Hey Friends. Today’s topic of discussion is about the Marian
Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and why these doctrines are contrary to
scripture and how they rob the all-sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. First
let’s start with what the Catholics actually believe about Mary.
Roman Catholics believe Mary is “the Mother of God”, that she is the “Mother of our Head”, the head
being, Jesus, who is the Head of the Church. Pope Pius XII agrees with this in his 1943 Encyclical “On the
Mystical Body of Christ”.
Catholicism claims Mary is full of grace, free of original
sin, and kept from all actual sin.
She is also perpetually
a virgin...before, during, and after the birth of Jesus Christ, essentially
denying that Mary had any children after Jesus Christ’s birth.
Catholicism also claims that because of her sinless life
Mary was raised up into Heaven after experiencing death. Though there has been
debate over whether Mary experienced death, Pope John Paul II has affirmed that
Mary did in fact experience death (Mary and the Human Drama of Death)
Catholicism has given Mary the title of “Mediatrix of All Graces”. In other words, the grace that comes
from God flows through Mary. A person can then go to Mary to get grace from
God. Essentially, SHE is the one who dispenses God’s blessings and grace to
those who are spiritually in need of grace. Pope Pius XII agrees that it’s by Mary’s all-powerful prayers that
the Divine Redeemer’s Spirit was given to the newly born Church at Pentecost
and that through her intercession she obtains from Him abundant streams of
grace to all the members of the Mystical Body.
Roman Catholics have elevated Mary by these types of Papal
statements and decrees to a position where she is praying and pleading with the
Son to the Father, and the Son is always responding to her prayers and never
denying her.
Many times when you ask Catholics why they pray to Mary,
almost always the answer is that Mary somehow feels closer to them, relates to
them, and understands them better in a way that the Son and the Father cannot,
and that Mary is a friend to them because she’s soft, tender, and loving in a
way that Jesus and God are not. What nonsense, to think that a created being
could ever relate to us or understand us better, or has more loving-kindness
than our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. What an insult to the real Mary and
to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to think that Mary is a closer Friend to us
than Jesus Christ Himself.
Another title that’s given to Mary, but not yet officially
sanctioned by the Vatican Church is that Mary is Co-Redemptrix with Jesus. In other words, Mary took part in the
Redemption of Humanity in some way, and without HER...salvation would have been
impossible. She cooperates with Christ in the work of saving sinners. Her part
in the redemption of Mankind has to do with her intercession and suffering along
with the suffering of her Son, not just that she gave birth to Jesus.
Catholics must understand that Biblically speaking, Mary in
no way or form shared in the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and nothing can
be added to what he has done. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church has done just that
by proclaiming Mary as Co-Redemptrix with the Son. Pope Pius XII confirms this in his encyclical, Mystici Corporis Christi ,
by making this shocking statement, stating that “It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always
more intimately united with her Son, offered
Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam,
sin-stained by his unhappy fall”. The Pope continues saying that by
“bearing...the tremendous burden of her sorrows and desolation, she....filled
up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ...for His Body,
which is the Church". That is to say, Mary is the one who gave the
offering of atonement and that by her immeasurable sorrows SHE supplies what
was lacking in the suffering of Christ. SHE supplies what Christ couldn’t.
Everyone should have their eyes opened by now and realize that the Pope’s
statements are anathema, i.e. cursed and condemned. This is another gospel
entirely, this is a false gospel.
Yet, it doesn’t stop there. Catholics claim that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven where she
now reigns with Christ. The pope’s
encyclical declares, “Mary, now glorified in body and soul, reigns together with her Son.” As Queen of Heaven, she rules providentially with Christ the King
of Heaven. Mary is elevated above all the prophets, apostles, saints, popes and
the whole Catholic Church as well. In his book, Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary [Marialis Cultus], Pope Paul VI said, “...the place Mary
occupies in the Church: [is] ‘the highest place and the closest to us after
Jesus.’”
Say hello to our Queen of queens, and Mistress of
mistresses. Every step of the way Catholics have been putting Mary on the same
level as Christ Jesus. Is it no wonder, then, that Protestants believe
Catholicism has been elevating Mary to Godhood.
These Catholic ideas of Mary is not Biblical and cannot be
found anywhere in Scripture. Even Dr.
Ludwig Ott, a revered Catholic theologian, admitted this in his book, Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma, saying “The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of
Mary is not explicitly revealed in Scripture” (p.200). In regards to Mary’s bodily assumption into Heaven, he
states, “The direct and express scriptural proofs of Mary’s bodily assumption
are not to be had” (p. 208). And
when talking about Mary as Mediatrix and intercessor in Heaven, Ludwig says
“Express scriptural proofs are lacking” (p.214).
However, Catholics don’t use the Bible alone for their
ideas, beliefs, doctrines, and authority.
