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Mary, Mother of God
Catholic.com ^ | 2005 | Catholic Answers

Posted on 04/05/2007 11:10:10 AM PDT by MarkBsnr

Fundamentalists are sometimes horrified when the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Mother of God. However, their reaction often rests upon a misapprehension of what this particular title of Mary signifies, and what the Protestant Reformers had to say regarding this doctrine.

A woman is a man’s mother either if she carried him in her womb or if she was the woman contributing half of his genetic matter or both. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of these senses; because she not only carried Jesus in her womb but also supplied all of the genetic matter for his human body, since it was through her—not Joseph—that Jesus "was descended from David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3).

Since Mary is Jesus’ mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God: If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God. There is no way out of this logical syllogism, the valid form of which has been recognized by classical logicians since before the time of Christ.

Although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the source of her Son’s divinity, for she is neither. Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine person—Jesus Christ, God "in the flesh" (2 John 7, cf. John 1:14)—and in the sense that she contributed the genetic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ.

To avoid this conclusion, Fundamentalists often assert that Mary did not carry God in her womb, but only carried Christ’s human nature. This assertion reinvents a heresy from the fifth century known as Nestorianism,

(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Mainline Protestant; Other Christian
KEYWORDS: blessedvirgin; catholic; motherofgod; virginmary
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To: William Terrell

:: I call most of what the Catholic church teaches absurd. If that makes me a jerk, I’ll have a T-shirt made.

Christ Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. No one comes to the Father except by Him. Mary simply built His Earthly vehicle, and for such she rates praise that God chose her as one of the lineage of David. But Jesus is the point, with nothing beyond it.

Allow me to be a jerk again. You Catholics need to get out more. Read the Bible and think about what it says and the implications instead of swallowing what the magisterium says whole. ::

I’d consider a T-shirt with a picture of handbasket labelled Pseudo Pope.

Earthly vehicle, huh? Was it gasoline or diesel? How fast could it do 0-60?


81 posted on 04/05/2007 2:54:31 PM PDT by MarkBsnr (In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen)
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To: MarkBsnr
This verse seems not to give Mary the spot of honor accorded to her by many. It is saying that Mary must look to Jesus for her salvation.

Partly because of where I live the large Spanish population I see bumper snickers that read " Can't reach God? Then try Mary. From what I hear them say, I can only perceive that many believe Mary is more important that Jesus.

82 posted on 04/05/2007 3:10:28 PM PDT by ThomasThomas ( _/|\_)
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To: ThomasThomas

Hmmm.

Well, everyone must look to Jesus for salvation. God has given us many aids to help us. We believe that Mary is a rather important aid. The Crucifix, the Sacraments, prayer; these are all aids.

Maybe the Spanish in your neighbourhood are urging people who would otherwise not reach God to use the aid of Mary. I say a decade of the Rosary each day on my way to work. It’s prayers and meditation to aid me in my journey towards God.


83 posted on 04/05/2007 3:37:20 PM PDT by MarkBsnr (In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen)
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To: Angry Write Mail; Scotswife

Catholic.com says that:

Fundamentalists often challenge the Catholic practice of asking saints and angels to pray on our behalf. But the Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us.

Thus, in Psalm 103 we pray, “Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!” (Ps. 103:20–21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!”

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, John sees that “the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

Angels do the same thing: “[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God” (Rev. 8:3–4).

Jesus himself warned us not to offend small children, because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the Father: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10).

Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1–4). In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for “[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (Jas. 5:16).


84 posted on 04/05/2007 3:46:28 PM PDT by MarkBsnr (In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen)
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To: Scotswife
You ARE STILL arguing fact that are not in dispute!!!

Oh. We agree then. Mary is not the mother of God. She is the mother of the physical body that Christ used to walk about on Earth and teach.

85 posted on 04/05/2007 3:48:42 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: William Terrell

Christ used His physical body?

