Posted on 02/10/2011 7:57:12 AM PST by Christian Engineer Mass
Jesus said that the truth will set us free. (John 8:32) However, He did not say that the truth would necessarily be easy to accept. It was painful for me to learn the information that I am about to share with you, but it was also liberating and it led to a closer relationship with God.
As a faithful Catholic, and later as a nun, I practiced Mary worship for many years without realizing it. The prayers and practices were so familiar. They were taught to me by good people, sincere people that I trusted. I prayed rosaries and wore a scapular and engaged in other “devotions” which I honestly thought were good and pleasing to God. Because of my lack of knowledge of the Bible and of Church history, I honestly had no idea that I was actually worshipping Mary.
If modern Catholic teachings and doctrines about Mary are true, then they will not be contrary to Scripture, the writings of the Early Fathers, or the decrees of past popes. For a devout Catholic to question these issues and put them to the test can be painful. It certainly was for me. However, it would be far more painful to have God correct us when we face Him on Judgment Day.
LETTING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SPEAK FOR ITSELF
I believe in letting people speak for themselves. Therefore my primary sources about Catholic doctrines and history come from the Catholic Church.
First and foremost is the official Catechism of the Catholic Church which was written for the purpose of summarizing the essential and basic teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. It was approved by Pope John Paul II in 1992 and the English translation was released in 1994.
(Excerpt) Read more at parkviewgospelhall.com ...
The translators of the Bible didn’t write the content.
Excellent! Are you aware of the scripture references to him regarding Jesus?
No, I don't. But the person I was responding to does.
>>I believe that either you or your wife are being dishonest.<<
OK. But I have more information than you do.
>>“Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” Luke 1:48<<
Makes sense. She was the mother of our Savior, after all. We call her blessed in the same way the world would call lotto winner blessed.
You are correct that the books were not written by the translators.
But the bible, the authorship of the bible, where all the books were put together, was written by Jerome.
He was the first to put together the canon as we know it now. Prior to Jerome, the books were separate from one another, and when placed together, did not have a consistant canon.
This is why we have books, and letters, gospels and the apocalypse, all different books, but just one bible.
And the 70 did the prequel. Some suggest that the prequel wasn’t quite as good.
>>Thank you. So veneration of Mary as the Mother of God is appropriate. Well said.<<
Well, I think you are inferring things that are not in my post. I said you would here more about Mary. I did not use the word venerate. Don’t get me wrong though. The simple fact is that I respect the works of some men more than others.
Except in her case, the Lotto ticket was bought before she was born.
Veneration simple means to do honour to someone. That’s all.
No the author of the Bible wasn't Jerome; he was a compiler.
The men who wrote the content were the authors.
There is another word that is not often fully grasped. It is a Greek word. It is kecharitomene, often translated in English "full of grace".
It means, literally, "she who has been graced", and it's in the perfect passive tense which in Greek is used for a completed action.
Let that concept of completed action sink in for a moment.
How is it possible that when the Angel Gabriel addressed Our Lady, her endowing of grace had been completed? Is my endowing of grace completed? Is yours? Not while we're alive it ain't.
It is no accident that the Greek Orthodox Church--whose native language the New Testament is in--still to this day calls her "Panagia" = the All-Holy One.
>>Jesus communicated with the dead in the transfiguration. Does that mean he was a necromancer?<<
That was a very unique event in several way. First, Jesus did not pray with them. He talked with them. Second, it is clearly described as something almost like a physical portal to another dimension (to use 21’st century sensibilities. It is suggested with these statements:
“And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”
“And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
3And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. “
This was a singularly spectacular an unique event. It does not discuss prayer or our instructions to pray. Rather, it is a description of a transfiguration of Christ. It is as though God was giving the disciples a glimpse of His abilities. The MOST important part of the transfiguration event is this:
“While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
And the events that preceded that would certainly give it credibility. ;)
>>Jesus also never said, “don’t abort your children”, or those words thereof in scripture. He never says, “don’t beat your wife”. He never says, “homosexuality is sinful,” Arguments from silence are rather unpersuasive.<<
Yes, but when one is advocating praying to dead people INSTEAD OF Christ (who we ARE instructed to pray to), I need some scripture instructing me to do so. Actually, I take back the “yes” part. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead sleep until the resurrection, where the dead in Christ rise first. So according to the Bible, one that prays to the dead is praying to one who is sleeping.
>>How does an appeal to the authority of the holy spirit qualify as deification in one instance, and not the other?<<
Simple. I am the final authority regarding what I choose to believe and what I reject as false. God gave me that right and responsibility. It is not self worship.
I already quoted, the word ‘sleep’ doesn’t appear.
The word, in greek is ‘repose’, that they rest.
The only example we have of someone who had died talking to someone who is alive is at the transfiguration, and Moses wasn’t sleeping.
“I am the final authority regarding what I choose to believe and what I reject as false.”
Finally, a honest answer. If you are the final authority, not God, then you are God and God is something else.
Col 1:10 says believers have been given fullness in Christ.
The author of the bible, the compilation of all the books, was Jerome.
The authors of the individual books, did not write the bible. They didn’t write as if they were writing for a compilation. Each is distinct from one another.
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