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Testimony of a Former Irish Priest
BereanBeacon.Org ^ | Richard Peter Bennett

Posted on 07/18/2010 6:04:05 AM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus

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To: Dr. Eckleburg

SPOT ON!!


6,441 posted on 08/04/2010 9:57:27 AM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: smvoice

I find it silly, myself.

BUT I can see it.

FIRST (I was just reading Crazy Louie, as I think of St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort — and when he is not going WAY overboard he is VERY clear that Mary is a creature.)

So the first thing is to say is what was said. If it ain’t the head it’s body.

Now, UNDER those premises, we do say, eagerly, that Mary is, ahem, Queen of Saints. It is another instance of “primus inter pares(in her case “prima” of course.) She is a CREATURE, and in her we Catholics see the magnificent fulfillment of the promises God makes to CREATURES qua creatures.

Of course, Jesus and the Coming of the Kingdom is THE Fulfillment of the promise as giver. Mary is, to us, the, what preeminent instance of the fulfillment of the promise as recipient.

So, for instance, in one way I model myself after Jesus, (No comments needed about what a lousy job I’m doing) since He is the perfection of Humanity.

But in that modelling, Immediately am aware of my utter incapacity, no less and no more, in principle, than that of Mary. But she is, how to say it, an instance of the promise working wonderfully in somebody’s life. So I look at her to see how that went.

And about all I can find, but it’s a lot, is this: She gave her will, her self, her body, her life to God. As a result LOVE was conceived in her and she brought Love into the world. And when Love was in the world, she nurtured it, reared it, focussed on it, and when Love was a grown Man, and she saw a problem, she went directly to Love and said, “They have no wine.”

SO, I resolve to make my life an “Amen”, a “fiat”. I try to bear and nurture Love. I try to remember that in any problem (or any joy, for that matter) the first thing to do is to go to Love and set it before Him.

And then the hint in Colossians 1:24, and elsewhere in Paul, is that when we are remade and reborn, when and to the extent that the old man has died and a new life is growing within us, that new life is the Spirit of Christ. And that Spirit calls and enables us to share in Christ’s ‘work.’

SO (pause for breath, ...), IF Mary is the pre-eminent example of the fulfillment of the promises made in Christ to humankind, then she will (a)have her will perfectly united with Christ’s, and (b)share his mediating and intercessory ‘work’.

We saved sinners already share this work in little ways. In proclaiming the Gospel, in praying for one another and for the world, in walking in the good works that have been prepared for us to walk in in such a way, we hope and pray, that in the sandwich served at the soup kitchen or the kitchen built in Haiti some one will experience not how terrific we are but how amazing GOd is. That’s mediation, that’s intercession, that’s the Work which, BECAUSE it is uniquely proper to Christ, is proper to those in whom His spirit abides, those who abide in Him who abides in them.

That’s the best I can do.


6,442 posted on 08/04/2010 9:57:30 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: Deo volente
It's an amazement to me to observe the cavalier attitude and short shrift given to the ecumenical councils. They are dismissed as "words and traditions of men" rather than even considering that they were the means by which Jesus' promises to the Apostles were fulfilled.

Sola believers would not even have scriptura unless the bishops of the one holy and apostolic church had taken on the task of confirming what scriptura even is.

St Paul, early in the epistle to the Romans, mentions lack of gratitude. That fits, had in glove, with a lack of humility for the gift that our God (Who loves mankind) has so kindly provided.

6,443 posted on 08/04/2010 9:59:29 AM PDT by don-o (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.)
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To: smvoice
I find it silly, myself.

BUT I can see it.

FIRST (I was just reading Crazy Louie, as I think of St Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort — and when he is not going WAY overboard he is VERY clear that Mary is a creature.)

So the first thing to say is what was said. If it ain't the head it's body.

Now, UNDER those premises, we do say, eagerly, that Mary is, ahem, Queen of Saints. It is another instance of “primus inter pares (in her case “prima” of course.) She is a CREATURE, and in her we Catholics see the magnificent fulfillment of the promises God makes to CREATURES qua creatures.

Of course, Jesus and the Coming of the Kingdom is THE Fulfillment of the promise as giver. Mary is, to us, the, what preeminent instance of the fulfillment of the promise as recipient.

So, for instance, in one way I model myself after Jesus, (No comments needed about what a lousy job I'm doing) since He is the perfection of Humanity.

But in that modelling, Immediately am aware of my utter incapacity, no less and no more, in principle, than that of Mary. But she is, how to say it, an instance of the promise working wonderfully in somebody’s life. So I look at her to see how that went.

And about all I can find, but it's a lot, is this: She gave her will, her self, her body, her life to God. As a result LOVE was conceived in her and she brought Love into the world. And when Love was in the world, she nurtured it, reared it, focussed on it, and when Love was a grown Man, and she saw a problem, she went directly to Love and said, “They have no wine.”

SO, I resolve to make my life an “Amen”, a “fiat”. I try to bear and nurture Love. I try to remember that in any problem (or any joy, for that matter) the first thing to do is to go to Love and set it before Him.

And then the hint in Colossians 1:24, and elsewhere in Paul, is that when we are remade and reborn, when and to the extent that the old man has died and a new life is growing within us, that new life is the Spirit of Christ. And that Spirit calls and enables us to share in Christ's ‘work.’

SO (pause for breath, ...), IF Mary is the preeminent example of the fulfillment of the promises made in Christ to humankind, then she will (a)have her will perfectly united with Christ's, and (b)share his mediating and intercessory ‘work’.

