Posted on 05/31/2011 11:53:33 AM PDT by marshmallow
The Protoevangelium of James
“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by [St. Anne], saying, ‘Anne! Anne! The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.’ And Anne said, ‘As the Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God, and it shall minister to him in the holy things all the days of its life.’ . . . And [from the time she was three] Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there” (Protoevangelium of James 4, 7 [A.D. 120]).
“And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of priests, saying, ‘Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord?’ And they said to the high priest, ‘You stand by the altar of the Lord; go in and pray concerning her, and whatever the Lord shall manifest to you, that also will we do.’ . . . [A]nd he prayed concerning her, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him saying, ‘Zechariah! Zechariah! Go out and assemble the widowers of the people and let them bring each his rod, and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she be. . . . And Joseph [was chosen]. . . . And the priest said to Joseph, ‘You have been chosen by lot to take into your keeping the Virgin of the Lord.’ But Joseph refused, saying, ‘I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl’” (ibid., 8–9).
“And Annas the scribe came to him [Joseph] . . . and saw that Mary was with child. And he ran away to the priest and said to him, ‘Joseph, whom you did vouch for, has committed a grievous crime.’ And the priest said, ‘How so?’ And he said, ‘He has defiled the virgin whom he received out of the temple of the Lord and has married her by stealth’” (ibid., 15).
“And the priest said, ‘Mary, why have you done this? And why have you brought your soul low and forgotten the Lord your God?’ . . . And she wept bitterly saying, ‘As the Lord my God lives, I am pure before him, and know not man’” (ibid.).
Origen
“The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the firstfruit among men of the purity which consists in [perpetual] chastity, and Mary was among women. For it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the firstfruit of virginity” (Commentary on Matthew 2:17 [A.D. 248]).
Hilary of Poitiers
“If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to John, ‘Behold your mother’ [John 19:26–27), as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate" (Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]).
Athanasius
“Let those, therefore, who deny that the Son is by nature from the Father and proper to his essence deny also that he took true human flesh from the ever-virgin Mary” (Discourses Against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360]).
Epiphanius of Salamis
“We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit” (The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]).
“And to holy Mary, [the title] ‘Virgin’ is invariably added, for that holy woman remains undefiled” (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6 [A.D. 375]).
Jerome
“[Helvidius] produces Tertullian as a witness [to his view] and quotes Victorinus, bishop of Petavium. Of Tertullian, I say no more than that he did not belong to the Church. But as regards Victorinus, I assert what has already been proven from the gospel—that he [Victorinus] spoke of the brethren of the Lord not as being sons of Mary but brethren in the sense I have explained, that is to say, brethren in point of kinship, not by nature. [By discussing such things we] are . . . following the tiny streams of opinion. Might I not array against you the whole series of ancient writers? Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and many other apostolic and eloquent men, who against [the heretics] Ebion, Theodotus of Byzantium, and Valentinus, held these same views and wrote volumes replete with wisdom. If you had ever read what they wrote, you would be a wiser man” (Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]).
“We believe that God was born of a virgin, because we read it. We do not believe that Mary was married after she brought forth her Son, because we do not read it. . . . You [Helvidius] say that Mary did not remain a virgin. As for myself, I claim that Joseph himself was a virgin, through Mary, so that a virgin Son might be born of a virginal wedlock” (ibid., 21).
Didymus the Blind
“It helps us to understand the terms ‘first-born’ and ‘only-begotten’ when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her first-born son’ [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin” (The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]).
Ambrose of Milan
“Imitate her [Mary], holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of material virtue; for neither have you sweeter children [than Jesus], nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son” (Letters 63:111 [A.D. 388]).
Pope Siricius I
“You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, that court of the eternal king” (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).
Augustine
“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave” (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).
“It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?” (Sermons 186:1 [A.D. 411]).
“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband” (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).
Leporius
“We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary” (Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]).
Cyril of Alexandria
“[T]he Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing” (Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [A.D. 430]).
Pope Leo I
“His [Christ’s] origin is different, but his [human] nature is the same. Human usage and custom were lacking, but by divine power a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and Virgin she remained” (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450]).
Is it righteous to stone adulterers? Is it righteous to circumcise? Is it righteous to not eat pork? Is it righteous to observe the sabbath?
I hold more important things to be righteousness.
Man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.
Noting is unclean of itself.
http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofchris01jone#page/416/mode/2up
It’s an old tactic
Some good reading in this chapter about how it came about
best quote from the page
“For as the knowledge of God’s true character is only to be fully leared from the revelation which is made of it by meas of the gospel of Christ , in proportion as the hearts of men become fortified against that which alone dispels the clouds of ignorance and error from the human mind, their propensity to every kind of superstition and idolatry naturally succeeds.”
Besides their heresy and idolatry - they make a mockery of Mary, the faithful servant.
They preached another gospel and they speak of their made up Mary - all non biblical. That’s why they need the catechism. As muslims have their koran. Cults.
THAT'S RICH! And you know that because you were there???!
MORE RUBBERIZED HISTORY from the Vatican Cult political powermongers 300-400 years later! LOL.
It's gonna be very interesting when a lot of RC's discover the stuff they've been fed was chaff and worse--gross self-serving deceptions and lies by a very political hierarchy intent on embelishing and preserving their status, powers, etc.
