There are approximately 1.2 billion Catholics world wide;
If merely 1% of them 'ask' Mary for help just once each day;
that means that 12 million separate prayers are headed Mary's direction every day.
Given that there are 86,400 seconds per day... (24 hours times 60 minutes times 60 seconds)
...that means that Mary has to handle approximately 139 'requests' per second!
Purty good fer someone NOT 'divine'!
Here's another truth.
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What is the definition of salvation? The Church defines it as to be right with God (righteousness). (By the Church I mean every denomination, sect and cult.) But is that what the Bible says? No. The Bible defines salvation as to again be right with God. See for yourself.
Jn.3.16 "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."
Why would Jesus say, "For God so loved the world" - past tense? Why would He not have said, "For God so loves the world" - present tense? Would it not make more sense, if God does indeed love the world?
The Greek grammar is that of an aorist verb. This means it is speaking of a specific event. But what event? The cross? Nope. This is Jesus speaking prior to the cross. It must be something from the past. Maybe if we examine the object of the verb, "world".
In this verse "world" means:
"of all humanity, but especially of believers, as the object of God's love" - A Greek- English Lexicon of the New testament and Other Christian Literature, Third Edition
So when exactly could God have "loved the world", as in "all humanity", before Christ as an event? According to the Church all of humanity never existed at one time before God gave his Son. But are they correct?
Ep.1.9-10 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together [again] under one head, even Christ.
The Church consistently translates this passage without the "again". But the Greek has a prefix of "ana" attached to the term kefalaiow to make it anakefalaiomai which makes it mean "to bring all things in heaven and on earth together again under one head, even Christ."
This is confirmed as the appropriate translation in the following:
The Greek word anakefalaiomai = "to sum up (again), to repeat summarily" - KJV NT Greek Lexicon.
"The compounded preposition ajna signifies again, pointing back to a previous condition where no separation existed." - Vincent's Word Studies
"the word here used signifies to restore, renew, and reduce to a former state ... the word is also used to recapitulate, or sum up the heads of a discourse; and according to this sense, it may intend the meeting together, and summing up of all things in Christ, that had been before" - John Gill Exposition [my emphasis]
Also as "sum up, recapitulate" - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition. [my emphasis]
"The meaning appears to me to be, that out of Christ all things were disordered, and that through him they have been restored to order." "The proper condition of creatures is to keep close to God. Such a gathering together (anakefalaiwsasqai) as might bring us back to regular order, the apostle tells us, has been made in Christ." - Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians - John Calvin [my emphasis]
"The purpose of God, which he has been pleased to reveal, and which was hidden for ages, is his intention to reunite all things as one harmonious whole under Jesus Christ." - A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians - Charles Hodge [my emphasis]
"Might recapitulate, re-unite, and place in order again under Christ, their common Head." - John Wesley, Notes On the Bible [my emphasis]
The Apostolic Interlinear agrees with this, translating it as "recapitulating all things in Christ". [my emphasis]
"That he might gather together in one anakefalaiwsasqai, from ana, again" - Adam Clarke Commentary [my emphasis]
"The great work whereby God designed to glorify himself ultimately in this world was that of the new creation, or of the recovery and restoration of all things by Jesus Christ, Heb. i. 1–3; Eph. i. 10." - Pneumatologia - John Owen [my emphasis]
The J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible puts it: "to reunite for himself (under one head) the all things in the Christ" [my emphasis]
The Weymouth New Testament says, "restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ". [my emphasis]
The Douay Rheims states, "to re-establish all things in Christ". [my emphasis]
The implications of this little prefix "ana" are immense, as I am sure you have noticed. It can only be concluded that "all things in heaven and earth" were at some time in the past "under one head". But when? We seem to be stuck with the same conundrum as Jn.3.16's "God so loved the world".
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Perhaps a few more examples of the prefix ana are in order.
Mt.11.28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I [ana - again] will give you rest."
Literally this says "I will refresh you" as in a person that was at rest in the past, and then came out of that rest and is currently not at rest, but will again be returned to that rest.
anapauo:
- "refresh, revive" - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition.
- "refresh" - Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament
So, when were we at rest the first time?
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Ro.12.2a Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the [ana - again] renewing of your mind.
Ti.3.5b He saved us through the washing of rebirth and [ana - again] renewal by the Holy Spirit
To renew something is to take something that was previously new, but had become not new, and make it new again.
anakainosis:
- "renewal: of a person's spiritual rebirth" - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition.
- "renewing, renewal" - Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament - "renewal" - Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains
Another mystery: When were we first new? When were we spiritually born the first time?
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2Co.4.16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being [ana - again] renewed day by day.
Co.3.10 and have put on the new self, which is being [ana - again] renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Again, to renew something is to take something that was previously new, but had become not new, and make it new again.
anakainoo:
- "renew ... and figuratively of the spiritual rebirth of the Christian" - A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition.
The above is just a taste of the evidence in the Bible that illustrates that everyone that has ever lived since Adam, and everyone that ever will be conceived between now and the end of the judgment age (this age), existed in a prior age when we were all loved (past tense) by God, when "all things in heaven and on earth" were first "under one head, even Christ", when we were at rest the first time, when we were fresh the first time, and when we were new the first time.
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If anyone wants to know more about [ana - again], let me know and I will post more. Otherwise, if this Scripture analysis bores all of you, I won't bother.
Now you can see why I do not identify as either a Roman Catholic or a Protestant or with any sect or cult of Christianity. I simply ask questions and then believe what the Bible answers.