There are very easy counter arguments to every point about Mary here:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/hail-mary-conceived-without-sin
If you want to make “all” include every human then you have to put Jesus in that category, since he is truly God and truly man.
As for using scripture to attack the Catholic faith that is ridiculous. The Bible came out of the Church, not the other way around, and there was no compilation of approved books for her first 300 years. Coming back 1500 after the birth of Jesus and after Martin Luther cut 7 books out and trying to tell us what the Bible says is not intellectually honest.
And if I would you I wouldn’t be so quick to degrade the mother of our Lord to just a womb with a body around it. Remember that all will call her blessed-even the Protestant denominations.
I already call Mary blessed; she had the blessing of being around Jesus and the early church for her entire life.
But she’s still a sinner.
Mary herself confessed to being a sinner when she brought a SIN offering before God.
To claim that Mary is sinless is to claim that Mary is a liar.
And being a liar... makes Mary a sinner.
It is literally impossible for Mary to be sinless unless you choose to reject the same book of the Bible that you’re using as your evidence.
You do realize the difference between the Creator and the created....right?
Jesus is the Creator and the rest of us are the created.
That's a fundamental belief....unless you're mormon.
Sadly, like a lot of Roman Catholics you excel at the RC talking points but fail at knowledge of Scripture.
Scripture is clear that Jesus was sinless. He is the only person in Scripture noted to be sinless.....you do know that...right??
As for using scripture to attack the Catholic faith that is ridiculous.
Actually, the Bible addresses this issue in that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 NASB"
The Bible came out of the Church, not the other way around, and there was no compilation of approved books for her first 300 years.
Actually you have this wrong.
The Bible came out of the Church, not the other way around, and there was no compilation of approved books for her first 300 years.
No. The Scriptures came from God. The church recognized those writings that were inspired.
There was far more agreement on the canon than most realize.
The OT was already in place...all 39 books.
Paul's letters had been accorded status as canon by ~66 AD.
Rome didn't finalize its canon until the Council of Trent. So for ~1500 years Rome operated without an approved set of Scriptures.
And what is very telling at Trent is that Rome did not include ANY of the other writings they consider to be "tradition" in their canon.
And if I would you I wouldnt be so quick to degrade the mother of our Lord to just a womb with a body around it. Remember that all will call her blessed-even the Protestant denominations.
There is no denigrating of Mary other than the idols Rome has made of her.
If anything Rome has denigrated the name of Christ and the Spirit by equating their attributes to Mary.
Yes....she is counted as blessed...as are believers in James 5:11.
From his "apologetic".
After the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, God promised the advent of another woman in Genesis 3:15, or a New Eve who would oppose Lucifer, and whose seed would crush his head. This woman and her seed would reverse the curse, so to speak, that the original man and woman had brought upon humanity through their disobedience.
It should be noted the term "New Eve" is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture nor hinted at.
Perhaps Staples isn't familiar with the Catholic Encyclopedia.
It claims to be:
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/
*****
It has the following to say about the Immaculate Conception.
No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture. But the first scriptural passage which contains the promise of the redemption, mentions also the Mother of the Redeemer. The sentence against the first parents was accompanied by the Earliest Gospel (Proto-evangelium), which put enmity between the serpent and the woman: "and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and her seed; she (he) shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her (his) heel" (Genesis 3:15). The translation "she" of the Vulgate is interpretative; it originated after the fourth century, and cannot be defended critically.
https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=6056
Of the major translations the Douay-Rheims is the only one to render the passage as "she shall crush thy head".
https://biblehub.com/genesis/3-15.htm
The RSVCE, NRSVCE, and NRSVACE, all record the passage as "he shall crush they head (or strike)"
A bad translation leading to bad theology.
The Roman Catholic dogma is built on very, very pourus sand.
And arguments refuting such Staple's sophistry as often posted here.
• Jesus Christ was an exception to Romans 3:23 and 1 John 1:8.
