about Mary

MARY

Exodus 20:4-“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…”

ROME SAYS

Mary was sinless; a perpetual virgin; the Mother of God and Queen of heaven; bodily assumed into heaven; Co-Mediator and Co-Redemptrix with Christ.  491-Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception.  That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854.  494-As St. Irenaeus says, “Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.  495-The Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Theotokos).

966-“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son.”

969-Taken up to heaven she did lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intersession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation….Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix.

971-The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.  The Church rightly honours “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion.”  The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.  (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Roman Catholic emphasis on Mary is founded on Luke 1:28- “And the angel came unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:  blessed art thou among women.”  This means that fullness of grace extended throughout her entire life.  Therefore, she must have been full of grace from the very first moment of her existence.  The above verse is not accurately translated in the King James Version of the Bible.  The Greek word kecharitomene should be translated “full of grace” and is just one more example that the KJV is an unreliable Protestant translation.

Past Popes have declared many things about Mary.  For instance, on March 22, 1918, Pope Benedict XV said, “She suffered so much for us, almost to the point of dying with her suffering and dying Son.   Therefore we may rightly say that she has, with Christ, redeemed the human race.”  In 1997, Pope John Paul II issued the following decree, “It is only through the heart of Mary that we come to the Eucharistic heart of Jesus.  Mary is our Advocate who prays to Jesus for us.  She may rightly be proclaimed as Mediatrix, Co-Redemptrix and Advocate.”

John Paul II at least five times during his life referred to Mary by the title “Co-redemptrix” in his papal teachings.  For example, in 1985, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the pope said, “Mary goes before us and accompanies us.  The silent journey, that begins with her Immaculate Conception and passes through the ‘yes’ of Nazareth, which makes her the mother of God, finds on Calvary a particularly important moment.  In fact, at Calvary she united herself with the sacrifice of her Son that led to the foundation of the Church; her maternal heart shared in the very depths the will of Christ ‘to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.  Having suffered for the Church, Mary deserved to become the Mother of all the disciples of her Son, the Mother of their unity.  In fact Mary’s role as Co-redemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her Son” (Inside the Vatican, July 1997, p. 23)

In a general audience address held on April 9,1997, John Paul II said, “Mary co-operated during the event itself [the crucifixion] and in the role of mother; thus her co-operation embraces the whole of Christ’s saving work.  She, alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind, in union with Christ and in submission to him, she collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity. [Vatican Information Service]

This and other statements made by John Paul II leave no doubt that he believed that Mary is co-redeemer with Christ, mediator of all grace and advocate who intercedes for the saints.  This diminishes the sufficiency of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross.  “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

“Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”  This is the central prayer of the rosary, the main instrument of prayer for all faithful Catholics.  This prayer is repeated fifty-three times while praying the rosary.

2677-By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the “Mother of Mercy,” the All-Holy One.  We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives.  And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender “the hour of our death” wholly to her care.  (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

For centuries the Catholic church has taught the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.  However, this teaching did not become a dogma (a teaching that must be believed under pain of mortal sin) until 1950.  On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII made an infallible pronouncement concerning the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven.  Part of his pronouncement was a follows:  “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a dogma revealed by God that the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever a Virgin, at the end of her earthly life was taken up into celestial glory in soul and body.”   Furthermore in the same document, Pope Pius stated:  “From the moment of your conception until the day on which after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you Queen of the Universe.”  Pius XII made this pronouncement on the feast day of Mary’s Assumption.  Quotes from Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus (AAS42[1950].

Roman Catholics honor and revere Mary as the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven.  Catholics are taught that Mary is the new Eve and her role in the redemption of the human race is clearly revealed in Revelation 12:1-3.

Further more the Catholic Church teaches that Mary remained a perpetual virgin.  Since there is no Aramaic word for cousins the writers of the the Gospels referred to Jesus’ cousins as brothers.

THE BIBLE SAYS

The Scriptures clearly teach that Mary was a sinner and therefore needed a Savior. Luke 1:46, 47 –“And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.'”  She acknowledges that she is trusting in her Savior which can only mean that she had realized she was a sinner and thereby needed a Savior. We also find in the Scriptures that Mary did not remain a perpetual virgin, but had other children after the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 1:24, 25, we read, “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and called his name Jesus.”  The word translated new her not (ouk. eginwsken) can only mean that he had no sexual relations with her until after the birth of Jesus. It is the exact same Greek word used in classical Greek and always has the implication of sex or sexual relations outside of the Scriptures. Furthermore the same Greek wording is used in Genesis chapter 4 in the Septuagint read says that Adam knew his wife.

