Are You More Blessed Than the Virgin Mary?

Desiring God ^ | 12/15/2010 | Jonathan Parnell

[RnMomof7]

In the sermon descriptively entitled, “That Hearing and Keeping the Word of God Renders a Person More Blessed Than Any Other Privilege That Ever God Bestowed on Any of the Children of Men,” Jonathan Edwards writes: The hearing and keeping the word of God brings the happiness of a spiritual union and communion with God. ‘Tis a greater blessedness to have spiritual communion with God and to have a saving intercourse with him by the instances of his Spirit and by the exercise of true devotion than it is to converse with God externally, to see the visible representation and manifestations of his presence and glory, and to hear his voice with the bodily ears as Moses did. For in this spiritual intercourse the soul is nigh unto and hath more a particular portion than in any external intercourse. ‘Tis more blessed to be spiritually related to Jesus Christ—to be his disciples, his brethren and the members—than to stand in the nearest temporal relation, than to be his brother or his mother. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, ed. Nancy Guthrie, 57.

[Puddleglum]

Am I more blessed that the Virgin Mary? No. Let's see - she is in heaven, I'm not. “Blessed are they who have not seen but still believe.” So we of course have a chance to be blessed, but we still have to be judged on how we used the talents God gave us (see parable of the talents). We got the gift of life and our own unique gifts that we can bury in the ground or use to God's greater glory, and as in the parable, we will be called out on what we did with them.

Mary spent the “talent” of her life in obedience to God. She said ‘yes’ to God and lived that ‘yes’ through to the end of her days - we see her in Acts and the Gospels right there from the Annunciation to the Visitation to her son's side at the crucifixion to her presence in the company of the Apostles in the early church and at Pentecost. All we know about her is good - exceptionally good - blessed (as the Gospel tells us, as Elizabeth tells her, as the angel tells her).

So she lived her ‘yes’ to God her whole life whereas the end of my story on earth is still ahead of me, and I am not in heaven yet, so no, I am not “as blessed” (as if there were degrees of proximity to God requiring different levels of sunscreen). I am no where close. Anyone who says he is a saint - aint. We all have thorns in the flesh and any one of them could derail us in this life's pilgrimage - counting ourselves as “blessed” when our race aint over among them. Let God sort that out and bestow that title on you.

Remember inthe gospels when James and John were jostling to get to be counted foremast among Jesus' followers? It was a dumb argument but the gospel records it precisely to be instructive - to show that the apostles did not understand who they were really dealing with yet or what He was about.

[Cronos]

Members of the Rabid CAlvinist Cult (RCC) may believe whatever, but we Christians in Christ's Church, the One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church believe that salvation comes from Christ's sacrifice

Please do read the Catechism -- highlighted in chapter 846 that states that How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Reformulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body" (CCC 846).

[Cronos]

Elaborating on what we Christians in Christ's Church, the One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church believe that salvation comes from Christ's sacrifice

If you do read the Catechism -- highlighted in chapter 846 that states that How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Reformulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body" (CCC 846).

The first part of the teaching —"all salvation comes from Christ the Head" echoes Jesus’ own words recorded by John: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (Jn 14:6).

Jesus goes on to say

• Sacrament of Baptism: He who believes and is baptized will be saved. (Mk 16:16)
• Sacrament of Penance/Confession: Unless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Lk 13:3)
• Holy Eucharist: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:54)
• Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. - Mt 12:30
• If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. -- Mt 18:17

Even +Paul says As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned" (Ti 3:10-11).

[Cronos]

Your statement "Are You More Blessed Than the Virgin Mary?"

Yes. Mary was alive at the time Jesus was alive, just like Thomas was. Both saw and believed. We believe without having physically seen, thus invoking the blessing of Jesus Himself. is wrong.

Jesus said as you pointed out Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed --> He did not say "MORE blessed are those....

[Cronos]

If it looks like a duck..and quakes like a duck ..it's a duck



Though seriously -- at no point do we or anyone believe that she is a god. Everyone knows that she was just a created being, everyone believes she died and went to heaven. Everyone knows that she did not and does not create anything. What is said to her is always "pray FOR us". While she is the handmaiden and can help in the distribution, she is NOT the creator of these gifts nor in any way the source.

