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 Bible; a word not found in Scripture, teaches that Christ is the mediator between man and God:
"For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus:" 1 Timothy 2:5
Scripture also teaches that we are all intercessors for one another:
" I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men:" 1 Timothy 2:1
You fail to discern the difference between intercessor and mediator. I suggest that you actually read the Bible and have a dictionary handy while you do, before you comment on what it says.
Right, the huge reach is the fact that all 4 Gospels say the same thing.
‘God is a God of the living, not of the dead’.
Mary isn’t dead, she’s alive and she can pray for us, just like anyone else.
Honestly, I don't understand the point of arguing that those books should have been dropped and do not understand why the were dropped when the early versions of the KJV included them. At some point, some group decided they didn't want to deal with what those books say and dropped them for no reason anyone has ever been able to explain or justify to me. I know exactly why the Jews dropped them, they're full of fulfilled prophecy that points clearly to Christ, more clearly than many other places in the OT, and those books were being used to lead a great many Jews to Christ.
I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm telling you you might want to read up on things a bit more or read some different sources. You might even want to read those books and look at the prophecy that is clearly fulfilled by Christ.
Regards
I seem to recall this source as being debunked before. Isn’t she one of Pastor Brewster’s followers?
Hmm, so presumably Pope Gelasius is one of the ‘Good popes’?
I suggest you actually read Scripture before you incorrectly paraphrase it.
Romans 8:34...Christ intercedes for us.
Mary Ann Collins
Description of Mary Ann Collins
Background
Mary Ann Collins is known within Fundamentalist churches as a former Catholic nun who is an expert on Catholicism. She produces several self-published books and runs CatholicConcerns.com - an often-referenced website among those who seek to refute Catholicism as a false religion. Mary Ann Collins crafted a biography which can also be read on her website.
Suspect History
Mary Ann Collins’ history is questioned by Protestants and Catholics alike, as she would be in a long line of Fake Nuns.
Was she a nun?
Mary Ann Collins considers herself a former nun although she never took her vows. On all her publications and websites, she lists herself as, “Mary Ann Collins: Former Catholic Nun”. She admits she was expelled from the convent she attended but the religious order or convent she attended remains mysterious. She refuses to say where she attended and no one has admitted that Mary Ann Collins attended a convent even as a novice.
From her biography:
NUNS AND NOVICES
I was in religious life for a little over two years. I was a novice but I never made vows. A novice is someone who has entered a religious order and has been given a habit. He or she undergoes training and “religious formation” in preparation for taking vows. (There are novice monks as well as novice nuns.)
Some people have asked me why I call myself a former nun when I never made vows. According to “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” if a monk or a nun has been accepted by a religious order (which I was) and has been given a religious habit (which I wore), then he or she is a monk or a nun in the broad sense of the term. Note 1 So I refer to myself as a former nun.
NOTE 1. “Novice” in the 1913 edition of “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” Volume XI. This article is available on-line. The term “novice” refers to both monks and nuns who go through a period of training and preparation. In Section II, “Juridical Condition,” the article states that a novice in a religious order is a “regular” in the widest sense of the word. (A “regular” is a technical term for a monk or a nun.)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11144a.htm
NOTE The article often speaks of “he” when modern usage would be to say “he or she”. Section I, “Definition and Requirements,”specifically mentions nuns. And it gives instructions regarding married women who want to become nuns. So the article is about both novice monks and novice nuns.
Changing Biography
Mary Ann Collins revised her biography on at least three occasions, one of which is not acknowledged on her website from 2001. See the changes - additionally, see the forum topic Is Mary Ann Collins real?
Knowledge of Catholicism
The following is a biography as listed on her book, “Freedom from Catholicism” on Amazon.com:
Mary Ann Collins is a former Catholic nun who spent many years in the Catholic Church, studying its teachings and traditions. After a period of seeing many distressing contradictions to Scripture, she eventually left the Catholic Church and joined her parents’ church which was founded on solid, scripturally-based teaching. In so doing, she found the relationship with God that she had been hungering for all her life.
Many consider this to be misleading. Mary Ann Collins, though, admits she only spent two years as a novice and never grew up Catholic in her biography that she wrote on her website
No Information
Besides Mary Ann Collins’ writings, there is no personal data about her. She has never given an interview, no one has admitted knowing her or seeing her or even having an e-mail dialogue with her. No one knows where she lives or what she does for a living. See the forum topic Is Mary Ann Collins real?
A plausible hypothesis is that Mary Ann Collins does not exist; that she’s a fictional character to give credibility to her anti-Catholic writings.
“Jesus was not especially respectful in how he referred to her”
Really? Which is why when he was dying, he tells John that Mary is his mother, and John interprets this to take Mary into his household to care for her.
“This “Mary was ever-virgin” claim was something my wife says she had never heard of before.”
Did your wife seek a dispensation to marry a protestant? How often did she attend mass? I’m sorry, but if she left the church to marry, then she’s not a ‘devout Catholic’.
Here’s the list of church fathers prior to Jerome (who’s quite famous in his defense of perpetual virginity.
•St. Irenaeus (III, 21; see Eusebius, Church History V.8),
•Origen (Adv. Cels., I, 35),
•Tertullian (Adv. Marcion., III, 13; Adv. Judæos, IX),
•St. Justin (Dialogue with Trypho 84),
•St. John Chrysostom (Hom. v in Matth., n. 3; in Isa., VII, n. 5);
•St. Epiphanius (Hær., xxviii, n. 7),
•Eusebius (Demonstrat. ev., VIII, i),
•Rufinus (Lib. fid., 43),
•St. Basil (in Isa., vii, 14; Hom. in S. Generat. Christi, n. 4, if St. Basil be the author of these two passages),
•St. Jerome and Theodoretus (in Isa., vii, 14),
•St. Isidore (Adv. Judæos, I, x, n. 3),
•St. Ildefonsus (De perpetua virginit. s. Mariæ, iii).
Apples and oranges
Saying that scripture contains all the knowledge needed for salvation is nowhere near saying that scripture itself should be worshipped. Scripture is important, but important does not equate with being worshipped.
Son behold thy mother, mother behold thy son doesn’t apply to you?
>>All generations will call you blessed? Not just ‘you are blessed? There’s a significant difference.<<
Yep. Just as “all generations will call you a great composer”, as opposed to “you are a great composer”. And the difference in the two can be summed up in one word: Fame.
I find it hard to believe that what you are claiming is true. Is it your contention that your wife,
"my wife was Catholic for a little over 30 years"
never recited the Confiteor in all that time? I say BS.
As a linguistic literalist you obviously are not familiar with the teaching of Calvin, Luther and Zwingli; for starters, on the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary either.
Well, He IS a personal God.
Was Moses asleep at the transfiguration?
The Greek has it as:
ekoimethesan - reposed.
Yet another example where protestants revise scripture to support their beliefs.
So you are saying that Scripture is important, but shouldn’t be used by itself.
Instead of attacking the author of the article, can someone try to defend the following statements made by popes:
Pope Benedict XV said of Mary that “[O]ne can justly say that with Christ, she herself redeemed mankind.” [10] Pope Pius IX said, “Our salvation is based upon the holy Virgin... so that if there is any hope and spiritual healing for us we receive it solely and uniquely from her.” [11]
Obviously you don’t believe in the Resurrection of Christ or the Resurrection of the Dead.
Mary was assumed into heaven — Early Church Fathers have written about it. She is alive, just as Christ is alive in heaven.
What don’t you believe about the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary — her last ones in the Bible?
“Do whatever He tells you.”
A mediator can intercede, can an intercessor mediate?
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