What a very civil discussion. And they said that it couldn’t be done!!! Thank you all for being grown up and civilized.
I agree that there are some who would elevate Mary to the status of Godhood; this is not a fault of the faith, rather, a fault of either the teachers or the lack of teachings. I would equate this false belief with the equally false belief that one can party with the devil their entire lives and then repent on their deathbed and everything becomes hunky dory at that point.
Mary is very special; however I would reiterate that she can be an aid in our journey to Him, a means to the end of attaining everlasting life with God, not an end in herself. That’s like saying that the Crucifix is an end in itself. Silly.
Agreed, but only through faith in Christ.
A deathbed confession simply places the believer in fellowship with God. Such a person isn’t getting away with anything, because they missed out on a lifetime of opportunity to be in position for God the Holy Spirit to further sanctify them. They also missed out on many an opportunity to perform good works while in faith in Christ, which are counted at the bema seat for the issuance of rewards by our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
Some have said that those rewards, which were predestined from eternity past, when left unclaimed by sin, merely result in an eternal memorial of our foolishness in accepting sin instead of Him.
The Cross resolved the issue of sin in the relationship of God with mankind. Good and evil as consequences of sin, still must be dealt with in time.