Results 1 - 12 of 12
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | stjones | 71130 | ||
Hi, Romans; You have given examples of Catholics taking Mary out of context and losing perspective. This is a bad thing. But Christians of any denomination can be so taken by the things of God that they lose sight of God himself. I know Christians who revere the Bible more than they do God. I know Christians who worship works, who worship spiritual gifts, who worship prosperity. Shall we take away Bibles, works, gifts, prosperity? No one is lost or saved based on whether or not they pray to Mary. It is only one's relationship with God through Jesus that matters. The enemy has enough wedges to drive Christians apart. I see no need to wield one myself. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
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2 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | romans | 71133 | ||
Hi Steve I am sorry, I don't fully understand you when you said "taking Mary out of context." The things I wrote previously was not taken just anywhere. I was a Catholic (for 29 years) so I know. The things I shared are being practiced by the Catholics particularly in the Philippines. I am not accusing anyone of anything, I am just stating a fact and a reality that is occuring. We are neither talking about salvation nor did discuss about salvation. It is about the issue of "Why pray to Mary?" Just like the question I raised, "Why pray to Mary to pray to Jesus for you when you can pray straight to Jesus?" So, Mary becomes a mediator between the person and God. As I have also written, the Bibles teaches us there is only one mediator. Don't you think it's proper to share your views on something you think is not biblical? I don't see anything wrong with it unless you force to the person to accept and believe in it. I tackle issues objectively not subjectively. In Christ, Romans |
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3 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | stjones | 71154 | ||
Hi, Romans; I seem to have mistaken your intentions; if so, please accept my apologies. I have Catholic friends who show Christ in their lives much more lovingly and more completely than I or most of my Protestant friends do. And I know Protestants who think Catholics aren't Christians - the very embodiment of focusing on the mote in their brothers' eyes. By "taking Mary out of context" I meant attaching more importance or ascribing more power and authority to her than the Bible says she has. If Mary is the focus of your faith, that would be wrong. If you think it is Mary who forgives your sins, that would be wrong. If you think you can't talk directly to God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit but only through Mary, that would be wrong. If you give Mary the praise and glory for God's acts of grace and providence, that would be wrong. If you think that it is only Mary's prayer at the hour of your death that gains you admission to the Kingdom, that would be wrong. My understanding (and I'm no expert) is that none of these is "official" Catholic theology. If priests or parishoners teach or assume these things, then that is wrong. It sounds as if the situation in the Philippines is such a case. (But I don't have to go any further than my TV to see erroneous teaching that borders on heresy.) Now, if you revere Mary as the very important woman that Luke 1 says she was, if you believe she has eternal life, if you feel drawn to her as a friend, if you believe she can hear your prayers, if praying to her is just one aspect of a healthy relationship with God through Christ, then I still don't see a problem. For example, I can see nothing objectionable in the "Hail Mary". Most of it is straight out of Luke 1. The request, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." looks a little strange to my reformed eyes. It could certainly produce some interesting theological discussions, but I would hardly brand it as heresy. There is no doubt that praying to Mary could be a symptom of a grevious underlying error. I just don't see that it is an error in and of itself. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
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4 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | One | 71155 | ||
Matt 17:1 Six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. Matt 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. Matt 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Matt 17:4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Matt 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" Deut 4:24 "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. I must disagree, look at these passages. God does not want us to put the focus on any of His servants He wants the focus to be on Him. Now some have said, “We do a lot of things not in the Bible” and that is what I see wrong with a lot of religion today. We have not learned the lesson from Nadab and Abihu who were destroyed for offering fire that God had not commanded. Don’t get me wrong I don’t say this to be like I’m going to heaven and no one else is. It is not my job, nor is it any mans job to stand at the gates of heaven and say, “Your in, your out, your in, naw on second thought your out.” However I think we should take a strong look at what God finds pleasing and what He does not. Then try to do what pleases God and less of what pleases us. I just don't see how praying to Mary, Moses, Paul, or any mortal would please God. We should follow every prayer in the Bible and pray to God only! |
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5 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | stjones | 71160 | ||