And this we know because at least 3 times Christ is declared to be sinless, but nowhere is Mary, even though the Holy Spirit characteristically records notable exceptions to the norm by even great to lesser characters, from extreme age (Methuselah), to excess size, fingers (Goliath), strength (Samson), barrenness (Hannah), a celibate marriage (David and Abishag), prolonged celibacy (Anna), ascetic diet (John the Baptist), the supernatural transport of Phillip, the singleness of Paul and Barnabas, and uncharacteristic duplicity of Peter, and the surpassing labor and suffering of Paul, birth by a virgin (Mary).
Thus the burden of proof is upon the Catholic to show the exception to the norm, that Mary was without sin (and a perpetual virgin).
•Sacred Scripture indicates that salvation can also refer to man being protected from sinning before the fact:
And God could have enabled Mary to part the Red Sea, but the fact that God can do something simply does not mean He did do something regardless of home much Staples want it to.
•And [the angel Gabriel] came to [Mary] and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”... The angel actually communicated a new name or title to her. (cf. Redemptoris Mater, 8, 9). In Greek, the greeting was kaire, kekaritomene, or “Hail, full of grace.” Generally speaking, when one greeted another with kaire, a name or title would be found in the immediate context.
More sophistry by Staples. The word basically means "rejoice/glad, etc. and that is how it is almost always used in its 78 occurrences, and in Luke 1:28 that is what is fitting "rejoice thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." And it is never used as giving someone a new name, and is used in the saracstic sense toward the Lord Jesus. Thus once again Staples forcing Scripture to teach what he can only wish it did.
•St. Luke uses the perfect passive participle, kekaritomene, as his “name” for Mary. This word literally means “she who has been graced” in a completed sense. This verbal adjective, “graced,” is not just describing a simple past action.
This often claim of the Greek has been refuted often as here, by the grace of God and (since the argument depends upon the Greek) by a well-credentialed Greek scholar on kecharitomene"
•In the New Testament, the new Ark is not an inanimate object, but a person: the Blessed Mother.
Thus argument presumes the very thing it attempt to prove, that a women who at the least suffered from uncleaness under the Law then n force (unless the Catholic can show she also did not menstruate) was sinless and thus was the Ark, rather than Christ, with gold representing His glory, as Christ is the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His person, (Heb. 1:3) and who contained the law and the words of life, and the rod of God as did the Ark. (Heb. 9:4) And by whom God spoke to man, as the word was made flesh, taking on the common “wooden” body of man, but as John said, “we have beheld his glory His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:14),
•And Jesus himself indicates that Mary is the prophetic “woman” or “New Eve” of Genesis 3:15 when he refers to his mother as “woman” in John 2:4 and 19:26. Moreover, St. John refers to Mary as “woman” eight times in Revelation 12.
Has Staples no shame? Will Catholic abuse of Scripture even stop? "Mary is the prophetic “woman” or “New Eve” of Genesis 3:15 when he refers to his mother as “woman” in John 2:4.? Is he serious? Egregious extrapolation asserted as fact. Meanwhile even Catholic scholars (and the NAB notes) reject Revelation 12 a referring to Mary. See here.
Thus again, the Catholic fails to to show the exception to the norm in Scripture, which, true to form, would teach the sinlessness of Mary if it was a fact .
Meanwhile, One would have a hard time in Bible times explaining kneeling before a statue and praising the entity it represented in the unseen world, even with adulation, attributes, glory and titles never given in Scripture to created beings (except to false gods), including having the uniquely Divine power glory to hear and respond to virtually infinite numbers of prayers addressed to them, and beseeching such for Heavenly help, and making offerings to them. Which would constitute worship in Scripture, yet Catholics imagine by playing word games they avoid crossing the invisible line between mere "veneration" and worship. </p> <p>Instead they should do what Mary and every believer in every prayer to Heaven did (and I should do more of), which was to pray directly to the Lord, not secretaries. But they must truly become born again for that.
