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NASB | 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is [only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, |
Subject: Why should we pray to Mary? |
Bible Note: Lisa: As someone very familiar with the history of Spain and of Latin America, I assure you that Spain was not ousted from Mexico until 1821. It is heresy to suggest that a human being convinces God to do something, as if the omniscient, omnipresent God of the universe will act in a manner less than His infinite wisdom dictates. Go back and read Genesis 18. God did not promise to rescue Lot and his family based on Abraham's pleading with Him. God promised that if ten righteous men could be found in the city that Sodom would not be detroyed at all. God, already knowing that ten such men were nowhere to be found, has no plans to change His course of action. God's rescue of righteous Lot (2 Peter 2:7-9) was based on God's mercy upon him acting according to His own infinitely wise counsel, to make an example of him in ages to come of how God does indeed rescue the righteuous from surrounding wickedness. When God answers prayer, it is because He has decreed from eternity past that the thing prayed for would come about as an answer to our prayers. You see, God has not only known what He would do from eternity past, but also everything that have prayed for and will pray for. Being outside of time, he has a perspective that we do not have as beings who pass through time. However, to suggest anything else would be to suggest that God does not know in advance what we will pray for (saying He is less than omniscient) or that He depends on advice from His creation (denying that He is all-wise). Either one is false teaching about God. A series of much more well-articulated articles on the paradox of God's sovereignty and prayer can be found here: http://www.desiringgod.org/Online_Library/OnlineArticles/Subjects/Prayer/PrayerIndex.htm By the way, without conceding that the miracles are genuine, it must be said that everything miraculous is not from God: "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." --Matthew 24:24 "So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs." --Exodus 7:10-12 "Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." --2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 The bottom line isn't the claims of healing. Satan will be more than happy to heal a person if it means that he and 10,000 others will believe falsehoods. The REAL bottom line is what Scripture says. Scripture contadicts any notion that Mary is our intercessor. We do not need her to intercede for us. Why? Because Chirst is our sole mediator, as I cited before from Titus: "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." --Hebrews 7:25 We simply see not one shred of evidence from the Scriptures that Mary or departed saints having God's ear in any special way. That arose out of the traditions of Rome, and contradicts the clearly set-forth doctrines of the Bible. To accept one is to reject the other on this point. --Joe! |