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.

[Quix]

Y'all must think Proddys are as dumb as your statues.

What is with this full court press recon/intel effort to ferret out specific congregations of specific Proddy FREEPERS? Are you planning to send hit squads?

Which word do you not understand of the following?

NONE OF YOUR DEVIOUS BUSINESS!

[Quix]

JESUS THE CHRIST SAID IN GOD'S WORD:

That of those

born of a woman

JOHN THE BAPTIST

WAS THE GREATEST ON EARTH.

I tell you THE TRUTH: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
46While he was still speaking to the people, behold,(BR) his mother and his(BS) brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.[a] 48But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For(BT) whoever(BU) does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." ESV

Obedience Is Thicker than Blood 46-47While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you." 48-50Jesus didn't respond directly, but said, "Who do you think my mother and brothers are?" He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. "Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father's will is my brother and sister and mother." THE MESSAGE

The True Family of Jesus 46 As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.”[g] 48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”--NEW LIVING TRANSLATION

.

. . . obviously, other than Christ Himself . . .

I guess y'all think Mary was hatched under a sacred rock--in Rome?

OR DO YOU SIMPLY REFUSE TO BELIEVE

GOD'S WORD?

Like all of us, you will either be broken and contrite UPON THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD ABOVE

Or you will be crushed under it.

Personal nor magicsterical "INTERPRETATIONS" won't matter a gnat's burp's worth at that point.

[Quix]

the FACTS are easy enough to see below
for anyone with
more discernment than a gnat's.
.
.
.

Those reading this with any consciousness above comotose
no longer have any excuse.
.
.
.
Holy Spirit will be nudging, urging, forsaking of all such
--ALL HINT OF SUCH--
IGNORING HIS LEADING, NUDGING, URGING
in such matters can be spiritually deadly.
Very spiritually deadly.
.
.
.

ONCE AGAIN,
just a small part of
THE EVIDENCE: .
.
.

Here's the title:

http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Meditations-Mysteries-Rosary-Ferraro/dp/0819801577/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272938246&sr=1-2

And it carries the official sanctions of:

ni•hil ob•stat
n.
1. Roman Catholic Church An attestation by a church censor that a book contains nothing damaging to faith or morals.
2. Official approval, especially of an artistic work.

WITH RICHARD CARDINAL CUSHING’S IMPRIMATUR

Let me track down the brief portion of quotes upthread . . .

Here they are:

However, as we've seen through a variety of sources--a pile of them in Ferraro's manual about the Rosary--the Roman Catholic et al/Vatican Edifice disagrees with a lot of the claims of RC's hereon to the contrary.

p.32
.
[Quixicated emphases below]
Mary is crowned Queen of heaven and earth, dispenser of all graces . . .

p32
4 - She became Queen of Purgatory, where she exercises her power as mediatrix in behalf of these suffering souls.

5 - She became Queen of us sinners, to assist us through the dangers of this life and to help us in difficulties.

6 - She became the ruler of hell, that trembles at her slightest gaze and is defeated by her power.

"Just as a rock extracted from earth will precipitate into the abyss, so will man, left without Mary's help, quickly slide toward hell." --Richard of St Victor

p37
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come; Thy kingdom come through Mary! --Partial Indulgence

p41
"Mary is the tree of life to those who grasp her, and he is happy who hold her fast." --Prov. 3:18

p43
1 - "Hail Mary, beloved daughter of the Father, Mother of the Divine Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, complement of the most august Trinity!"

p45
6 - To her was granted grace greater than that conferred upon all others, 'that she might vanquish sin in every respect.'
.
[Qx: I guess Christ's vanquishing sin was unnecessary--or ineffectual without Mary's assistance?]

p46
7 - "Mary is the dawn of God because, just as the dawn marks the end of darkness and the beginning of day, so Mary indicates the end of vices and the beginning of virtue."
.
[Qx: I guess Christ's conquering on The Cross and HIS conquering trip to hell were unncessary?]

9 - God loved Mary so much that He gave her the keys to His heart. 'No one can go to God without Mary drawing him.'
.
[Qx: I guess Holy Spirit has been relegated to a 'Walter Mitty' role as spouse of Mary? That's SOME POWER to cancel & take over HOLY SPIRIT'S role to draw men to God!]

p47
4 - "Mary, trusting in the word of the angel, destroyed the sin Eve committed by trusting in the serpent.'
.
[Qx: Evidently, she beat Christ to the job of vanquishing sin!]

5 - "She desired the safety of everyone, went in search of it, and obtained it; it was also through her that this salvation was wrought."
.
[QX: What an unnecessary waste of precious Blood and suffering on THE CROSS!!!/sar]

p47
10 - "As Noah's Ark saved all the animals that entered it, so Mary saves all the souls that entrust themselves to her care."

p50
8 - "If she were not so holy as she is, how could God appoint her to be the ladder of Paradise, the advocate of the world, meatrix between HIm and us?"

p50
4 - "By becoming Mother of God, Mary belongs to the order of hypostatic union; hence she participates IN the infinite sanctity of God."