That is a major difference between God and a creature, even an exalted one and all know that.

[Quix]

I have noticed you personally seem to have an anecdote about some relative for every point you make. And funniest thing, the relative always ends up (sect unspecified) protestant.

Just lucky, I guess.

But I've told "anecdotes" about my RC FIL, so your conclusion is incorrect.

I find all those anecdotes difficult to believe.

Certainly your prerogative.

On the other hand, I have a number of them myself, but they are of no probitive value, so I’ll decline to use them.

I'm assuming you mean "probative" value, and you're probably right about your anecdotes being generally worthless. Certainly, you [MIGHT] know [in a . . . solidly . . . reflective moment].

And thus we finally agree on something.

[Cronos]

It makes a difference because saying have seen many who practice this behavior does not necessarily mean:
1. All believe this
2. anyone outside the group she has met or knows of believes this
3. This is set doctrine

To ask if M has spent a lot of time around Catholics indicates the number of persons from whom M has arrived at her conjecture (which is wrong btw)

To ask if M goes for mass helps identify if M does not know that in Mass we have praise and worship and all mention and direction is to God alone (Mary is only mentioned if she's in the gospel readings and perhaps in the sermon).

To ask how "many" is "many" is significant as one does not arrive at a conjecture on the beliefs of 1 billion by observing a few

to give you an example, if you lived in a small area of Manhattan and observed the folks there, and observed their behaviour and said "have seen many who practice this behavior." and jumped to the conclusion that all Americans are like that -- you would be wrong

If you had have gone thru Catechism classes and attended mass for years....it would signify that you knew what the mass and Church beliefs are -- far better than one who was just an observer or who saw things somewhere sometime ago

If you said you had gone to an Abbey and been taught by monks.... it would signify the same as above point

If you said your closest friends were catholic... well, that would not necessarily make you an expert in their faith, so yes I agree that this particular point on number of Catholic friends is irrelevant

[Cronos]

Your experience as a convert is not the experience of a cradle Catholic.

i'm a cradle catholic and so are many others on this forum and our experience mirrors Judith's, not yours. Your experiences are, well, different.

[Cronos]

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” —> that does not say “MORE” blessed are those.....

[Biggirl]

I have a question. Thank-you for your responses.

As I get ready to celibrate the birth of the Savior, I came upon this video of the beautiful song, “Breath of Heaven, (Mary’s Song), which was done by Amy Grant. I blog and for my Christmas eve blog entry, am looking for a video that tells why we have the Christmas holy day. Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPbV_HTpyx0

[Cronos]

That argument has been raised many times by non-Catholics (probably metmom or Rn or isco or others) or non-Christians (unitarians, ortopresbos etc) where they say “oh, we (ambiguous) quote more scripture in posts than do you CAtholics”.

[Biggirl]

Opps, forgot to post the question in regards to post #170:

This video that the song “Breath of Heaven”, is from the movie, “The Nativity Story”. Would this video be a good choice.

Thank-you for your patience and response. :)=^..^=

[Biggirl]

.......And much more recent, the time of 9/11, and much more recent, the economic difficulties and the actions of the Obama White House, ete when there were thoughts of the end times.

[Cronos]

True worship (as opposed to veneration or honor) does indeed belong to God alone, and we never worship man or any other creature as we worship God. But while worship may take the form of prayer, as in the Mass and other liturgies of the Church, not all prayer is worship. When we pray to the saints, we’re simply asking them to help us, by praying to God on our behalf, or thanking them for having already done so.

let's take any "prayer to a saint" like to Michael Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls or to St. Jude Pray for me who am so miserable; ....that I may bless God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. etc. etc. --> the saint has no powers of creation -- all is FROM God.

[circlecity]

The Bible says there is only one mediator between the Father and man - Jesus Christ.

[Puddleglum]

Hi Biggirl - I noticed your signature - “Go UConn!” Well, I am an OU alum and say, go Sooners! I am looking forward to a great game in the Fiesta Bowl - may the best team win (hope it’s OU, but we have ben Cinderella-makers the past few BCS outings...).

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Now back to our regularly scheduled debate...

[Quix]

We beg you to accept our devotion to you and to your Son.

.
.

Dear Dear Mad Dawg,

I'm saddened to see your name attached to that sentence.

