Posted on 05/02/2010 1:48:38 PM PDT by marshmallow
If you are a convert to Catholicism and your Protestant friends and family are worried that you now 'worship Mary'...join the club. I remember bumping into an old Evangelical tutor of mine in England. He was very much the hearty, Evangelical Anglican sort--all rugby, cold showers and winning souls to Jesus sort of chap. When he learned that I had become a Catholic his face fell and he said, "But the Roman Catholics still have such a problem with Mariolatry." And this from an Oxford tutor! I said, "Colin, you have made a mistake in terminology. You meant to say 'Mariology' not 'Mariolatry'. The first is the devotion to the Mother of God. The second is a form of idolatry. Surely you were not implying that Catholics worship Mary? I mean, you are a theology tutor at Oxford. You know better than that don't you?"
He changed the subject, and he's now a bishop. Ah well...
If you have ever longed for a book that explains the whole 'Mary thing' to your Evangelical friends and family, then this is the book. David Mills, who is himself a convert to Catholicism has put together a little book that explains it all. He does so in a very winning and personal style, not only explaining the Marian dogmas and devotions, but also helping Evangelicals to understand how the proper devotion to the Mother of God complements and magnifies the proper relationship to Christ. He also does so with a fair sprinkling of his own experience and witness.
The personal witness was, for me, was the most attractive part of the book. This is because the Marian dogmas and devotions are part of the Catholic faith that really has to be experienced to be understood. One can argue about the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin or the truth of the Immaculate Conception until you are blue in the face, but it is when one begins to pray the Rosary that it all begins to come together. It is this personal experience of Mary's love, power and assistance that is the clincher, and David Mills is wise to interweave his own experiences in such an eloquent and pithy manner.
After his introduction explaining how he came to love Mary, David goes on to expound the life of Mary, Mary in the Scriptures, Mary in Catholic Doctrine, The feasts of Mary, her titles and then a chapter on Apparitions, Devotions and Prayers. Packed at the back is a terrific appendix with lots of further reading, full notes and help for inquirers.
This book is really a must read for all Protestants on the Path to Rome, and even for those who feel that a bridge across the Tiber is a bridge too far, Discovering Mary will help to inform them about this rich and beautiful part of the Catholic faith.
Revelation 6:9-10 . . . I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”
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Therefore dead saints are praying for Christians on earth. If they can intercede for us, then why shouldn’t we ask for their prayers?
This is the kind of exegetical non-sense that causes righteous anger to stir up. The dead believers are pleading with God to pour out his judgement on UNBELIEVERS ... the ones who killed them!!
To twist the Biblical text like that into meaning that dead believers can pray for living believers on Earth is nothing short of total, complete, Biblical ignorance.
In the spirit They are ALIVE thats the line of thought if you have a different thought that’s your right. We should all believe what we think. In the Catholic church We call it the Unity of the Holy Spirit. The Communion of Saints. Our spirits are alive with The Body of Saints Thus intercession. Just like you and I can ask for pray. But to say “To twist the Biblical text like that into meaning that dead believers can pray for living believers on Earth is nothing short of total, complete, Biblical ignorance.” To “ Twist” ! We all can have a difference of opinion. May I remind you “1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was Made Manifest Among Us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might Live THROUGH him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; IF we love one another, God ABIDES in us and HIS love is Perfected in us.” I want you to know God Loves you and I love you in him with him in The Unity of The Holy Spirit Too. Now thats Catholic!
Replace “Mary “ with “Golden Calf” in your writing - clearly since a Golden Calf is not a god and not a goddess, Moses was wrong to castigate the Jews when he came down from the mountain!
What a lame reply.
Glad I left all of the pomp behind. Very Glad.
In the spirit They are ALIVE thats the line of thought if you have a different thought that’s your right.
I understand that believers in Christ who have passed away are alive. No issue there. But how you go from "because they are alive, and we are alive, we can petition them to pray for us" does not follow. There is no support in the Bible for that. You have to massage passages to make them say anything like that and Rev 6 is a case in point.
We should all believe what we think.
You dont really believe that.
Just like you and I can ask for pray.
I would pick up the phone and call a living friend here on Earth to pray for me. I seem to recall that the Old Testament strictly forbid contacting the dead for any reason ... punishable by death.
We all can have a difference of opinion.
Of course we can. Im one who believes that "mixing it up" with believers of other persuasions helps to work out our own doctrinal position thereby strenghtening our faith.
But I maintain that the passage in question is being twisted to mean something that it cannot mean.
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