You wrote:
“The Secret of the Rosary is a compilation of visions/stories...”
Which is it? Be precise.
“... written by a man reckoned as a Mystic and a Saint, and its teachings are embraced, promoted, and even, in the past, decreed by order of the Pope to perform them.”
Decreed by order of the Pope to perform them? What do you mean? Who must perform them?
“Furthermore, the Rosary is not merely a “prayer” that is “effacious.” It is a way to be saved”
In itself, no.
“The most useful way to get help from heaven is through praying Mary’s Rosary, as your Popes confess themselves.”
I have no idea what you mean by “useful”. The Mass is the most powerful prayer. Even a woman claiming to receive an apparition of Mary in 2002 said that Mary said, “The Mass
is the greatest prayer of God.” I put no stock in apparitions which have not been fully vetted in any case. http://littlemary.excerptsofinri.com/messages/single/02-2002/2281-bvm-0218-2002.html
“Certainly I can, but the question is, what does it have to do with Mary saving people from the wrath of Jesus on the basis of wearing rosary beads? I would have to say, absolutely nothing.”
And you would be right since wearing Rosary beads is not only not proper but does nothing of any value since it’s not even a prayer.
“why is there a scale depicted with good and evil works being weighed against each other, waiting for Mary to rush in and place the Rosary beads which weight more than all the evil works and good works put together?”
Because, like the verses I showed you and which you are ignoring (of course), it shows the power of prayer.
“Do you believe that is true?”
That prayer is powerful? Yes, of course.
“Do good works merit heaven, and evil works merit punishment, as if Christ did not die on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven?”
Christ died to forgive our sins. We are all still deserving of Hell. No one deserves Heaven. It is a gift. Our evil works condemn us. Our good works in Jesus’ name, under His grace, bring us merit through the generosity of God. No one saves but Jesus, however. And what helps us to realize that and strengthen our relationship with Him is prayer and meditation - and the Rosary is both.
“If saying and promoting the rosary ‘saves,’ on what basis does it save?”
Grace. All salvation is by grace. When Peter says “water now saves you” in 1 Peter 3:21 he means the grace of Christ in baptism. When we develop a deep relationship with Christ through prayer and meditation and contemplation we further open the channels of grace with our Lord.
“Is there merit in saying the Rosary so often that flowers start to come out of your mouth?”
Is there merit is fasting? Yes. Is there merit in almsgiving? Yes. Christ expects us to be Christ-like. He expects us to be united with Him in charity and prayer.
“Does saying the Rosary give Mary a rose to place on her head, as the Secret of the Rosary teaches, so that you can earn her advocacy wherein she pleads not the blood of Jesus... but the number of rosaries you say?”
Sometimes I think Protestant anti-Catholics are just dumb: 1) on the one hand the seem so idiotically stupid that they can’t understand things that others have no difficulty understanding at all, 2) they are dumb enough to believe that they can easily fool other people into being dumb as well. Here is what De Montfort actually wrote:
“The word Rosary means “Crown of Roses,” that is to say that ever time people say the Rosary devoutly they place a crown of one hundred and fifty -—three red roses and sixteen white roses upon the heads of Jesus and Mary. Being heavenly flowers these roses will never fade or lose their exquisite beauty.”
Note: 1) The crowns are for Jesus AND Mary, not just Mary. 2) this is clearly just a metaphor about how prayer glorifies God and His greatest creation - the saints - specifically Mary.
Now, here is another passage written by Montfort, one which you would never quote which shows how he honors the Precious Blood of Christ AND sees the Rosary as a way of doing it:
“The holy sacrifice of the Mass gives infinite honor to the most Blessed Trinity because it represents the passion of Jesus Christ and because through the Mass we offer to God the merits of our Lord’s obedience, of his sufferings, and of his precious blood. All the heavenly court also receive an added joy from the Mass. Several doctors of the Church, including St. Thomas, tell us that, for the same reason, all the blessed in heaven rejoice in the communion of the faithful because the Blessed Sacrament is a memorial of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that by means of it men share in its fruits and work out their salvation.
“Now the holy Rosary, recited with meditation on the sacred mysteries, is a sacrifice of praise to God for the great gift of our redemption and a holy reminder of the sufferings, death and glory of Jesus Christ. It is therefore true that the Rosary gives glory and added joy to our Lord, our Lady and all the blessed, because they cannot desire anything greater, for the sake of our eternal happiness, than to see us engaged in a practice which is so glorious for our Lord and so salutary for ourselves.”
