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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | "am I wrong in thinking that you pray to | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 26505 | ||
Hank, We do pray "to" Mary in the old sense of the word in this case. Such as Elizabethean english, i.e. "I pray you Sir, hear me out and join me in prayer to the Lord on this matter." It is a pleading to the person of dignity being addressed. In the case of the Hail Mary the prayer says "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus! Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." You see that we are first "praying the scriptures" Luke 1:28, 42, 48, 43, and then we are asking Mary to pray for us to the Lord even as I might ask you to do the same. For "the prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16. I might add that Catholics are not required to pray to Mary. But then we are not required to ask anyone else to pray with or for us either. It is simply the natural and scriptural thing to do. Family members and friend pray with and for one another. We are the family of God. |
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2 | "am I wrong in thinking that you pray to | Bible general Archive 1 | Hank | 26509 | ||
Emmaus, I'm distressed by the use of the term Holy Mary, Mother of God. Why is she called "holy?" Can you also enlighten us on why Catholics put far more emphasis on Mary than the Scriptures do? (They do, you know.) Explain also the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. How can that be justified by Scripture? And, finally, how is it that the pope came to be considered infallible?...... By the way, I'm Baptist and am far more convinced that John was a Baptist than that Peter was the first pope :-) ::::P.S. Emmaus, let me say this: I disagree strongly with you on some points of the Catholic faith, but I want you to know that I am grateful for and applaud your kindness, patience, and polite manner in your dealings with our differences. Thank you. --Hank | ||||||
3 | "am I wrong in thinking that you pray to | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 26738 | ||
Hank, I will have to answer your questions in a series of responses due to space limitations and the nature of your questions and my time limitations due to other responsibilities. The brief answer to why we call Mary holy is because she is the Mother of God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ, who by his very presence in her womb sanctified her and made her holy, even as his presence in us sanctifies us and makes us holy. Luke 1:28, 43, Matt 1:23. The angel calls Mary "Full of grace," or highly favored" depending on your translation. It is God who sanctified and made her holy. We fulfill the scripture when we call her "the Blessed Mother" Luke 1:48. We wonder why other Christians who focus so intently on scripture seem afraid to fulfill the same passage and call her blessed as we do with natural ease. To love and honor Mary is not to reduce our love for Jesus. No one could honor her more than God who chose her and Jesus who surely perfectly fulfilled the commandment to honor father and mother. We imitate Jesus in honoring her. But it is not the worship we give to Jesus. The reason it may seem to you that Catholics place more emphasis on Mary than the scripture do, I believe is because we may approach scripture some what differently and in a different context. Paticularly in how we view the communion of saints in the broad sense of all the faithful here and in heaven. Mary of course because she was chosen by God to bear Jesus, the Lord, holds a higher status than any other saint. She is also considered the perfect model of humble discipleship and obedience to God and symbolizes the whole Church and its mission to carry Christ and the gospel into the world as obedient disciples. |
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