That there’s such a huge percentage of RC’s on FR and elsewhere that ACTUALLY BELIEVE such wholesale gross UNBiblical deceptions from hell has been one of the bigger shocks of my life.
ABSOLUTELY INDEED.
YUP:
Besides their heresy and idolatry - they make a mockery of Mary, the faithful servant.
They preached another gospel and they speak of their made up Mary - all non biblical. That’s why they need the catechism. As muslims have their koran. Cults.
That’s partly why they have left me no choice but to tell it like it is and labe the Vatican Cult—the fetish saturated cult it is.
Now Lera, why did you get me started on a book read... I could hardly pull myself away from it!!! Fascinating read!
I will look more carefully of who the author is , but amazing read depicting how so much was integrated into the church at that time, and fought against and destroyed only to see the next Pope or Roman Emporer bring it back. No wonder we see the same behavior today...they’ve never left the middle ages!.... Truly interesting and thank you so much for referring me to it.
Note to Daniel....are you familiar with this aged book?
And the Vatican Cult/edifice wasn’t even there for at least 300+ years later! LOL.
Sigh.
THX THX.
Will check it out.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
:)
The book was written by William Jones . He was an English Baptist pastor 1762-1843 .
I actually found it by following footnotes.
It’s loaded with footnotes from older writings and has so much to say about those of which the Roman Catholic Church has accused of the same things they accuse us of .
No I know that because of historical record which was not disputed by the Reformers. They did not believe the record necessarily reflected infallible teaching. That meant that even though the accounts of the Fathers were historically correct their views on such matters as Justification, the Eucharist and other doctine were subject to the authority of Scripture and the Reformers interpretation of Scripture.
The Catholic Church submits the writings of the Fathers to the authority Scripture and to the Magesterium. The Fathers are not in and of themselves infallible.
I hope an Orthodox Christian will comment on how the Orthodox Church regards the Fathers.
In any case non of the traditional Christian bodies ever decided that what the Father’s wrote was to be sneeringly set aside and regarded as inferior to one’s own private on retainer Holy Ghost.
You know, you can’t have it both ways.
On one hand you admit that the writings of the Catholic church fathers are not infallible and on the other hand you scorn those who also do not recognize them as being infallible.
So, just what would make a Catholic happy?
If a Catholic questions their integrity, well that’s OK because the writings must be submitted to the authority Scripture and to the Magesterium, because, after all, the “Church Fathers” are not in and of themselves infallible.
If a non-Catholic questions their integrity and thinks that they must be submitted to the authority of Scripture because they are not infallible, then the non-Catholics are sneeringly setting aside and regarding as inferior those same writings.
Why is it OK when Catholics do it and not OK when non-Catholics do the very same thing?
Explain to me how something (the writings of the “church fathers”) that must submit to the authority of something else (Scripture) is not inferior to it? Is Scripture not superior to the works of men?
So?
We are commanded to test everything to see if it's of God or not and reject the evil and
1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Jesus even commended the church in Ephesus for testing those who claimed to be prophets to find out if they were false or not.
Revelation 2:1-3 1"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.
Luther doesn’t cut any ice with me.
He was clearly brainwashed by horrific deceptions, too.
This is much closer to Biblical Truth:
http://daaixin.wordpress.com/heavenly-visitations-heavenly-visits/
Then he started showing me women. He told me, “Daughter, “that woman that you see there is my servant, Mary Magdalene; my servant, Sara,” and suddenly He told me,” Daughter, she is Mary, Mary, who gave birth to Jesus Christ, Who I am.” “Daughter, I want to tell you that she has no knowledge of anything that exists on Earth. I want to tell you that you must go and tell humanity, tell idol worshippers that hell is real and that idolaters will not inherit my kingdom, but go and tell them that if they repent, they can enter my heavenly dwelling place.
Go tell them that I love them and tell them that Mary has no knowledge of anything and the only One that they must exalt is me, because neither Mary, nor St. Gregory nor any other saint can offer salvation. I am the only One who saves and outside of me – nobody, nobody, nobody- saves!” He repeated it three times – that nobody could save; only He saves.
Humanity has been deceived believing in an assumed saint, which is not, but is a demon working through that idol made by the hand of man. But, let me tell you that the Lord wants to give you the best. He wants you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; to repent and to leave idolatry to the side because idolatry will not save you. He who saves is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who gave his life for you, for me and for all humanity. The Lord has a great message for humanity.
As He wept, He told me, “Please, Daughter, do no be silent; go and tell the truth, go and tell what I have shown you.” I then saw how Mary worshipped the Lord and I could see those women with very beautiful hair, long hair and I told the Lord, “Lord, how pretty the way they wear their hair.” He told me, “Daughter, that which you see is the veil that I have given to a woman.” He added, “Daughter, go and tell women to take care of the veil that I have given them.”
Then He told me, “I have something to show you that is very important.” Suddenly, I looked far away, in front of what I was observing, and I saw a shining city, a city of gold. And I said,” Lord, what is that which I am seeing over there? I want to go over there.” He answered, “Daughter, I will show you what is over there. What you are seeing is the heavenly dwelling, the heavenly mansions which are ready for my people.” We began to walk and moved away from the people that were worshipping the Lord. We reached a golden bridge, walked over it and came upon the streets that were made of pure gold!
And another visitor to Heaven was shown a room with Mary in it grieving over what so many millions had made of her so inaccurately, idolatrously, blasphemously and so destructively to their souls.
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