Posted on 04/30/2010 8:03:48 AM PDT by Quix
.
|
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, --New Living Translation 7And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking. [I Kings 18:25-29.] 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9Pray, therefore, like this: 15But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their [j]reckless and willful sins, [k]leaving them, letting them go, and [l]giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. --Amplified Pray with Simplicity 5"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? 6"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 7-13"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: 16-18"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well. |
Mark Kirby: O Mother of Good Counsel, I am all thine, Most Holy Mary, There is no part of my life that is not open to thee, I want to be completely transparent with thee, Praying in this way, I can be at rest, |
.
.
.
A baby is born, draws a single breath and dies. What ACTUAL sin has the baby committed?
Mary herself recognized her need for a Redeemer,
She was redeemed at the moment of conception. That is why Gabriel told her he Lord was with her.
It is Catholics that have placed her in competition with Jesus
lol. Father Flapdoodle has been reassigned to another parish in another town in another county.
Shhh...
Wow. That is not Christian. I guess it would be called Maryian.
Exactly... scripture tells us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind.. mary takes up close to 50% of that territory from what I can tell
That post disturbs me, but only because it is so anti-Christian.
It’s nothing less than idolatry — giving the creature the glory that belongs to the Triune God alone.
Out of order and out of context..Do you ACTUALLY read it for yourself?
f you were a loving Christian, you would live your life well in the arms of Christ, instead of bashing those who love the Catholic faith. This post is such a knife to the heart of Mary and her Son; if you only knew, you'd immediately apologize to the both of them.
Scripture says nothing about "loving" your church . It does tell us to Love God with 100% of our hearts and minds and souls.. not one word about loving your church.
That post was celebrated in heaven by the saints and martyrs as they do every time the gospel seeds are planted..
I know it may seem strange but Christianity is not about Mary
“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” - God
Not sure any human edifice has authority to override God’s clear teaching on this matter.
Speaking for myself, that thread was very "disturbing."
God protects His children and keeps their feet from slipping. One gracious part of that protection is to make them sensitive to idolatry so that they are disturbed its display and thus they flee from it.
May God grant Roman Catholics that same discernment lest they become like the idols of silver and gold they bow down before and serve.
AMEN!
The preaching of the Gospel is the means God ordained to reach, teach, refine and bless His children.
"Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God..." -- Luke 8:11
Yes you can.
“I *do* read His Word daily at Mass. If you were a loving Christian, you would live your life well in the arms of Christ, instead of bashing those who love the Catholic faith.”
This doesn’t make any sense. Why would a Christian not be against the idolatry and blasphemy in the Roman edifice?
What do you mean by “disrespectful”?
It is the height of respect to take the time and effort to warn against a path that leads to absolute destruction.
Telling people the truth about Scripture is not *bashing* anyone. If you feel bashed by the truth, perhaps you ought to take a harder look at what you believe.
Christianity is about Christ, not about Mary. Any thing which detracts from Christ in a church, needs to go.
Blessed Mary, Why Honor Her?
Why would anyone want to honor Mary? After all, Jesus Christ is paramount and we should go directly to Him. We do not need her.....or do we? Let us examine this question with Scripture and with our own GOD given powers of reason.
1. Who is the first person in Scripture to call Mary ‘Blessed’? The first place in the Bible where you will find the answer is Luke 1:28. If your answer is Gabriel, then it is the wrong answer. Gabriel is an Archangel, and the Greek word ‘angel’, means ‘messenger’. So Gabriel was only a messenger for someone, but who? Gabriel was sent by GOD, so it was GOD’s message that Gabriel delivered. If GOD was the first person to call Mary ‘Blessed’, can any of GOD’s creatures do less? Dare you, or I, or anyone else refute a clear statement from GOD Himself? Anyone who attempts to do so is putting himself above GOD. Others in Scripture called her ‘Blessed’ also. Elizabeth did in Luke 1:42, and a ‘woman from the crowd’ did in Luke 11:27. Mary herself said in Luke 1:48, “...for behold, henceforth ALL GENERATIONS ‘SHALL’ CALL ME BLESSED”. Can you dispute the fact that the word ‘henceforth’ means from this moment on, and that the word ‘shall’ is a command, and not a suggestion? If you look up the word ‘Blessed’ in the dictionary, it means, ‘Holy’, held in ‘Veneration’, ‘Revered’. GOD is telling us that Mary is Holy, and she should be venerated and revered. How can any person refuse to abide by this specific command in Luke 1:48 and still claim they follow the Bible?
2. Okay, so she is ‘Blessed’, but that does not mean we need her! Well, what did GOD say through Gabriel in Luke 1:30-33? “You have found favor with GOD.” Right there, GOD ‘venerated’ Mary over all other women. In verse 31 He tells her that she will conceive. Who will she conceive? None other than Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who will manifest Himself as the ‘Incarnate Word’. GOD Himself needed Mary to conceive His very own Son, and to carry Him for nine months to term. GOD needed Mary to be the vessel to give birth to His Divine Son. If GOD needed her, can we not need her also?
