Posted by Dog on December 16, 2003, at 12:57:00
In reply to Re: Blasphemy and Accusatory Snide Remarks! » Dog, posted by Dena on December 16, 2003, at 10:46:12
Dena,
my sister in the Lord: i think you have been hurt and others have been hurt by some self-righteous individuals who are name-calling... we have to stick to that "bottom line" as you call it...you were, i think, doing some accusing and name-calling and proclaiming things that were not right... maybe you see how easy it is to hurt others feelings, but one shouldn't turn around and hurt someone else's feelings just because you were hurt... Protestants don't as a whole "put down" Mary... any Protestant (or claims to be so) who does is not of my liking...
the Cult of Mary is very strong... again, i love Mary: i believe she did a great thing, one of the greatest things ever done by a human, but only one of the greatest... it all has to take a back seat to Jesus Christ and His work: this is the bottom line...Jesus is the bottom line...
Protestants are grateful for what Mary did, she bore our Lord Jesus...Protestants don't pray to her or kneel before her, though, because that is not what the Bible says ... i have read many of the Church Fathers: Athanasius, Polycarp, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, et al ... all of the Patristic writings are useful and i highly recommend them but they are not Holy Scripture...
we have to watch that "bottom line" as you call it and stick to essentials... some of which are:-Holy Scripture
-the Virgin Birth
-the Divinity of Christ
-the Trinity or rather, Tri-Unity of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
-the Resurrection of Christ
-Christ's Atonement for our sins on the Cross
-a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and there are a few others, but mostly the Apostles Creed things.... but as far as kneeling before a statue of Mary, Jesus' mother, that is not "kosher" according to Scripture...you mentioned the "whore of Babylon" which is mentioned in Revelation... i think some have mis-interpreted this and compared it to the Roman Catholic Church because of the worship of Mary, but they were not "putting down" Mary... the argument they profess is that this worship of Mary is not an actual worship of Mary the mother of Jesus at all, but a syncretistic belief.... it is like putting Mary's name and attributes onto a pagan god... the pagans and other religeons in various forms had a fertility godess, and this godess was very popular and some have accused the Roman Church of worshipping that godess and just renaming her Mary...2000 years ago, there used to be temple prostitutes for this godess and one of the ways worshippers paid tribute was by paying money to have sex with the temple prostitutes to worship another god, a godess... however, no Protestant, i don't care how fundamentalist or rabidly anti-RC they are, would say this is in actuality Mary, the mother of Jesus: this would be blasphemy...Mary is in Heaven now... we cannot talk to her... i love Roman Catholics, but if anyone claims they can talk to her, they are sadly mistaken and this isn't just me but according to Scripture, the 66 books of the Bible... they might be sincere and believe with all their heart that she hears them and answers prayer, but they are sincerely wrong... i am not putting anyone's beliefs down and I am not putting Mary down... again i love Mary and what she did and others can believe they want to and i would die for their right to believe as they choose, but this is not Holy Scripture...
Protestant doctrine is, i believe, at least most of the ones that i know, that Mary is a very holy person, and we are all most grateful for what she did, and she is most blessed among women, the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus when she was a virgin and carried our Lord Jesus as an infant...i praise God for her, for His plan that she was a part of...however, Protestants worship only Jesus Christ... they pray only to Jesus Christ...Jesus is our only Lord and God, and there is no other person or name by which one can be saved, not even His mother... Mary is great and did a great thing and she is at least as important as any of the prophets, but Jesus is the one to pray to... everything pales in comparison to Him...praying to anyone or anything else, according to Scripture (the Biblical Canon of 66 Books) is in error...
poster:Dog
thread:289364
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20030908/msgs/290558.html