings or something. SURE glad I did too!
Hoo boy. What a pantload.
#1 Mary was the mother of Jesus the man (Jesus was man and God and we can't understand it but God does).
#2 Mary was a sinner, just like you and me. She needed the Blood of Jesus to cover her sins.
#3 Anothers presence in heaven has no bearing on anothers in heaven. ie. Marys salvation is not connected to anyone elses salvation. It's like going to the bathroom. Nobody can go for you. It is an individual thing.
“Here in the U.S., the Catholics aren’t the ones coming against us Protestants. It’s the hedonist Dims.”
Amen brother. There are no shortage of Pharisees who think they have it all figured out. Keep your eyes focused on Christ.
“2 Timothy 2:23-24 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”
Weird - did you specifically post this the day after the Feast of the Assumption?
>> #1 Mary was the mother of Jesus the man <<
And, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth said to Mary: who am I, that the mother of OUR LORD should come to me?
>> #2 Mary was a sinner, just like you and me <<
Where is that in the Bible?
Do you honestly think that Christ, God as well as Man, would spend 9 months in an impure vessel? But Mary herself credits God as she calls Him her Savior. Like us, Mary was saved from sin by God.
>> #3 Marys salvation is not connected to anyone elses salvation. <<
Do you never pray for someone else to be saved? Do you never ask anyone else to help you pray for the salvation of someone?
I have heard Protestants talk about prayer warriors... do you seriously think that *His mother* is not the greatest prayer warrior of all time?
I am assuming this rambling rant is inspired by the recent celebration of the Assumption of Mary. While not explicit in the Bible, it is an ancient tradition dating to the patristic days, long before the Catholic Church became the institution it is today. Idk why anyone would get their hair on fire over it. Catholics worship God, not Mary.
Its historical, cultural. I have several childhood friends, Irish or Italian background, whose fathers or grandfathers were blue-collar workers, strong "union" guys - when unions were not government-run, and when they were not Marxist.
So they would feel it as a betrayal of themselves to be anything but Democrats.
But having said that, they also aren't knowledgeable about either present Democrat positions, nor are they studious and practicing "Catholics."
At my traditional latin Church, the priest recently gave a homily about the FBI and coming leftist persecution of Catholics and Christians of all kinds. Quiet different, very conservative, but there is room for diversity of opinion within the Church.
Where is that in the Bible?
Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."
Nothing like uber-Catholics and uber-Protestants tossing firebombs at each other at a time when the forces of Satan
control the White House and are stalking the world and our children.
I think this kind of material is TOTALLY inappropriate in a political forum anyway.
Catholics and Protestants have far more in common with each other than they have differences. OUR ENEMIES CERTAINLY THINK SO. And I refuse to be a part of it.Theological scholars on both sides of the issues have argued these points with eachother for centuries with cogent arguments.
You make your choice, live with it and don’t flaunt it in other Christians’ faces.
SEE:
“Ephesians 6:12
New King James Version
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [a]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
“Ephesians 6:12
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
12 For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
His assertions can't withstand the slightest scrutiny.
Catholicism (and all Christianity, really) has a strong message of being charitable and the Democrats have successfully appropriated that message. But it is actually distorted, as the Democrats are not being truly charitable, because what they are actually doing is exchanging tax dollars for votes, which keeps them in power. There is no spiritual benefit to the giver or the receiver, which is really what charity is all about.
If any human being were free of sin, they could have gone to the Cross instead of Jesus.
That said, Mary was the most wonderful, least sinful, and most highly honored of any female who ever lived (obviously).
BTW, if Mary were sinless (free of the disease and deformity of spirit), that would also mean that her parents were free of it...and their parents...and so on...back to the beginning of humanity.
This! Remember about 7 years ago RN_Mom daily threw such fireballs in Freerepublic.com? There were daily debates like this.
Jim Robinson banned RN Mom.
THE BIBLICAL ASPECTS OF THE ASSUMPTION
+ The Assumption of Mary is the teaching that:
“The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” [Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus 44]
This teaching has been part of Sacred Tradition within the Church and it is also a teaching held by the Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East & Eastern Orthodox (known as Dormition of Mary) long before it was infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950.
The Assumption of Mary is also a teaching that’s taught implicitly in Sacred Scripture which we will examine in this post.
+ The Assumption of Mary is tied to the scriptural teaching of Mary being the Ark of the New Covenant.