[Quix]

I don’t recall it ever being mentioned in such a perspective.

I don’t believe it is part of any Pentecostal congregation’s perspective that I know of.

I think most see the OT Ark as a mysterious object with the known historical articles in it and an incredible accompanying PRESENCE in supernatural dramatic light and power respects and demonstrations.

Any effort to shoehorn such concepts and realities onto Mary would be seen as absurdly ridiculous and laughable, pathetic, even.

[Quix]

Many have crossed over the line between

ineptness

and

perverseness

decades ago.

[Quix]

I have no trouble believing that is your experience and perception.

[Quix]

When does

baiting

become

absurdely juvinile and transparent perverse seduction?

[metmom]

Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

The Jews didn't recognize Him for who He was. They thought that Jesus was the carpenter's son, whose mother was Mary.

In that context, they are very specifically identifying Him as Jesus, son of the carpenter, son of Mary, brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon

These are the verses that poke the most holes in the Catholic doctrine. Since the Jews thought He was just a mere man, there's no way that it makes sense that they'd identify Him by His cousins.

First off, that would mean that He had only a very limited number of cousins, very unlikely in those days and that culture. There's also a high probability that He has more than one cousin with those names. There sure were plenty of other Mary's, James's, and John's, Simon's, and Judas's to go around.

By giving the specific combination of actual brother's names, since they no doubt DIDN'T believe that Mary conceived from the HS, using His actual siblings to specify which Jesus they were referring to, made the most sense.

The long and short of it is that it detracts from Mary and what she did and what she went though and how she was used by God, not one bit to be either sinful nor not perpetually a virgin.

God is in the habit of using corrupt and sinful human beings to accomplish great things for Him. Mary being sinful and not a virgin, simply puts her in the same class as all the rest of us.

[Mr. K]

Oh... well that makes it all clear

[Quix]

ABSOLUTELY, INDEED.

Back to bed.

[Cronos]

I found a list of thousands of Christian churches who do not believe in the teachings of the harlot of Rome

how dare you, csm1776. We know that that hateful term is used by Seventh Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Mormons, Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Christian Scientists etc. -- they don't believe in each others teachings either, how can you find anything? Return to Christ's body, Christ's Church, the One Holy Apostolic Catholic Church

[Iscool]

So, it is better to hide the light under a bushel, than to boldly proclaim the name of the church that you attend that has the truth.

Finally the blinders have fallen off my eyes.

Nope...You still got the blinders on...

A 'church' is God's people...A church building (like one of your catholic churches) is where the church goes to worship...

The truth is the word of God which is read and believed in many, many church buildings of many denominations...

[Cronos]

What about Rnmom’s effort to shoehorn such concepts and realities onto Jesus — would these be seen as absurdly ridiculous and laughable, pathetic, even? Rn posts that the Ark is a type of Christ. It’s blasphemous to say that Jesus Christ was just a container for God and not God Himself.

[Cronos]

I know you don’t — experiences do differ.

[Cronos]

RNMomof7: Lutherans do not believe in transubstantiation the physical stays the physical... I understand their teaching of con substaniation

1.it is properly referred to as Consubstantiation

2. You just revealed that you do not know anything about Lutherans if you say you"understand THEIR teaching of consubstantion".

[Cronos]

I found a list of thousands of Christian churches. Which is the true and only Christian church do you attend?

Ah, good common-sense-man of 1776, you must be careful to attend only the Calvinist Baptist groups or sub-groups as wmfights. If you join the non-Calvinist Baptists, that's heretical

you can pick from the lot below (I'd suggest putting it up on a dart board) -- you can also try each flavor each week --

