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.

[Jvette]

As many times as this has been discussed, I would have thought protestants would have learned at least one thing by now....

No Catholic believes that Mary is responsible for her own state of grace. She is what she is because He is who He is.
It’s that simple and that profound all at the same time.

The passage of Scripture quoted in this thread, post number 13 does not in any way serve as a rebuke of Mary by Jesus, though many try to use it to prove such.

If you care to give it some honest consideration, you would understand that Mary was chosen because she lived as Jesus said those who would be His mother, His brother and His sister live.

Mary is the first and most perfect disciple, Jesus is telling us to be like her and if we live His Word the way Mary does, we too are blessed.

Mary’s qualification to be the bearer of the Savior?

Absolute devotion and submission to God, a heart, mind, body and soul that never once deviated from that love and submission. Can you say the same for yourself? Can anyone?

[Jvette]

Are we or are we not surrounded by a cloud of witnesses?

Who do you suppose makes up that cloud?

[Jvette]

No, we are the temple of the living God. The Ark was not the temple and we do not hold the actual physical Word that the Ark bore, nor do we carry the Bread of Life, nor the staff.

The New Testament tells us our bodies are a temple. Not the same as the Ark of which there have only been two, the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the New Covenant.

[Jvette]

Mary always leads to Jesus, that is true. Her entire life, from conception through eternity is to bring Him to us.

[Cronos]

Actually, it's not spelling ---> you said that 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". The Lutherans as represented here by the LCMS folks do NOT believe in consubstantiation.

They believe in the SAcramental Union

[Cronos]

Ainu (Ainu: アイヌ・イタㇰ, Aynu itak; Japanese: アイヌ語 Ainu-go; Cyrillic alphabet: Аину итак) is one of the Ainu languages, spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō.

Ainu has no generally accepted genealogical relationship to any other language family.

No genealogical relationship between Ainu and any other language family has been demonstrated, despite numerous attempts. That is, it is a language isolate.

John C. Street (1962) proposed linking Ainu, Korean, and Japanese in one family and Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic in another, with the two families linked in a common "North Asiatic" family. Street's grouping was an extension of the Altaic hypothesis, which at the time linked Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic, sometimes adding Korean; today it usually includes both Korean and Japanese but not Ainu

Alexander Vovin (1993) presented evidence suggesting a distant connection with the Austro-Asiatic languages, which include many of the indigenous languages of Southeast Asia. He regarded this hypothesis as preliminary. The eminent Japanese linguist Shichirō Murayama tried to link Ainu to the Austronesian languages, which include the languages of the Philippines, Taiwan, and Indonesia through both vocabulary and cultural comparisons.

Some linguists believe that Austro-Asiatic and Austronesian are linked in a larger family, called Austric. John Bengtson (2006) has suggested that Ainu is an Austric language.

[RnMomof7]

Catholic theology 101: Mary is now the oven, which makes sense as Christ is the biscuit.

ohh that must be divine revelation..after all there is an old saying of a pregnant woman that she has a "bun" in the oven ...only a 'spiritual truth" could become such common "knowledge "

[Jvette]

What is grace? It is salvation for our sins.

Mary as declared by Gabriel is full of grace.

Full means there is room for no more.

Therefore, all the grace she could receive, she received before she conceived Jesus. Catholics believe she received that grace before conception so as to be pure enough to bear the Word of God.

In no way does that detract or diminish Jesus’ saving sacrifice, nor does it diminish any other human. In fact, in her we see all the promises of Christ.

[the_conscience]

Don't forget! The Israelites chowed on manna.

[Cronos]

It is a West Germanic language and is closely related to Old Frisian. It also experienced heavy influence from Old Norse, a member of the related North Germanic group of languages.

The most important force in it's shaping was was its Germanic heritage in its vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar, which it shared with its related languages in continental Europe. Some of these features are shared with the other West Germanic languages with which Old English is grouped, while some other features are traceable to the reconstructed Proto-Germanic language from which all Germanic languages are believed to derive.

Like other Germanic languages of the period, it was was fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental, though the instrumental was very rare), which had dual forms for referring to groups of two objects (but only in the personal pronouns) in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It also assigned gender to all nouns, including those that describe inanimate objects: for example, sēo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, while se mōna (the Moon) was masculine (cf. modern German die Sonne and der Mond).

[Cronos]

Now what your group needs to really is that the Gospel is about Jesus, this is what The Church teaches

If you wish to agree with Rn that Ark = type of Christ and say that we are all arks, then logically that means saying all are Christs -- that's one really wacked out teaching of your groups

[Cronos]

Caww: Yes, I think so too as is evidenced in the posts. Interesting that during this time of year where we celebrate Christ's birth...the fact the discussions are NOT about Him, rather Mary ..was she or not a virgin...was she or not sinless, etc. etc. etc. It's all about her

Actually -- you should notice that this thread was posted by RnMo7 -- who left the Church and is pretty rabidly against it -- perhaps your groups should realise that during this time of year where we celebrate Christ's birth. Why do you guys instead seem to just talk about anything BUT Christ? Weird....