1) The Ark Contained:
- The Word of God in stone
- The Rod of Aaron, the Ancestral Priest
- The bread manna
(See Hebrews 9:4)
The Blessed Mary Contained:
- The Word of God in flesh (John 1:14)
- The High Priest, Jesus (Hebrews 3:1)
- The true manna from heaven (John 6:32)
2) The glory of the Lord and the cloud cover the Tabernacle (containing the Ark) and
“overshadow” them (Exodus 40:34-35).
The Greek word for “overshadow” found in the Septuagint is a form of episkiasei.
The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and the power of the Most High “overshadows” her (Luke 1:35). The Greek word for “overshadow” is episkiasei.
3) David “arose and went” to the hill country of Judah to bring up “the Ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:2)
Mary “arose and went” into the hill country of Judah to visit Elizabeth (Luke 1:39)
4) David admits his unworthiness to receive the Ark by exclaiming: “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9)
Elizabeth admits her unworthiness to receive Mary by exclaiming: “But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
(Luke 1:43)
+ In Psalm 132 we see a promise that God would assume his ark into heaven.
“Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.” (Psalms 132:8).
This a reference to the Temple but we can know that this is also a reference to the Ark of the New Covenant (Mary) because it is also a messianic prophecy of Christ.
We can know this because St. Peter applies Psalm 132:11 to Christ in Acts 2:30 which says, “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,”.
+ In the book of Revelation St. John directly connects the Ark in Heaven and the Mother of Christ.
Revelation 11:19-12:1 - “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.”
The reason why I quoted Revelation 11:19 & 12:1 together is because that is how it was read originally. In the ancient Greek manuscripts there were no chapter divisions like how we have them today. Revelation 12:1 consistently follows from Revelation 11:19.
The woman here is Mary. Revelation 12 points out that the moon is under her feet and she has a crown on her head. The fact that Mary is mentioned with having a head and feet outside of the earth shows that both her body and soul was assumed. Other Christians in heaven currently do not possess a body (Revelation 6:9, Hebrews 12:23) but will after the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52; 15:42). And yes I am aware that Revelation 12:1 is symbolic but I will prove how it is both literal and symbolic and not either or.
Some Protestants would object that say that the woman in Revelation 12 is not Mary, but it’s Israel. However this is a logical fallacy called a false dichotomy. It’s not an either/or. The woman is Mary as well as Israel. And the woman is also the Church. Revelation 12 contains a fusion reference. A fusion reference is when there’s an expression of two or more things together to form a single story or event. There are other examples of fusion references in Scripture.
For example, In Psalm 2:7-9 it says that Jesus is the Son of God who rules the nations with a rod of iron. But this passage also refers to believers (Revelation 2:26-27).
In Isaiah 7:14 it contains a prophecy of Christ that he would be called Immanuel. But in the context (Isaiah 7:14-18) it also applies to another person who would be called Immanuel. A different Immanuel was born as a sign that God was still with Israel (Isaiah 8:5-8).
Isaiah 49:6 contains a prophecy of Christ that he would be a light to the gentiles and bring salvation to the ends of the earth. But this passage also applies to believers (Acts 13:47).
Mary is the woman in Revelation 12 because:
There’s a sign Mary shall conceive a son (Isaiah 7:13-14), There’s a sign in the heaven which is a woman (Revelation 12:1). Mary will be with the child, the woman was with the child (Revelation 12:4). Mary will give birth to a son (Isaiah 7:13-14), the woman gave birth to a son (Revelation 12:1-2,5)
The woman also is Israel because she is associated with the sun, the moon and the twelve stars. These symbols are drawn from Genesis 37:9-11 where Joseph has a dream of the sun and moon (symbolizing his mother and father) and stars (symbolizing his brothers). Together the sun, moon and the stars represents the people of Israel
The woman is the Church because she is the rest of the offspring that bears witness to Jesus (Revelation 12:17)
+ The dogma of the Assumption of Mary is ultimately tied to Christology. It is a sign of everything that has been accomplished through the finished work of Christ on the cross. This teaching reminds us that evil has already lost the war even though time has not run its full course. In Mary’s assumption, it is a witness of the resurrection of the body and the new creation which has been promised to the Body of Christ. The Assumption of the Mother of Christ is the guarantee of the final resurrection of all the faithful.
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