Ok, just what Church do you belong to? Lets see what you believe. I think after all these posts, it would be courteous for you to at least state what Protestant church you belong to. Again, the Nicene and Apostles Creeds both affirm the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, and thus a complete theology of Christ does not separate any of those.
I have never said, nor has the Catholic Church ever said, Mary is divine. She is human, and is the most beautiful example of what God’s Grace does to humanity. It restores fallen humanity back to the state before the fall in Genesis and conforms us to the Christ, ie. who had a true human nature, without sin.
Revelation 12 which sees both the people of God, the entire Church and Mary in the terms of Queenship. The idea of queenship goes back to Bathsheba, who was King David’s wife and when Solomon became King, Bathsheba became the Queen Mother and assisted her son. As Solomon is crowned, Queen Basheba enters the royal court sittign with her son and makes a request “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you’” (1 Kgs. 2:19–20). This passage can be seen as having typological significace prefiguring Mary’s role in asking Christ to peform his first miracle at the Wedding feast at Cana (c.f. John 2: 1-12).
The Church Fathers, as I notes in my previous, post, saw in Mary as the New Eve, they also saw her as the ark of the new covenant, thus the fullfillment of the Ark of the OT (c.f. Exodus chapters 25-27), which is where God dwelt. Mary gave birth to Christ, who is God, thus Mary is seen as the ark of the new covenant, which you refer to as a vessel [which is a term that is consistent with what I wrote]. The scriptures (Lk 1:43} where Elizabeth greets Mary as the “mother of my Lord” points to Mary’s unique and singular role in salvation history, i.e. the theotokos, Mother of God or God-Bearer. The Church Fathers, starting with Alexander of Alexandria begin to more fully develop the theological implications of Mary’s role in salvation history as he refers to Christ as boring a body not in appearence, but in truth, derived from Mary the Mother of God [AD 324].
Gradually, as the Christological heresies would continue, Mary was dogmatically declared the Mother of God at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, which was a defintion to protect fully that The person of Christ was born to Mary an this was a Divine person (i.e. God).
In closing, the Catholic Church, as our close friends the Eastern Orthodox Church, do not worship Mary, nor do we state she is divine. If you have been taught that, you were taught incorrectly. The Church honors Mary because God honored her in a singular way by allowing her to bring God into the world in the flesh.
Regards
Ok, just what Church do you belong to? Lets see what you believe. I think after all these posts, it would be courteous for you to at least state what Protestant church you belong to. Again, the Nicene and Apostles Creeds both affirm the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, and thus a complete theology of Christ does not separate any of those.I belong to Christ's church. I also have not said half of the things that you have imputed to me. I merely have disputed your, organizations claims.
It is interesting that most of your claims come from "church fathers". You take their statements as if they were divine in nature. They are part of your organizations version and understanding. That does not make them into THE truth. I am not alone in that assumption.
I doubt you are willing to change. You are welcome to stay under the bondage your organization demands. Jesus died to set us free. He was resurrected to demonstrate His promise. He reigns with truth and justice.
As for me and my house, we will continue to serve the Lord...
He is risen...