By the way, did you notice the end of the first paragraph:
“all the blessed in heaven rejoice in the communion of the faithful because the Blessed Sacrament is a memorial of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, AND THAT BY MEANS OF IT MEN SHARE IN ITS FRUITS AND WORK OUT THEIR SALVATION.”
Means of what? The PASSION AND DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
“You say that Christ is “working through his saints.” It’s more like Mary, here, is working to save people from Christ.”
Nope. Again, “It is therefore true that the Rosary gives glory and added joy to our Lord, our Lady and all the blessed, because they cannot desire anything greater, for the sake of our eternal happiness, than to see us engaged in a practice which is so glorious for our Lord and so salutary for ourselves.”
Being ignorant in the information age is a deliberate choice. You can always do better than to choose poorly.
“And you would be right since wearing Rosary beads is not only not proper but does nothing of any value since it’s not even a prayer.”
Except that’s exactly what King Alphonso did. He wore the Rosary, he did not say it, thus, by just wearing the Rosary in front of people, it saved him from death and damnation.
I guess you didn’t bother to read what your own religion teaches.
As for your other questions before this, instead of playing the Sophist, you should just read my original post and see for yourself.
“Is there merit is fasting? Yes. Is there merit in almsgiving? Yes. Christ expects us to be Christ-like. He expects us to be united with Him in charity and prayer.”
These conclusions are caused by your absolute confusion on what the scripture actually teaches. None of these things could possibly have any merit in the sight of God, as Paul himself argues that one is saved in uncircumcision through faith, without the working of the law (Romans 4:10-11). In fact, the circumcision came only as a result of the faith “he had yet being uncircumcized.”
In like manner we are to understand 1 Pe 3:21, which does not say “by water you are saved,” as you falsely claim, but says “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,)”. The baptism itself does not “put away... the filth of the flesh,” but the “answer of a good conscience toward God” does. The Syriac version of this scripture renders it “confessing God with a good conscience.” The Vulgate renders it “the interrogation of a good conscience.” This is referring to what Augustine called the “Sacrament of Exorcism,” or what John would have simply called “repentance,” as the person who is baptized customarily renounces their former deeds and officially becomes a member of the Christian religion. Baptism, itself, is the same as saying “being converted to Christianity.”
There is no magical power in the baptismal water itself to do any of these things, but is merely a public conversion to Christianity, a sign of a desire and a new nature that has already been given by God prior to the deed, which finds expression in an outward act. For the truth of this, the Thief on the Cross never touched water after his conversion, but was taken straight to paradise with Christ. Cornelius, in chapter 10 of Acts, was not baptized at at all, but was filled and baptized spiritually by the Holy Ghost.
Even that desire, faith itself, is given by God, and is not the result of any personal righteousness of the individual who is simply good enough, of himself, to desire God.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh_15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Note carefully this second verse. He has “ordained” you (appointed) “that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” We did not choose Him, and then go remain in Him by our own power and will, gathering merits and opening up channels of grace by our obedience through saying or wearing rosaries. God chooses us, not only that we should believe, but so that we should produce fruit in Him that should abide forever. And if a fruit is to “abide,” it certainly cannot be of us. It must be the work of God, effected by His own “working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Php 2:13). As Augustine observes,
“Although the apostle says that it was not because He foreknew that we should be such, but in order that we might be such by the same election of His grace, by which He showed us favour in His beloved Son. When, therefore, He predestinated us, He foreknew His own work by which He makes us holy and immaculate.”
And again,
“’You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’ Neither are we called because we believed, but that we may believe; and by that calling which is without repentance it is effected and carried through that we should believe.”
(Both quotes from Augustine’s Treatise On the Predestination of the Saints, Book 1.)
Thus you err in these fantasies of yours because you do not even comprehend what the origin of all merits in us are, which is not from ourselves, but by the working of God who effectually wrought them in us, according to His plan of election established before the world began. So then, would God setup another economy of salvation, along side the economy established on the cross, for to earn grace, when this grace is given to us without our asking or desiring on the day of our conversion? And if grace is given to us when we do not merit it, in a state of “uncircumcision” in the flesh, why would you expect to keep God’s favor through the repetition of rosaries, when it is written “if by grace, then it is no more of works”? (Romans 11:6).
Furthermore, all acts of righteousness are merely a fulfillment of duty, and not of works meriting reward.
Luk_17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Thus, the concept of being saved by your performance of rosaries, seen as a “merit” in our defense, is a blasphemy against God, as the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ who died for His sheep, and conquered death for His sheep.