Posted on 01/11/2012 7:34:56 PM PST by RnMomof7
Mary: Mother of God?
This article is prompted by an ad in the Parade Magazine titled: "Mary Mother of God: What All Mankind Should Know." The offer was made for a free pamphlet entitled "Mary Mother of Jesus" with this explanation: "A clear, insightful pamphlet explains the importance of Mary and her role as Mother of God."
This is quite a claim, to say the least! Nowhere in the Bible is Mary said to be the mother of God. I touched on this subject in a series on "Mary Co-Redeemer with Christ" printed recently.
Question: If Mary is the Mother of God, Who, may I ask, is the Father of God? Does God have a Father, and if He does, Who is His Mother?
The phrase "Mother of God" originated in the Council of Ephesus, in the year 431 AD. It occurs in the Creed of Chalcedon, which was adopted by the council in 451 AD. This was the declaration given at that time: "Born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to the Manhood." The purpose of this statement originally was meant to emphasize the deity of Christ over against the teaching of the Nestorians whose teaching involved a dual-natured Jesus. Their teaching was that the person born of Mary was only a man who was then indwelt by God. The title "Mother of God" was used originally to counter this false doctrine. The doctrine now emphasizes the person of Mary rather than the deity of Jesus as God incarnate. Mary certainly did not give birth to God. In fact, Mary did not give birth to the divinity of Christ. Mary only gave birth to the humanity of Jesus. The only thing Jesus got from Mary was a body. Every Human Being has received a sinful nature from their parents with one exception: Jesus was not human. He was divine God in a flesh body. This is what Mary gave birth to. Read Hebrews 10:5 and Phil 2:5-11.
Please refer to Hebrews 10:5 where we see. "...Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me."
The body of Jesus was prepared by God. In Matthew 1:18, "she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."
The divine nature of Jesus existed from before eternity, and this cannot be said of Mary Jesus never called her "mother". He called her "woman".
This doctrine deifies Mary and humanizes Jesus. Mary is presented as stronger that Christ, more mature and more powerful that Christ. Listen to this statement by Rome: "He came to us through Mary, and we must go to Him through her." The Bible plainly states that God is the Creator of all things. It is a blasphemous attack on the eternity of God to ever teach that He has a mother. Mary had other children who were normal, physical, sinful human beings. In the case of Jesus Christ, "His human nature had no father and His divine nature had no mother."
It is probably no coincidence that this false doctrine surrounding Mary was born in Ephesus. Please read Acts 19:11-41 and see that Ephesus had a problem with goddess worship. Her name was Diana, Gk. Artemis. You will not have to study very deep to find the similarities between the goddess Diana and the Roman Catholic goddess, Mary. It should be noted that the Mary of the 1st century and the Mary of the 20th century are not the same. Mary of the 1st century was the virgin who gave birth to the Messiah. Mary of the 20th century is a goddess created by the Roman Catholic Church. A simple comparison of what the Bible teaches about Mary and what the Roman Catholic Church teaches about her will reveal two different Marys. Mary is not the "Mother of God." If she were she would be GOD! There is only one true, eternal God. He was not born of a woman. Any teaching on any subject should be backed up by the word of God. If it cannot be supported by Scriptures, it is false doctrine.
Would you agree with the premise of the following book:
“The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors”?
http://bit.ly/A7SZ54
Is there a reason why you’re just chocked full of such ‘colorful’ ways of expressing yourself which could lend some to imagine there’s a serious problem somewhere that needs attention?
Semiramis and her son..."God Incarnate"
That's quite obviously what you've done, since Scripture shows that the brethren in the passage you cherry-picked are the biological sons of different women, not the Blessed Mother. This is a common mistake that those who are ignorant of Scripture make and never learn not to repeat.
Is not this the carpenter's son?
So you linguistic literalists believe that Joseph was the actual father of Jesus and not the Holy Spirit?
"Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude:" Matthew 13:55
James (the less), Joseph and Jude are the sons of Cleophas (Alphaeus) and Mary - another Mary, not the Blessed Virgin Mary:
"Among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee." Matthew 27:56
"And there was there Mary Magdalen, and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre" Matthew 27:61
"And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre." Matthew 28:1
"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen." John 19:25
Simon, aka Zelotes, was a Cananean.
"And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he named them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew, and Thomas and James of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananean:" Mark 3:17-18
"James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him." Matthew 10:3-4
"Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon who is called Zelotes," Luke 6:14-15
"And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Jude the brother of James." Acts 1:13
"Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James: to them that are beloved in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." Jude 1:1
Now, linguistic literalist, explain the use of brother and brethren in the following since these individuals are not biological brothers.
"Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister's son was come, ran forth to meet him; and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey, He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired, He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have." Genesis 29:13-15
"For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." Matthew 12:50
"Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, Saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes. And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master; and all you are brethren." Matthew 23:1-8
"For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother." Mark 3:35
"In those days Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said: (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty:) Men, brethren, the scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus:" Acts 1:15-16
"But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat." 1 Corinthians 5:6
"Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep." 1 Corinthians 15:6
It's fairly obvious to the most casual observer that you have absolutely no clue.
I should correct you here. It's not the same reasoning.
Cyril's reasoning is:
If A is the mother of B, and B is God, therefore A is the mother of God.
The reasoning you cite is:
If A is the mother of B and B is God, therefore A is God.
Quite different, and quite wrong in the orthodox view of the Incarnation, quite at odds with the fundamental creeds and teaching of the Church, and not at all the same reasoning.
"But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written." John 21:25
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ." Romans 10:17
"Now I praise you, brethren, that in all things you are mindful of me: and keep my ordinances as I have delivered them to you." 1 Corinthians 11:2
"Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle." 2 Thessalonians 2:15
"And we charge you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us." 2 Thessalonians 3:6
"But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1 Timothy 3:15
"Hold the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me in faith, and in the love which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 1:13
"Understanding this first, that no prophecy of scripture is made by private interpretation." 2 Peter 1:20
"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16
That may be your opinion, but it seems to be a question that people are avoiding to give a straight answer.
what Mary bore was his connection to humanity, not his eternal divinity.
What Mary bore was a child. The question is whether the child in her womb was only human or was he also divine.
Did Mary give birth to only a human child, or was this child also divine at the time of His birth? Note that I am asking about the birth, not the conception.
Are you capable of giving a straight answer?
is profitable for
is a long way from "all you need for."
Flour is profitable for a perfect cake, but far from all you need. Sola flour is not a perfect cake.
Where else and about whom else is this written in Scripture?
There is nothing in Scripture that says that being full of grace equates to sinlessness.
Wrong again. You'd think that after having been exposed for being such a poor student of Scripture, you'd stop sticking your foot in your mouth. However, you are indeed a glutton for punishment.
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14
"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." Genesis 3:15
"And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." Luke 1:28
Heresy is always the result of not accepting Christian canon and refusing to surrender to Christ, take up your cross, and follow Him.
(I hope the Scripture revisionists can understand that the word "Him" refers back to Christ in that sentence.)
By the by, you're making it awfully personal there and I don't think I like that. When someone with an IQ lower than the recommend tire pressure printed on the side of a children's bicycle tire fails to grasp something that doesn't indicate that the author has a problem. It's more likely an indication of an inability of some sort on the part of the reader.
So did the Jesus' divine nature ever exist apart from his human nature?
You've contradicted yourself, yet again. She had no role but she was with Him during His ministry, according to you. Jesus' public ministry began at Cana at the urging of His mother and the Blessed Mother is mentioned as being with Him several times in all four of the Gospels. She was there at His conception, she was at His presentation in the temple, she raised Him, she found Him teaching in the temple, she was with Him when He preached to the multitudes, she was present at His death and placement in the sepulchre, ...
"AND the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to Him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." John 2:1-5
"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him." John 2:11
Nothing Mary gave Jesus survived.
Where did He get His resurrected body which still bore all the wounds he suffered during His passion?
If only you knew what you don't know.
"See then the goodness and the severity of God: towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Romans 11:22
"For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries." Hebrews 10:26-27
You'd be well served to reflect deeply on your disregard for the Eighth Commandment.
He needed the Blessed Mother to become God incarnate, the Word made flesh.
Would that be the abridged, heavily edited version of Scripture circa 1611 AD, or the original unabridged, unedited version from 405 AD?
"After that, He saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own." John 19:27
Luke 1:43And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord* should come to me?
John 20:28 Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Elizabeth recognized her as the mother of her Lord.
Wintertime this is a quote from one of your more ardent fans about the Catholic Church that you claim to love so much. Would you care to take a stand and set her straight?
Perhaps you might want to peruse the thread to see some of the anti-Catholic bigotry she also supports.
Although many Evangelicals would rather go direct to introduced themselves to Jesus and simply ignore Blessed Mother.
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.