It was His Sacred Humanity —He was Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity—and it was His Sacred humanity that He offered on the Cross for our eternal salvation. To say that He “used His physical body to walk on earth” is indeed Nestorian.


86 posted on 04/05/2007 4:26:12 PM PDT by Running On Empty
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To: sandyeggo

Thanks, sandyeggo.


87 posted on 04/05/2007 4:26:47 PM PDT by Running On Empty
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Comment #88 Removed by Moderator

To: Scotswife
“Why not just leave it as Mother of Jesus or Mother of Lord?”

And the difference would be....?

I tried to explain this several times, but one more try. God refers to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To refer to Mary as the Mother of the Jesus is correct. But to say Mary is the Mother of God says she is also the Mother of the Father and the Holy Spirit, which the Bible does not say and would seemingly be impossible. It may be just semantics on my part, but it strikes me as wrong to phrase it that way.

89 posted on 04/05/2007 5:07:40 PM PDT by Always Right
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Comment #90 Removed by Moderator

To: Angry Write Mail

I understand. Hope you have a very Blessed Holy Week.


91 posted on 04/05/2007 5:59:53 PM PDT by lastchance
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To: MarkBsnr
Fundamentalists often assert that Mary did not carry God in her womb, but only carried Christ’s human nature. This assertion reinvents a heresy from the fifth century known as Nestorianism,

I have never heard this one! I sure don't believe that.

92 posted on 04/05/2007 6:29:02 PM PDT by ladyinred
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To: Angry Write Mail
So it is with us and God. Pretty cool, huh?

Way cool! Love that story, and I have heard it and read before as well. Hope it is true!

93 posted on 04/05/2007 6:44:58 PM PDT by ladyinred
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To: MarkBsnr

I was thinking the same thing. I am very glad to see just how (mostly) civil this thread is!


94 posted on 04/05/2007 6:53:48 PM PDT by ladyinred
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To: Scotswife

“Elizabeth called her “mother of my Lord”, and so do I.”
___________________________________________

So what does that mean I’m supposed to pray to her. I think Jesus said to pray to his Father not Mary.

the whole point is that Mary is not to be worshipped.


95 posted on 04/05/2007 7:07:21 PM PDT by Vinny (What is a liberal? Someone that is a friend of every country but his own.)
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To: MarkBsnr
I’d consider a T-shirt with a picture of handbasket labelled Pseudo Pope.

I'd prefer "Personal Pope", myself.

You just ride in your body, friend, and when it wears out, you leave. It's an all terrain vehicle unsuited to highway use. Runs on every word proceeding out of the mouth of God. Zero to sixty in 1,892,160,000 seconds.

96 posted on 04/05/2007 7:12:17 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: Running On Empty
How did He get around from town to town, then? What did He use to speak truth to the Pharisees and Sadducees. What did He use to be recognizable to people. What did He overcome? What did He use to die in so He could be resurrected?

He was no more His body than you are. He used it, and used it up. You and I are going to use ours up, too, and we could only pray to have but a fragment of dispersal of the word of His Father as He used His to gain.

He used the sloppy old human way, just as God intended.

Nestorian, Smestorian.

97 posted on 04/05/2007 7:31:59 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: William Terrell

You say it your way.

I’ll say it mine.


98 posted on 04/05/2007 7:54:13 PM PDT by Running On Empty
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To: MarkBsnr; newbie 10-21-00; Bloc8406; Ransomed; AliVeritas; The Klingon; dcnd9; fishhound; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic Ping List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to all note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

99 posted on 04/05/2007 7:59:18 PM PDT by narses ("Freedom is about authority." - Rudolph Giuliani)
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To: William Terrell
If the magisterium said water runs uphill, would you believe it in spite of what's before you eyes?

The Magisterium says that a man who was tortured to death came back to life on the third day. Yet no living eyes have ever seen anyone come back from the grave. Would you believe it anyway? I do.

Have a blessed Triduum.

100 posted on 04/05/2007 8:10:41 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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