Protestants, were the founders of Protestantism wrong about Mary?
No, they were right — Mary had no other children except Jesus. After all, no one except Jesus is referred to as “son of Mary” in the Bible. No one is referred to as “daughter of Mary.” The Bible speaks of Jesus’ “brothers” and “sisters,” but those words have a very wide meaning in the Bible — they are used at least 100 times to describe relationships that are clearly not sibling ones. Also, remember that when Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, she was engaged at the time. Surely, most engaged women would assume that Gabriel meant, “After you get married, you will have sex with your husband and you will get pregnant with a son.” But Mary’s response — “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” — means that she did not assume this is what Gabriel meant. Why else would a soon-to-be married woman say such a thing — unless she had taken a lifelong vow of virginity? And yes, women did do that and still get married — typically to older widowers who married them to loo
I am afraid we are lost in the mists of time. Those who, from this far away from the actual events (mind you even at the time, I’m sure Mary had her detractors), still adhere to the original precepts and teachings of the Church, are indeed mightily blessed by the One Living God. If I could share with you something I was reading yesterday, which has become glued to my mind: Consider this: (Of the Lourdes apparitions) Bernadette described Our Lady as being very young and very beautiful – In her own words: “so lovely that, when you have seen her once, you would willingly die to see her again!” http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual… I would not say anything bad about this wonderful lady, no matter what her condition of her earthly life, and as a Catholic, I believe strongly in her perpetual purity while she lived amoung us. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity to answer your questions. I am
The Catholic encyclopedia says of Mary — ”The recourse we have to Mary in prayer follows upon the office she continuously fills by the side of the throne of God as Mediatrix of Divine grace” Yes, Mary is held up as Mediatrix. That is a woman mediator. As well as this she is stated as being at the side of God in heaven. This is NOT so , and NOT taught in the Bible. 1 Timothy 2:5 “. . .For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus,” Rather the teaching of Mary being in a high position harkens back once again to mother worship , a clearly pagan teaching. Besides this, you only need common sense and the faith of a toddler to know that it is a false tradition: When the idea that Mary was sinless is preached- then yes, that is worship. When I see bumper stickers that say “can’t find Jesus, look for his mother” that is worship. When Mary is touted as the ‘mother of God’ yes that is worship. When the unbiblical idea that Mary ascended into heaven much like
A very nice collection of descriptions of Our Blessed Mother. And nice to hear Protestants speaking as Catholics and Orthodoxy do with reverence toward Theotokos God the Father, from whom comes every perfect gift and every grace, himself gave Mary every grace when he gave her his Son. -St. Louis DeMontfort Perhaps the Protestants are due for a reformation of their own, one can only pray. It a shame so many Protestants have fallen so far away from the Church and from their own forefathers intentions. God knows what works He’s doing with this particular part of the Body of Christ.
No, I think they were correct. I have no issue with the idea that Mary was a virgin all of her life. Unless my information is incorrect, I have heard that the Greek word for “brother” and “male cousin” are the same, so the Greek Gospel could be intepreted either way. Peace! To the people above me who keep mentioning that Luther was anti-Semetic – pretty much everyone was anti-Semetic in Luther’s time. He wasn’t the only one. Don’t judge Luther by one tract he wrote. Luther was a man of many demons yes – he experienced many times of severe depression and fits of rage. But he was also a devoted follower of God and sincere in his beliefs. Call me biased because I am a Lutheran, but I have read a few biographies on Luther.
