[Lilllabettt]

The suggestion was made that you should honour Mary. I'm pretty sure NYer did not mean to suggest that God couldn't have saved us some other way.

But He chose to save us this way. That is why you should honour Mary. Because He chose to make his plan contingent on her "yes." He chose to be born through a woman. This woman. You should honor that woman.

Jesus could have saved us without the Cross. He could have done it without being born at all. But that is the way He chose to do it. We honor the Cross. We honor the woman who gave birth to Jesus.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Because He chose to make his plan contingent on her "yes."

God's plan for all creation is not contingent on any man or any "yes" from His creature.

What an astoundingly low opinion some have of the Triune God.

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" -- Isaiah 46:9-10

All God's pleasure; not Mary's.

[NYer]

Jesus could have saved us without the Cross. He could have done it without being born at all. But that is the way He chose to do it. We honor the Cross. We honor the woman who gave birth to Jesus.

Beautifully spoken!

[Marysecretary]

We honor Christ and Him crucified. He is no longer on the cross. Mary herself would be shocked at how Catholics put her up on a pedestal. It’s almost as though she is revered above Christ by some Catholics, even some here. Mary is called blessed because she bore Christ. That’s all she did. She is not co-redeemer, Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Universe or anything else. Mary, mother of our Lord. Period.

[tiki]

Just from reading their past posts, the Incarnation means little to these people and they like to gloss over the Crucifixion and glorify the Resurection.

Their faith is only based on their own opinion of what the Bible says, although they all say they are guided by the Holy Spirit, who evidently tells different people different things so everyone can be confused, I guess.

They seem to think that being “saved” is the end of the journey and not the beginning. They think that being “saved” is the only goal. They think that serving God, willingly, consciously is believing that you are “working out your salvation” and so we must not believe that we are saved solely by the Grace of God.

Some of them even believe that God created some to be damned and some to be elect and that you have no choice in the matter. Nope, no free will, the tyant God will force you to go to heaven whether you want to or not, whether you sin badly or not and send you to hell no matter how badly you would like to go.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for sharing your views, dear Lilllabettt!

You should honor that woman.

No Christian known to me dishonors Mary.

The point of my post was to honor God - He is first in all things, most especially God is first in our hearts:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment. – Matthew 22:37-38

I submit that involves recognizing that no thing and no one can thwart the will of God.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. - Luke 19:40

Therefore, I do not agree with your use of the word "contingent" in this statement:

That is why you should honour Mary. Because He chose to make his plan contingent on her "yes."

Instead, I would say that God blessed Mary above all other women by giving her the opportunity of being mother to the Incarnate Word. She accepted that opportunity by saying "yes." And so she is uniquely honored and blessed because of the will of God and her submission to God's will.

But if she had said "no" it would not have thwarted the will of God. The devil, far more powerful than any mortal, and with a record of trying to do so, cannot thwart the will of God.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. - Matthew 4:8-10

Therefore rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. - Revelation 12:12

To God be the glory, not man, never man.