Omnipotent is the key word here, and you're right, only God fits that bill. I did mention, did I not, that we pray THROUGH Mary, not to her. Only God has the power to do much of anything, but by honoring Mary and the saints,we acknowledge that God can work through others (and does) to accomplish His goals.The old testament is rife with examples of people acting in God's name to get things done and there is no reason whatsoever to suppose that He cannot continue to use humans to this day.....Necessary, of course not, God can do anything He wants but throughout history, He has directly interacted with humanity, probably to teach us that we are indeed important to His plan of creation itself. Now take a person, Mary His mother, probably the most important human being created, and wonder if He would gift her with traits not shared by anyone else....not too far fetched in my opinion. He placed a huge burden on her while she was on earth, and since he was 100% God and 100% MAN, we can assume that He might have had personal concerns for her as His mother. I'm glad that you realize that you can pray for me as I can pray for you, the difference is that I can pray for you even after you pass away, and you don't believe that my efforts have any effect on anything. For you to determine that Mary is not onmipresent nor omnicient is to challenge God's ability to use angels, saints and other heavenly bodies, to represent Him if He so desires. I believe that certain gifted humans have had beatific visions, visions and contacts with Mary and even Jesus Himself. You can deny these if you wish (so can I, the Catholic church does not consider these matters of faith and morals) but there have been enough of these, witnessed by many thousands of people, to be considered authentic.. The Catholic Church is , by far, the most biblically oriented church on the face of the earth, no-one else is even close!!
Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem;
Creatorem caeli et terrae.
Et in Jesum Christum,
Filium eius unicum, Dominum nostrum;
qui conceptus est
de Spiritu Sancto,
natus ex Maria virgine;
passus sub Pontio Pilato,
crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus;
descendit ad inferos;
tertia die resurrexit a mortuis;
ascendit ad caelos;
sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis;
inde venturus est
iudicare vivos et mortuos.
Credo in Spiritum Sanctum;
sanctam ecclesiam catholicam;
sanctorum communionem;
remissionem peccatorum;
carnis resurrectionem;
vitam aeternam. Amen.
In English:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ,
his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and born of the Virgin Mary,
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
he will come again
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
THROUGH her? How on earth do you do THAT? Doesn't the rosary contain something like, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." -- loose paraphrase; apologies if it is wrong -- so, how exactly is this not TO her? She is named by name, right? You're not asking St. So-and-So to go over and have her pray this or that....
Only God has the power to do much of anything
It edifies me that you see that God can do a little something since He is sovereign. :)
For you to determine that Mary is not onmipresent nor omnicient is to challenge God's ability to use angels, saints and other heavenly bodies, to represent Him if He so desires.
It is in no way such a challenge. But since Scripture is silent on this, the Roman Catholic Church cannot declare that it IS so; that IS a challenge to God's authority. And that is exactly what the RCC has done.
The Catholic Church is , by far, the most biblically oriented church on the face of the earth, no-one else is even close!!
I'm sorry, terycarl, but that statement made me laugh out loud. Considering the non-Biblical doctrine that is taught by the Roman Catholic Church about Mary ALONE is sufficient to show that statement as misinformed at best.
Looks like we'll agree to disagree.
Hoss