Posted on 08/15/2013 7:03:11 PM PDT by annalex
Once a woman in the crowd surrounding Christ and His disciples cries out to Him:
Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. (Luke 11:27)
What is it? We have, clearly, an act of venerating Mary. Note that the Blessed Virgin is venerated properly: not on her own but as the mother of Christ. Yet the reason for venerating is indeed concerning: it is her physiological and physiologically unique relationship with Jesus that is emphasized. That is not yet paganism with its crude theories of gods giving birth to other gods, but it is lacking proper focus and Jesus corrects it:
Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:28)
The Virgin with the Child on her knees and a prophet pointing at the star. Catacomb of Priscilla, late 2nd c. Source |
Having gotten past this linguistic hurdle, we can understand clearly what this passage, Luke 11:27-28, does: it establishes veneration of saints based not on their blood relation to Christ but on their obedience to God. It is in that sense that we venerate Our Lady: given that Christ is the Word of God personified, she heard and kept both Him in person as her Child and His teaching, figuratively. In Mary the essence of sainthood is seen in the flesh as well as in the mind. We could say that by the late second century at the latest, when we find evidence of the veneration of both the prophets and the Mother of God in the catacombs, the two reasons to venerate a saint: his martyrdom as in the case of Polycarp, or his obedience to the Word, as in Mary, -- unite into a single practice.
Only by FReepmail.
Then his buds can hype it in clear text.
Matthew 18:20
20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
Hey, look there, we don’t need dead humans as mediators according to this source called The Bible. Is that source not good enough for them?
didn’t Jesus say the ONLY way to God was through him??
did he forget to mention “all your dead ancestors”? how about Twitter, can we get through to God with Twitter? Surely this was a simple oversight
Hey! I was thinking the same thing. Jesus sure blew his chance to promote prayers to departed saints when his disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Instead, he said, “Pray in this manner, ‘Our father...”. Not ONE word about angels or dead prophets of the Lord. Not even ONE word in the rest of the New Testament books and the only time we hear about in Scripture of someone trying to contact a dead guy, he was terminated by God (Saul to Samuel). If the Catholic Church really did write the Bible, as they so often claim here, why oh why was that left out? We have a DIRECT line to our heavenly Father and no Email, twitter, SKPE, etc. is necessary - PTL!
Count on it! We’ll have to keep this in mind for future reference.
Often they will cite a catechism instead of scripture, thats like an LDSer pulling out his Book of Mormon
or this:
Matthew 23:8 But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.
....
Could you go and ask the Dear Deacons, Bishop, Monsignor, Priest “Father” and.. uh.. that one dude about this passage?
No, it's not.
The work of Jesus on the cross isn't good enough for them either. Since they seem to feel the need to add to even THAT, does it surprise anyone that they feel the need to add to Scripture because it's not sufficient?
If the Living Word isn't good enough, the written word isn't going to be either.
We don't NEED dead people to speak to God on our behalf. WE have Jesus and the Holy Spirit doing it for us.
How much better does it get than that?
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:33-34 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who diedmore than that, who was raisedwho is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
If we already have Jesus and the Holy Spirit, why do Christians ask other Christians to pray for them?
We are commanded to pray for each other in Scripture countless times.
The saints in heaven are more alive than us, because they behold the face of God.
Moreover, their prayers are more efficacious than the prayers of the saints on earth, since they are free of sin, and "the prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
So why not ask for their prayers? Certainly, this has been the practice of Christians dating back to pre-New Testament Christianity, as the tomb of St. Peter is marked with ancient graffiti, saying, "Peter, pray for us."
We also see the saints in heaven praying for the saints on earth, in Revelation:
"[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).
Yup!
Context, context, context....
James 5:15-18 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
That verse does not mean that the prayers of "saints" are more effective than ours.
Jesus Himself promised that when we prayed, God Himself would hear and answer our prayers.
Luke 11:1-13 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.
And he said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he will answer from within, Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything?
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
Why do we pray for each other? Because we are commanded to.
However, that command is never given in regard to praying to anyone who has already died.
If the saints in heaven are indeed capable of hearing us and praying for us, that indicates that they are aware of what's going on here on earth. If that's the case, then they don't need us to pray to them to pray for us. They would be doing it already, just like many of us do without being asked.
And the command is to pray FOR each other, not to each other.
The saints in heaven are more alive than us, because they behold the face of God.
They are not *more alive* than us. When someone is born again, they are already alive spiritually and seated in heavenly places with Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christby grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We cannot be more righteous in God's sight because we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
Well...
Jesus answered, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.
Not really, as the BoM contains hardly anything that came be found that influences their practices and strange rites.
The BoM is like a chef mincing up a BIBLE and a Lord of the Rings knockoff and then making an omelet.
You want the GOOD stuff in Mormonism; you need to look into Salt Lake City's edition of the Doctrines & Covenants as well as the Pearl of Great Price.
Get all 4 (a suspect KJV is included) in an easy to carry Quad!
Silly wabbit!
The BIBLE says to do that!
We did NOT conjure it up from bits and pieces!
Just keep on saying this; and you'll come to believe it!
"[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).
I'm sorry; but it appears you have failed Parsing 101.
To get a passing grade; you'll need to re-take the class.
BAh!
"Saints" are even more effective than JESUS!!
I've NEVER heard of any of THEM having to redo a MIRACLE.
Mark 8:22-26
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.
23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, Do you see anything?
24 And he looked up and said, I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.
25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.
Oh???
The Articles of Faith outline 13 basic points of belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith first wrote them in a letter to John Wentworth, a newspaper editor,
in response to Mr. Wentworth's request to know what members of the Church believed.
They were subsequently published in Church periodicals.
They are now regarded as scripture and included in the Pearl of Great Price.
THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535541
Joseph Smith |
Yeah...
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
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