[Cronos]

You still haven’t said why you think that St. Thomas was not blessed? Do you believe that?

[Cronos]

You're talking about the Rabid Calvinist Cult of course -- what a weird group. Instead you can come to Christ's Church, the One Holy Apostolic Church

[metmom]

If you are not Catholic, why are you concerned? What business is it of yours?

It's our business because if the Catholic church is passing off falsehood as truth then people's eternal destiny is at stake. We are not going to sit by and watch people head for the abyss thinking they are safe snuggled in Mary's embrace. She CANNOT save.

Aside from the role she played in prophecy being fulfilled, she has no significance in God's plan of salvation for mankind. It's about Jesus and what He did. Always has been and always will be.

Adding Mary into the mix the way Catholics and popes add her will only keep people from Jesus as they're going to think they can go through her. That's a lie from the pit. Praying to her is idolatry. Expecting her to obtain favors, answers to prayer, or salvation, is a fool's errand will only result in someone's damnation.

Mary does not belong in the picture once she bore Jesus. Her work was done when she finished raising Him and He began His ministry on earth.

God does not permit other gods before Him.

[presently no screen name]

"Mary, I am totally yours".

Ok, now - Mary did not die for anyone sins - and Pope JP declares he is totally her's. We know how that story ended with no Savior.

He had these words of devotion to Mary embroidered on his papal robes.

Idol worship

“MARIAN WORSHIP in the ecclesial community ... is based on the will of Christ”

Idol worship leads to heresy.

He concluded by urging all Christians to acknowledge Mary’s “providential role in the path of salvation.”

JP, your urging does not get you the Christians, you have to settled for the deceived Catholics. For NO ONE can snatch God's OWN out of HIS HANDS for It is Written.

Now back to his 'infallibility'. How laughable is that teaching. Deception breeds deception and it knows no bounds.

[Jvette]

Catholics do not have mixed feelings about Luther.

He was correct in his call for reform of certain church practices, but he was incorrect in that he wrought havoc upon Christianity which left it splintered in thousands of pieces.

In every case, and with every theologian, the Church tests their exegesis within the understanding of Scripture and Tradition before acceptance or rejection.

Not every word or thought by Catholic theologians is taken as Gospel or as accepted as binding truth. Therefore, as with all things, a Catholic is entreated to test what he/she reads or hears under the guidance of official teachings. That is why we trust that the Holy Spirit will not fail to deliver on Jesus’ promise to remain with us at all times and to remind us of all He taught His apostles.
That is why we know the pope to be infallible when he is speaking from the chair of Peter.

If we were to rely on the myriad teachings of all the protestants, we would need to have several split personalities. Luther was not wrong on everything and he did not relinquish all of his Catholic beliefs, that is why a Catholic can quote him in one breath and denounce him in another.

[Jvette]

St. Paul apparently thought so as he said he continues to persevere lest he run the race in vain.

[presently no screen name]

You're talking about the Rabid Calvinist Cult of course

Mind reading?

Instead you can come to Christ's Church, the One Holy Apostolic Church

Misery want company? With threads like this, I PRAISE GOD all the more that HE led me out of that pit of deception.

The RCC's title of 'One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church' is null and void, worthless; however, it does what it was meant to do - keep the deceived deceived. Even though I repented, I still cringe at the thought how many times I repeated that 'taught' heresy.

[Judith Anne]

This reminds me of my black sheep relative. She doesn’t get invited to family gatheringa on holidays anymore, because she tells everyone, the Jews, the Catholics, and the Mormons, that they’re all going to hell, the entire time she’s there. She has this vicious, evil grin as she describes her version of our various theological sins...and is always sure to let everyone know they can always come to her for the TRUTH!. She also believes in UFOs, no kidding, and goes to a non-denominational biker church (the only nice thing about her).

She has these specific Christmas cards; for the Catholics, they all contain a little verse about worshipping idols (and going to hell); for the Mormons, some verse about preaching a false gospel (and going to hell): and for the Jews, some verse about only believers go to heaven, the rest go to hell.

You should have seen the condolences she sent to me after my husband died. “Even though Bubba’s in hell, YOU still have a chance!” I just think she was mad, because he left instructions that she could not come to the funeral. True. Everyone knew that she would consider herself invited to preach at a Catholic funeral mass, and the church would have to be fumigated.

*sigh* Self-important Catholic haters, self-appointed gospel preachers, self-designated “elect” — ! Sheesh! I bet their pastors get tired of hearing what theology was wrong in the Sunday Sermon, when the BLESS ED are on their way out the door.

One wishes these preachers of the one and only Bible would just keep their noses in their own hymnbooks and sing their own tune. Somehow, they just can’t believe Christ would love the rest of us as much as He loves them; they are so special, you know.

Now, I KNOW you are all going to tsk tsk and say, “What hate!” because that’s what you do. But look in the mirror — can you see your own eyes? Can you see the arrogance, the superior “church lady” smirk?

As for me, I’m going to go with the tax collectors (yes, I know one) the sinners, and the rest of the rabble and sit by the cradle of Baby Jesus, and watch Mary’s smile as she looks at him by Starlight.