"Moses, put down those rocks! I was only engaging in hyper dulia, not adoring her. Can't you tell the difference?"
We are to seek (i need to do more) to give the glory to Christ He alone is worthy of as the only sinless (1Pt. 2:22; 2Co. 5:21) Savior and heavenly intercessor between God and man, (1Tim. 2:5) who alone is said to make unceasing intercession for the elect, (Heb. 7:25) and alone is said to have been tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin, and to whom the Holy Spirit points the believer to come to obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need, (Heb. 4:15,16) and by whose blood the believer has direct access into the holy of holies in Heaven. (Heb. 10:19) Instead, Catholics ascribe to Mary Divine attributes and rob Christ of glory by their thinking of Mary above that which is written, (cf. 1Co. 4:6) and will not heed reproof, which the worshipers of the only Queen of Heaven in Scripture would not either:
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes... (Jeremiah 44:16-17)
Oh i see: "you cannot know what Scripture consists of unless you trust the the Catholic church, for we gave you the Bible and therefore we cannot be really wrong in faith and morals. Thus you need to submit to the Catholic magisterium." Meaning 1st century souls thus needed to submit to the Jewish leadership since they were the magisterial stewards of the established authoritative body of Scripture (the tripartite Palestinian collection, thus "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27). Let us know what that goes.
there was no compilation of approved books for her first 300 years. Coming back 1500 after the birth of Jesus and after Martin Luther cut 7 books out and trying to tell us what the Bible says is not intellectually honest.
Actually there was no "infallible" canon of Scripture for RCs until after the death of Luther, and contrary to "Catholic Answers" propaganda, scholarly disagreements over the canonicity (proper) of certain books continued down through the centuries and right into Trent, until it provided the first "infallible," indisputable canon in 1546. Read the page linked to before you respond.
Luther was no maverick but had substantial RC support for his non-binding private judgment on the canon, which is not the 66 Prot. canon.
That is a strawman, since our argument is not that Mary is "just a womb with a body around it," and I have here affirmed Mary as the holy, sanctified, graced, blessed, virtuous, Spirit-filled mother (as concerning the flesh: cf. Rm. 9:5) of the Lord Jesus.
In contrast to the Catholic disobedience to the Biblical injunction against think of morals "above that which is written" (1 Corinthians 4:6) which Catholics grievously dod. Note that many Catholic Marian attributions much parallel even that of Christ:
For in the the Catholic quest to almost deify Mary, it is taught by Catholics*,
As the the Son of God has a unique unique relationship with the Persons of the Trinity, so also Mary is said to have a unique relationship with all three Persons of the Trinity;
As Christ is the express image of God, and highly exalted above all under the Father, having the primary position among all creation, so Mary is declared to be the greatest saint of all, and the first of all creatures, and as having a certain affinity with the Father, with a pre-eminent resemblance which she bears to the Father;
As Christ was called the Son of God, indicating ontological oneness, so Mary is called the Mother of God (which naturally infers the same, and is not the language of Scripture, which even clarifies Israel birthed Christ "according to the flesh, God blessed for ever": Rm. 9:4,5);
As the the Son of God supernaturally, spiritually makes believing souls into children of God, Mary is said to be the mother of Christians in "supernatural and spiritual generation."
As Christ was sinless, so Mary was;
As the Lord remained a virgin, so also Mary;
As the Lord was bodily ascended into Heaven, so Mary also was;
As the Holy Spirit directs believers to be "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith," (Hebrews 12:2) in whom believes are accounted a holy nation, (1 Pt. 2:9) so Catholicism teaches that believers are to "turn their eyes to Mary" in whom "the Church is already the 'all-holy." (CCC 829)
As the Father made Christ Lord over all things, so Mary is said to be enthroned above all creation (all other believers have to wait for their crowns) and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things;
As Christ is given all power in heaven and in earth, so Mary is “surpassing in power all the angels and saints in Heaven.”