So many places where I look into, at, around the Vatican system . . .

JESUS THE CHRIST,
JESUS THE CREATOR GOD,
JESUS THE SOON COMING KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS,
.
JESUS THE ONE AND ONLY REDEEMER,
JESUS OUR ALL IN ALL,
JESUS THE ROSE OF SHARON,
.
JESUS THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR,
JESUS THE MATCHLESS ONE,
JESUS THE WAY,
.
JESUS THE WAY MAKER,
JESUS THE MESSIAH,
JESUS THE RESURRECTION LIFE,
.
JESUS THE SALVATION,
JESUS THE HOPE ETERNAL,
JESUS THE ROCK OF OUR SALVATION,
.
JESUS THE BRIDEGROOM,
JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD,
JESUS THE WORD OF GOD,
.
JESUS THE SON OF GOD,
JESUS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE,
JESUS THE LION OF JUDAH,
.
JESUS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH,
JESUS THE IMMANUEL,
JESUS THE PRINCE OF PEACE,
,
JESUS THE WONDERFUL COUNSELOR,
JESUS THE MIGHTY GOD.
.
.
.

THROUGHOUT the Vatican system,
[as in your line above]
JESUS ends up

.
.
a more or less,
.
.

maybe slightly
also ran
.
.
.
AFTER THOUGHT
.
.
tacked onto
Mary's apron strings!
.
.
.
The evidence is
essentially ubiquitous!
And,
I can't conceive of
ANY
rational
CHRISTIAN
BIBLICAL
JUSTIFICATION
for that
FACT.
.
.
.

.
==================================
.
.
from:
.
http://www.jesusanswers.com/bible/names.htm .
.
Son of God

The special relationship of Jesus to God	Mark 1:1
Son of Man	The human identity of Jesus	Matthew 8:20
Son of David	Jesus is descendant of King David	Matthew 15:22
Word	Jesus revealed God	John 1:1
Lamb of God	Jesus is the sacrifice for world’s sin	John 1:29
Christ	The Greek for ‘Anointed One’	Matthew 16:16
Savior	The one who saves	John 4:14
Rabbi/Teacher	Jesus taught people about God	John 1:38, Mark 5:35
Author of life	One who gives life	Acts 3:15
Alpha and Omega	The first and last letters of the Greek alphabets,  meaning that Jesus is the beginning and the end	Revelation 1:8
Lion of Judah	A title of the Messiah	Revelation 5:5
King of Kings/Lord of Lords	The ruler of all people	Revelation 19:16
Bright Morning Star	The one who gives light	Revelation 22:16
Word of God	Jesus is the voice of God	Revelation 19:13
Holy and Righteous	Attributes of Jesus	Acts 3:14
Head of the Church	The leader of all Christians	Ephesians 5:23 . . . Names found in the Old Testament

Title	Meaning/Significance of names	Bible reference
Immanuel	God with us	Isaiah 7:14
Prince of Peace	Jesus will bring everlasting peace	Isaiah 9:6
Wonderful Advisor	Jesus will always rule with honesty and justice	Isaiah 9:6
Mighty God	Jesus is supreme	Isaiah 9:6
Eternal Father	Jesus is eternal	Isaiah 9:6

[Cronos]

9/11 was thought of as an "end-times" only in the US. The rest of the non-Islamic world just saw it as a wake-up call for America while the Islamic world saw it as /sarc ON "getting their just deserts"/sarc OFF

Ditto for the economic difficulties and the Obummer white huis.

[Quix]

You are bright enough . . . and probably even informed enough

to

KNOW

that no other era

not even all the other eras combined

come remotely close to the same ball park as this era

in terms of Biblical prophecies about the end times.

At most, the other eras MAY have had 1-3

SLIGHTLY SORTA MAYBE A LITTLE BIT

of factor(s)

a little bit in the DIRECTION OF 1-3 Biblical prophecies about the end times.

That’s just a fact.

The rebirth of Israel in 1948 set the prophetic clock racing forward in speed and multiplicity of fulfilled, increasingly fulfilled Biblical END TIMES PROPHECIES as NEVER before.

Denial of that fact is either willful, a result of poor teaching, laziness, gross ignorance, gross bias or spiritual blindness.

[Joya]

Good job, bro.

Love you big (LUB)