Hi, One; This whole discussion started with Emmaus telling us that praying to Mary is nothing more than Caleb Catholic asking Mary to pray for him. We could have a lively discussion about whether or not Mary is in a position to hear and respond to such requests, but I don't think we would find a conclusive answer in the Bible. So I don't know if such requests are effective or not. Likewise, I might ask Peter Protestant to pray for me. He may do it; he may not. I don't know if my request was effective or not. Is God offended that I didn't just speak for myself? No. Can we show that Mary neither hears nor honors such requests? No. Can we show that God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit would be offended if she did hear and honor such requests? No. Can we show that such requests offend God? No. I suggest that we have the grace to allow Catholics to ask whomever they like to pray for them if we can't show that the person they choose is unacceptable to God. Maybe the problem is in the phrase "praying to Mary". Praying to God means speaking to God; praying to Mary means speaking to Mary. The "Hail Mary" (the only prayer to Mary I know of) doesn't say "forgive my sins" or "admit me to Heaven" or "heal me". It says "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death". It asks for nothing more than a prayer to God on behalf of "us sinners". I can find no harm in that. Do some Catholics go too far? Of course. And there are Protestants who go overboard and focus on the Bible or spiritual gifts or prophecy or prosperity and so lose sight of God. The mere fact that some Christians misuse something doesn't make that thing bad; it's the misuse that's bad. So it is with praying to Mary. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
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6 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | One | 71164 | ||
To me comparing my saying to my brother or sister in Christ, please pray for me, to someone bowing to a statue and directing a prayer is like comparing apples and Fords. One you are praying to the other your not. So yes I would say that the problems arise in saying "praying to Mary." Also it adds to it when I know some of the high Maryology of the Catholic church makeing her a co redeemer with Christ. Now while I know and admit much of the practicing Catholics do not support some of the higher Maryology of their church. We must see how Higher Maryology has affected the laity in their veneration and prayer to her. We must look at the Big Picture. |
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7 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 71165 | ||
One, This issue has been covered at length more than once before on this forum. Agreement seems unlikely. Below is a link that addresses and responds to most of the point you have made. Some may find it reasonable and some may not, but it coveres the subject pretty well in a reasonably brief form. http://WWW.CATHOLIC.COM/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp Emmaus |
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8 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | One | 71169 | ||
Well I looked the web site you gave and we can agree to disagree, how any one can read Rev 5:8 and see in between the lines dead saints hearing our prayers and interceding on our behalf is beyond me. It just says it’s the prayers of the saints, I always have seen this as the living saints prayers. I will say this I think we do ourselves and God a great disservice when we focus on what can we do as Christians and not on what please God. When we pray to saints we are at best promoting a practice not clearly approved by God or the Bible. | ||||||
9 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 71191 | ||
One, "how any one can read Rev 5:8 and see in between the lines dead saints hearing our prayers and interceding on our behalf is beyond me.It just says it’s the prayers of the saints, I always have seen this as the living saints prayers." Exactly! They are the prayers of the living saints! And they are being offered by the other saints in heaven (the twenty four elders)like incense. That is the intercessory prayer of the saints in heaven. The communion of saints is not broken by death (Rom 8:34-38). We are all still in communion with one another in and through Jesus interceding for one another in and as the Body of Christ (Ep 1:22-23; Col 3:15). Emmaus |
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10 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | mbooker | 71624 | ||
Good morning Emmaus :) I don’t want to bother you… but I need to ask you a question. Last night I was watching the Discovery Health channel and they were talking about a little girl who was born deaf. She was miraculously healed (about the age of 3 or 4) and the doctors had absolutely no explanation for it. At that point I began to smile and said ‘Someone was praying for that little girl’. Then, it was said a Sister (forgot her name) had prayed for the little girl. Then they started talking about the Vatican (I think that’s the word they used) the Sister was a part of. Anyway, it was mentioned that if she performed one more miracle, she would become a saint. I have heard something similar to this from a co-worker who was raised in a Catholic church. She said that in order to become a saint, you had to do so many miracles. I went to one of the sites (catholic.om) you posted not too long ago, but was not able to find whether or not the above is taught by those in a Catholic church. Is this taught? If so, is there a site I can read up on it? Thanks for your help Meredith |
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11 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 71626 | ||
mbooker, Generally, miraculous cures are one of the things looked for when indivduals are being investigated for possible canonization as a saint. Here is a link with more information for you. http://www.EWTN.COM/vlibrary/search2.asp Emmaus |
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12 | Praying to Mary isn't worship? | Bible general Archive 1 | Emmaus | 71630 | ||
mbooker, Looks like the link I gave you was not the right one. Here are three that should answer your questions in some depth. http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/CACANONI.HTM http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/ZCAUSES.HTM http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/CANONIZE.HTM |
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