As Christ is given all power on Heaven and on earth, so Mary is said to have (showing some restraint) “almost unlimited power;” and showing less restraint, to be "omnipotent" (by grace);
As God the Father made His Divine Son functionally the Lord over the universe, so Mary states, "I command what I will, and introduce whom I will."
As no man comes to the Father but through the Son, so it is taught that no one can come to the Son except through Mary in Heaven;
As no one can obtain mercy, be saved/redeemed or be delivered and know the Father but through the Son, so the same is said of Mary;
As those whom God has chosen will come to Him, so it is said that if Mary wills our salvation, and then we are sure to obtain it.
As the emphasis is upon Christ as the Creator through whom God (the Father) made all things, including Mary, so it is emphasized that uniquely “to her, Jesus owes His Precious Blood,” shed for the salvation of mankind, (the logic behind which can lead back to Eve);
As Scripture declares that Christ suffered for our sins, so Mary is said to have done so also, even all the consequences of sin;
As Christ redeemed mankind (as many as truly believe) with the Father and the Spirit, so it is said of Mary that "we might rightly say she redeemed the human race together with Christ."
As Christ saves us from the condemnation and death resulting from the fault of Adam, so it is taught that man was condemned through the fault of Eve, the root of death, but that we are saved through the merits of Mary; who was the source of life for everyone.
As all things come from the Father through the Son, so Mary is made to be the dispenser of all grace; that "through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation."
As believers have confidence through Christ, so Mary is extolled as being the foundation of all the believer's confidence.
As the Lord wills all souls to be saved through Christ, so it is said that it is God's will that we obtain everything through Mary.
And as the Lord called souls to come to Him to be given life and salvation, so (in misappropriation of the words of Scripture) it is said of Mary, “He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord;” “that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will, that we obtain everything through Mary.”
As Christ is the King of the saints and over all kings, (Rv. 15:3; 17:14; 19:16) so Mary is made Queen of Heaven and the greatest saint, and that “Next to God, she deserves the highest praise;”
As Christ ever liveth to make intercession for the saints, so is Mary said to be in constant intercession;
as only to God is ascribed the power and privilege of hearing prayer from all flesh, so also is Mary extolled as doing so;
as believers only address God/Christ in prayer to Heaven, including in prostration before Him, so also do Catholics pray to Mary;
as believers only pray to God to have mercy on sinners, so Catholics beseech Mary to do so.
As Catholics (adding error to error) believe Christ gave His "real" flesh and blood to be eaten, so it is emphasized that Mary gave Him this, being fashioned out of Mary's pure blood and even being “kneaded with the admixture of her virginal milk,” so that she can say, "Come and eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared" (Prov. 9:5);
And as Christ is given many titles of honor, so Mary also is, except that she is honored by Catholics with more titles than they give to the Lord Himself!
Mary was a holy, virtuous instrument of God, but of whom Scripture says relatively little, while holy fear ought to restrain ascribing positions, honor, glory and powers to a mortal that God has not revealed as given to them, and or are only revealed as being possessed by God Himself. But like as the Israelites made an instrument of God an object of worship, (Num. 21:8,9; 2Kg. 18:4) Catholics have magnified Mary far beyond what is written and warranted and even allowed, based on what is in Scripture.
In addition, although (technically) Mary is not to be worshiped in the same sense that God is worshiped, yet the distinctions between devotion to Mary and the worship of God are quite fine, and much due to the psychological appeal of a heavenly mother (especially among those for whom Scripture is not supreme), then the historical practice of Catholics has been to exalt Mary above that which is written. As the Catholic Encyclopedia states, "By the sixteenth century, as evidenced by the spiritual struggles of the Reformers, the image of Mary had largely eclipsed the centrality of Jesus Christ in the life of believers." (Robert C. Broderick, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia, revised and updated; NY: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987, pp.32,33)