3. So she gave birth to a male child! She is a mother like any other mother! Why does that make her special? This brings us to a basic theological question. Who is Jesus Christ? We know that He is the second person of the Holy Trinity, the only Son of GOD. We know He is also the ‘Incarnate Word’ as explained in John 1:14, “...the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:1 teaches us that the “WORD WAS GOD.” Mary gave birth to the ‘Incarnate Word’, and the ‘Word’ was GOD. I ask, to whom did Mary give birth? The only possible answer is that she gave birth to GOD. Some insist that she only gave birth to the ‘humanity’ of GOD, but what does that mean? Jesus Christ was the only person ever born with two natures, one human and one divine. He was but one person however, not two. He could not be a human person and a divine person, as that would make Him two persons. The question then becomes, ‘was Jesus Christ a human person, or was He a divine person’? Back to John 1:1 and 14, the ‘Incarnate Word’ was GOD. Jesus Christ is a divine person. Mothers give birth to persons, each with a nature. They do not give birth to natures. GOD Himself, calls Jesus Christ His divine Son (Heb 1:5-8). Yes, she is a mother like any other mother, but what a difference between the sons.
4. Well, I am still not convinced you said? We have established that Jesus Christ is GOD, that He was born of Mary, and that GOD needed her for this ‘Incarnation’. Let us look at what Scripture says. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the ‘Law’, but to fulfill it. In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus stated this and He also said in verse 18-19, “...not one jot or tittle shall be lost from the law till all things have been accomplished. Therefore whoever does away with one of these least commandments, and so teaches men, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven...” He very plainly said to ‘keep the commandments’, all of them. Now don’t you suppose Jesus Christ Himself, kept the commandments that He Himself had written? Of course He did, all of them, for He said:
“If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love, AS I HAVE ALSO KEPT MY FATHER’S COMMANDMENTS, AND ABIDE IN HIS LOVE.”, John 15:10.
Now what about ‘honor thy father and thy mother’? Don’t you think He kept that one too? There is certainly ample Scriptural evidence to show that He honored His Father, and there is evidence that He honored His mother as well. In fact, He, GOD Himself, must have obeyed His mother’s, everyday living, ‘mother to child’ commands as He was growing up. This is shown in Luke 2:51, “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was SUBJECT to them.” That is a very profound verse if you think about it. In effect it says, that for many years, the ‘Creator of the Universe’ obeyed the commands of a little Jewish girl, by the name of...Mary. Jesus also acted on her suggestion that the wedding guests were out of wine at Cana, by performing His first public miracle when He turned water into wine in John 2:1-5. Jesus Christ therefore kept the commandment ‘honor thy mother’, as well. If Jesus Christ honored His mother, can we do less? Jesus Christ loves His mother like any good son would. He will defend her from all attacks against her. If you have not honored Mary, what will you tell her Son after you have taken your last breath, and when you meet Him face to face, and He asks you why? Remember, at that point in time, the ‘GOD of Mercy’ becomes the ‘GOD of Justice’. Then it is too late to correct the injustice done to the Mother of GOD. St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort said it best in his book ‘True Devotion to Mary’, “Let no one presume to hope for the mercy of GOD, who dares to slight or offend GOD’s mother.”
5. In Summary:
a. GOD called Mary Blessed, and He venerated her.
b. GOD needed her to bear His Divine Son.
c. GOD chose Blessed Mary above all women.
d. Blessed Mary gave birth to the divine ‘Incarnate Word’.
e. As a child, Jesus Christ obeyed the commands of His mother.
f. Jesus Christ honors His very own mother.
g. Jesus Christ will defend His mother as any good son would. Doesn’t that make Blessed Mary special?
Does not this make her worthy of our honor? Can we do less than what GOD Himself did? Does any man or woman have the right, or the authority, to say we should not honor Blessed Mary? I have given you the Scriptural authority to honor her. Ask the person who tells you otherwise to show in Scripture where it says not to honor her. Jesus Christ was the only person in history who was able to choose His own mother. Why did He choose Mary? Because she is spec
?
It's erroneous doctrine to think one "becomes holy" in the first place
Either a person is a Christian, on their way to becoming a child of God, or they are a son of Satan. The Bible makes clear that these are the only two choices.
If a person is not praying to, following, obeying, Christ and His Father who sent Him, then they are praying to, following, obeying Satan.
This means that Jews, Romeians, Maryians, etc. are all heading for eternal damnation.
Christians are called to preach the Word. This Word will lead all who listen to it away from faith in anything other than God.
Not sure how you can refer to the Great Commission as “bashing”.
Is anything beyond the pale once the canon is pushed into second place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.