The Scriptures clearly tell us that Mary had four sons and at least two daughters after the birth of Jesus.  Matthew 12:46, 47 –“While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, by mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.”

Mark 6:3 –“Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?  and they were offended at him.”

Knowledgeable Roman Catholics will quickly point out that brethren, brothers and sisters actually mean his cousins. This is a completely false statement. The Greek word adolphos is always translated brother or brethren. There is in fact another Greek word suggeneis found among other places in Luke 1:36, 58 and is always translated as cousin.

I have extensively researched the derivation of the Greek word kecharitomene and must take exception with the standard Catholic answer. I have looked at Stephens Greek Text of 1550 AD, the Textus Receptus (Erasmus Text), Metzger’s Greek Text, Nestle – Aland Greek Text and even the usually unreliable Wescott – Hort Greek Text. All of these Greek scholars obviously know more than I do; all render Luke 1:28 as “highly favoured”. Let the Catholic apologists then take exception with these Greek scholars rather than me. In fact, Stephens Greek Text as well as the Textus Receptus were written prior to the 1611 King James Version. The English translation of both read “highly favoured” and certainly were not miss translated by the King James writers.

These are some questions that Roman Catholic apologists who I have had dealings with, absolutely refuse to answer:1) Show me anywhere in the Bible where we are commanded to pray to Mary?  2) Show me anywhere in the Bible where anyone prayed to Mary?  3) Show me anywhere in the Bible where Mary is referred to as the Queen of Heaven?  4) Show me anywhere in the Bible where Mary is referred to as either Co-Redemptrix or Co-Mediatrix?

Every time that I pose the simple questions, I have been referred to as either a heretic, a fall blasphemer or even a threefold child of hell. I am often told that I don’t understand Catholicism and that I was not properly catechized as a Catholic. I am often told that I have blasphemed the name of the Holy Mother of God. Nowhere in Scripture, do I find Mary referred to as the Mother of God. She certainly is referred to as “the mother of my Lord” by Elizabeth and Luke 1:43. Don’t try to tell me that the word Lord refers to God. The Greek word Kurion translated Lord refers to the Lord Jesus. The Greek word for God is Theos, and definitely is not used here. Jesus is the son of God, the second person of the Trinity, but certainly is not God the Father.

The only place in the entire Bible that I find the term “Queen of Heaven” is in Jeremiah 7:18 and again in Jeremiah 44:17 – 26. In both these passages, the Queen of Heaven is in fact the pagan goddess that God implicitly condemns the worship of. God was punishing the Jews in Jeremiah 44 because they were worshiping the Queen of Heaven instead of Jehovah.

Roman Catholics often accused non-Catholics of dishonoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. All evangelical and fundamental Christians respect and honor Mary as the human mother of Jesus. We certainly believe that Mary was a pure and holy young woman. We also believe that she was highly favored with God and was a virgin prior to conceiving the Lord Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26 – 28). Mary was not however, a Roman Catholic by any stretch of the imagination; the Roman Catholic Church did not even exist at that time.

It is absolutely ludicrous to even hint at or suggest that Mary has any part in salvation. It was Jesus Christ, not Mary, who suffered and died on the cross to pay the sin debt for mankind.

II Corinthians 5:21 –“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Over and over again in the 9^th and 10^th chapters of Hebrews, we are told that Jesus Christ offered himself one time for the sins of mankind.  Yes my dear Catholic friends, Christ shed His precious blood one time and that was sufficient to pay for the sins of the entire human race.  No co-redemptrix is needed; no continuing daily sacrifice is needed.  The scripture are quite clear.  There is only one mediator and that is Christ alone.

I Timothy 2:5-“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

There is no mention anywhere in the New Testament about the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven. This is a man-made invention of the Catholic Church. If this had in fact happen, at least one of the New Testament writers would have mentioned it. Mary died just like all the rest of mankind and was buried in the tomb just like everyone else.

From the context of Revelation 12:1 – 3 it is quite evident that the woman referred to is Israel and certainly not Mary. Nowhere in the entire Bible is Mary referred to or even hinted to be the new Eve.