1. USA
   1. Alliance of Baptists
   2. American Baptist Association
   3. American Baptist Churches
   4. Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America
   5. Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists
   6. Baptist Bible Fellowship International
   7. Baptist General Conference
   8. Baptist Missionary Association of America
   9. Central Baptist Association
   10. Christian Unity Baptist Association
   11. Churches of God General Conference
   12. Conservative Baptist Association of America
   13. Continental Baptist Churches
   14. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
   15. Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists
   16. Evangelical Free Baptist Church
   17. Free Will Baptist
   18. Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
   19. Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association
   20. Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America
   21. General Association of Baptists
   22. General Association of General Baptists
   23. General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
   24. General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc.
   25. General Six-Principle Baptists
   26. Independent Baptist Church of America
   27. Independent Baptist Fellowship International
   28. Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America
   29. Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America
   30. Interstate & Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptist Association
   31. Landmark Baptists
   32. Liberty Baptist Fellowship
   33. Macedonia Baptist World Missions
   34. Mainstream Baptist Network
   35. National Association of Free Will Baptists
   36. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
   37. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
   38. National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A.
   39. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
   40. National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.
   41. North American Baptist Conference
   42. Old Regular Baptist
   43. Indian Bottom Association of Old Regular Baptists
   44. Old Time Missionary Baptist
   45. Original Free Will Baptist Convention
   46. Progressive National Baptist Convention
   47. Reformed Baptist
   48. Regular Baptist
   49. Roger Williams Fellowship
   50. Separate Baptist
   51. Separate Baptists in Christ
   52. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference
   53. Southern Baptist Convention
   54. Southwide Baptist Fellowship
   55. Sovereign Grace Baptists
   56. Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
   57. United American Free Will Baptist Church
   58. United American Free Will Baptist Conference
   59. United Baptists
   60. Unregistered Baptist Fellowship
   61. World Baptist Fellowship
   62. Worldwide Baptist New Testament Missions
   63. United States - Regional bodies
   64. Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches of Northern California
   65. Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois
   66. Baptist General Association of Virginia
   67. Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
   68. Baptist General Convention of Texas
   69. Dakota Baptist Association
   70. District of Columbia Baptist Convention
   71. Empire State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches
   72. General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Inc.
   73. Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship
   74. Minnesota Baptist Association
   75. Minnesota Baptist Conference
   76. Mountain States Baptist Fellowship
   77. New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship
   78. Ohio Valley Association of Christian Baptist Churches of God
   79. Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
   80. Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches
   81. North America - Regional Bodies
   82. North American Baptist Fellowship
   
   
   Since there are about 82 different ones, you can spend nearly 2 years driving around. Then you can start all over again!
   
   The emerging Baptist movement in seventeenth-century England, for example, was a microcosm of the historic debate between Calvinists and Arminians. The first Baptists–called "General Baptists" because of their confession of a "general" or unlimited atonement, were Arminians. The Baptist movement originated with Thomas Helwys, who left his mentor John Smyth, who had moved into semi-Pelgianism and other distinctives of the Dutch Waterlander Mennonites of Amsterdam, and returned to London to start the first English Baptist Church in 1611. Later General Baptists such as John Griffith, Samuel Loveday, and Thomas Grantham defended a Reformed Arminian theology that reflected more the Arminianism of Arminius than that of the later Remonstrants or the English Arminianism of Arminian Puritans like John Goodwin or Anglican Arminians such as Jeremy Taylor and Henry Hammond. The General Baptists encapsulated their Arminian views in numerous confessions, the most influential of which was the Standard Confession of 1660. In the 1640s the Particular Baptists were formed, diverging strongly from Arminian doctrine and embracing the strong Calvinism of the Presbyterians and Independents. Their robust Calvinism was publicized in such confessions as the London Baptist Confession of 1644 and the Second London Confession of 1689. Interestingly, the London Confession of 1689 was later used by Calvinistic Baptists in America (called the Philadelphia Baptist Confession), whereas the Standard Confession of 1660 was used by the American heirs of the English General Baptists, who soon came to be known as Free Will Baptists.
   
   So if you are Particular, you can be a particular Baptist, while if you liked the movie you can become a free willie baptist. Or you can become a General Baptist (no Majors or Captains allowed), The majority of Southern Baptists, including Billy Graham, accept Arminianism with an exception allowing for a doctrine of perseverance of the saints ("eternal security")

[Judith Anne]

As I recall my husband and I talking about the Eucharist, the difference between Catholic and Lutheran beliefs was “transubstantiation” vs “consubstantiation.” iirc, Luther taught “consubstantiation.”

[Mr. K]

Look, all thei gobbledegook about whether she had ‘grace’ or only ‘favor’ make people think you are a bunch of religious fanatical boobs

Read the bible, interpret it accoording to what it means to you, and do good to everyone, every chance you get?

Doen’t that about sum it up?

Or do we gotta argue about who was “consecrated unto the Lord’s truth-light on his sacred day of heart-giving” or some such baloney...?

[bkaycee]

Sorry, my mistake, you are quite correct!

A passage of scripture is read at every mass, for 2 or 3 minutes. Not sure how I could have forgotten that.

I guess, hearing a priest or lay person read a scripture passage for 3 minutes, once a week, left the wrong impression.

[WrightWings]

As I recall my husband and I talking about the Eucharist, the difference between Catholic and Lutheran beliefs was “transubstantiation” vs “consubstantiation.” iirc, Luther taught “consubstantiation.”

Consubstantiation was what I was taught as a Lutheran.

I think the practical difference is far less than the theoretical difference since both believe in Christ's actual Presence.