We saved sinners already share this work in little ways. In proclaiming the Gospel, in praying for one another and for the world, in walking in the good works that have been prepared for us to walk in in such a way, we hope and pray, that in the sandwich served at the soup kitchen or the kitchen built in Haiti some one will experience not how terrific we are but how amazing God is. That's mediation, that's intercession, that's the Work which, BECAUSE it is uniquely proper to Christ, is proper to those in whom His spirit abides, those who abide in Him who abides in them.

That's the best I can do.

6,444 posted on 08/04/2010 9:59:40 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
Instead they say whatever they think the argument calls for to win a point against a Protestant.

They say Scripture is God's word, but they don't really trust it. They say Christ saved His sheep, but they don't really believe it. They say they don't worship Mary, but their actions prove otherwise.

And they all know exactly what they're doing. They want to believe Mary is their co-redeemer; they just don't want to be judged by anyone for that belief.

The funniest thing about the RCC is that it considers itself to be an intellectual faith based on reason and sound judgment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Scripture proves the lie.

INDEED. As relentless postings of their's hereon DEMONSTRATE, DOCUMENT, PROVE DAY IN AND DAY OUT.

One of the more shocking aspects of my education in the last 63 years has been having shoved relentlessly in my face

THE SHOCKING AND GROSSLY ABSURD WHOLESALE DEARTH--GREATLY LACKING INTELLECTUAL STATURE, INTEGRITY on the part of such a huge percentage [93-97%?] of the RC's hereon. I would never have guessed it even possible, much less chronic. Even after so many years of it--I'm persistently EMBARRASSED--for them!

6,445 posted on 08/04/2010 10:00:06 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: stfassisi
In a hurray.

Hurray!

6,446 posted on 08/04/2010 10:01:17 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: OLD REGGIE

Thanks. It’s a very involved process . . . long and drawn out.

Still . . . the results are not at all immune from gross error, as Fatima demonstrates.


6,447 posted on 08/04/2010 10:02:11 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: wagglebee; MarkBsnr
I'm fine watching while they play "Lord of the Flies."

Well,okay, but the first person who calls me "Piggy" ... I'm pinging the RM.

6,448 posted on 08/04/2010 10:03:58 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: Quix; Alamo-Girl; MarkBsnr; stfassisi; don-o; Jvette
It is a grossly MISLEADING label.

No, it isn't. "Mother of God" leads one directly to Jesus, Who is God in the flesh: the eternal Son of God conceived in time in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

The Mother of God leads us to Jesus, and tells us in no uncertain terms Who He really is. It's that simple. It doesn't "elevate" Mary to some kind of god. That's impossible. There is only one God.

What could be "misleading" about being led to Jesus? That's a contradiction in terms. There's only one Jesus, Who is God, and Mary is His Mother.

By the way, we Catholics tend to capitalize the word "Mother" here out of deep respect. It doesn't mean we worship her. I've actually run across that objection before.
6,449 posted on 08/04/2010 10:04:15 AM PDT by Deo volente (God willing, America will survive this Obamination.)
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To: Mad Dawg

You have some wonderful seDiments.

I think I’ll stop there.


6,450 posted on 08/04/2010 10:04:51 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: OLD REGGIE; Dr. Eckleburg; Iscool; narses; bkaycee; xone; Lera; smvoice; metmom; Jvette

Let ME Ask the question once more — Do you believe in the Trinity or not?


6,451 posted on 08/04/2010 10:05:20 AM PDT by Cronos (Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Allah": Satan's current status)
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To: don-o

6,452 posted on 08/04/2010 10:05:41 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: bkaycee
Unfortunately, the RCC can never admit this and continue to point a couple of verses in Luke for fig leaf "proof".

Why poison the well? If our arguments are bad, won't their badness be evident without the suggestion that they are motivated by some kind of psychological disability?

6,453 posted on 08/04/2010 10:06:02 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: Mad Dawg

LOL.


6,454 posted on 08/04/2010 10:07:05 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: xone; OLD REGGIE; Dr. Eckleburg; Iscool; narses; bkaycee; Lera; smvoice; metmom; Jvette

Actually, no, that is not possible as Old Reg is making a point of asking Catholics what we believe in, so it’s fair to find out likewise. Does he believe in the Trinity or not?


6,455 posted on 08/04/2010 10:07:24 AM PDT by Cronos (Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Allah": Satan's current status)
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To: Quix
Thank you so much for your encouragement, dear brother in Christ!
6,456 posted on 08/04/2010 10:07:48 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Mad Dawg

I see some of your crew seem to have 0.000% comprehension of sociolinguistics.

Sigh.


6,457 posted on 08/04/2010 10:08:00 AM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: marbren
Isn’t there a concept that original sin is transferred from the sperm or seed not the egg?

I've heard that. I guess it's the inevitable result of the rejection of scholastic thought and the consequent incoherent materialism. Sin has effects in the body, but it first infects the soul, which is not transmitted genetically but, ahem, installed by God.

6,458 posted on 08/04/2010 10:08:14 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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To: Mad Dawg; metmom
Mary gave birth to Jesus, not God.

There you have it. Jesus is not God, according to metmom.

Luke 2:
[52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.


And it was necessary for God to increase in wisdom and.....?

6,459 posted on 08/04/2010 10:08:57 AM PDT by OLD REGGIE (I am a Biblical Unitarian?)
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To: marbren
Where is this stated in the Bible?

Where is it stated in the Bible that all doctrine needs to be stated in the Bible?

Why attack with a standard we do not acknowledge? It's not news to you, is it, that the Catholic Church is not a Sola Scriptura outfit?

6,460 posted on 08/04/2010 10:11:32 AM PDT by Mad Dawg (Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. here)
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