Instead Catholics like to say that it’s “fitting” for Mary
to be born without sin, that way she wouldn’t have passed original sin to Jesus
in her womb. That it’s “fitting” for Mary to have lived a sinless life because
she had such a close relationship with Jesus. That it’s “fitting”, being
sinless, she would be assumed into Heaven. In a way, Catholics are saying that
Mary is almost as unique as Jesus Christ. Yet, as time has passed for the last
2,000 years, not only has Mary been elevated into being assumed into Heaven,
but she is now considered a Co-Remptrix and a Co-Medatrix. Now, even with these
supposed apparitions of Mary, Mary has been ascended and lifted up even more in
Roman Catholic tradition.
On a practical level, most Catholics like this Catholic idea
of Mary because they are never taught to have a direct relationship with Jesus,
since it’s always through the sacraments and through the Catholic Church that
one has a relationship with Jesus. And since women are denied responsibilities,
authority, the priesthood, and so forth, they need something to hang on to. So,
more and more Mary is elevated to status that almost equals that of Jesus
Christ. This is why Catholics have Marian apparitions, Marian statues, Marian
pilgrimages, Marian worshippers, and even Pope John Paul II was entirely
devoted to Mary. This elevation of Mary is an ongoing elevation, to the point
where it has literally become a cult that has gotten out of control.
In his book, The Second Vatican Council and The New
Catholicism (1965, p. 239), G.C. Berkouwer noticed that “Mary’s role is
often delineated by Catholicism in a way that the gospels ascribe exclusively
to Christ.”
Now that we have learned about what Catholics claim about
Mary, it’s time to list what I call the “8 Steps to Godhood”, where I explain
how Mary is elevated to Godhood in Catholic Theology.
Step One is where
the Roman Catholic Church began to elevate Mary, and it begins with Genesis 3: 15. In the English Roman
Catholic Bible, the Douay Rheims Version,
this is how it renders Gen. 3:15:
“I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy
seed and her seed: SHE shall crush
thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for HER
heel.” (DRB)
Roman Catholic Scholars interpret this “SHE” and “HER” in Gen. 3:15 to be a reference to Mary.
This is the beginning of Mary’s elevation to Godhood. Now one should understand
that we object to this translation and its interpretation. Why? Because the
Douay Rheims Version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate, and in the Latin
Vulgate, it uses the Latin word “Ipsa”, that is, “she” in English. This is a
complete error and mistranslation. It should have been “ipse”, masculine for
“he”. Almost every version of the Bible (NKJV, NLT, NIV, ESV, NASB, RSV, ASV,
YLT, DBY, HNV, LEB, HCSB, MSG, GNV, AMP, NLV, CJB, GW, WEB, etc.) uses “he” in
accordance with the Greek Septuagint “autos” (αὐτός), the masculine “He”. A few
other versions use “it” (KJV, Webster’s Bible) in accordance with the original
Hebrew “הוּא” pronounced
“hoo”, which is a masculine pronoun and can mean either “he” or “it”. The “it”
refers to “the seed of the woman”. Therefore, “he”, in reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ, shall crush the head of the serpent. It is not “she”. Yet,
Catholics want to use this mistranslation to say that instead of Jesus alone
crushing the head of the serpent; Mary would be the one who would crush the
head of Satan by being perfect and sinless. And by doing this, they go on ahead
to try to justify all their false Marian Doctrines.
I remember a few years back in the University of Dallas, a
catholic university, before the final exam began in my Moral Theology class, I
drew a serpent on the board and wrote the words “Final exam” inside the
serpent, as a joke to energize the students into crushing the exam. However,
while I was sitting on my desk waiting for the exam to begin, a fellow student
saw the drawing on the board and proceeded to draw Mary with her feet crushing
the head of the Serpent. I was surprised because at the time I didn’t
understand why she drew that when it was obvious from Gen. 3:15 that it was Jesus who would crush the head of the serpent,
not Mary. Now that I understand that they get it from the mistranslation found
in the Latin Vulgate, it is understandable why Catholics would exalt Mary to a
position that belonged only to Jesus.
Why then do the Catholics continue saying “she”? It’s because,
at the Council of Trent, the Latin Vulgate was declared to be the only
translation acceptable to the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, they accept the
rendering “she” despite their own theologians admitting that it was a mistake.
Even the Catholic Encyclopedia, when talking about the Immaculate
Conception, admits that, and I quote, “The translation "she" of the
Vulgate is interpretative; it originated after the fourth century, and cannot be defended critically.
The conqueror from the seed of the woman, who should crush the serpent's head,
is Christ …”
Even Catholics themselves admit this, as the New
Catholic Encyclopedia states: “Much confusion has resulted from the
fact that the second half of this verse [Genesis 3:15] was inaccurately translated in the Vulgate to read, “SHE shall
crush your head.” This translation, which has strongly affected the traditional
representations of the Blessed Virgin, is today generally recognized to be a mistake for “it [or “he,”
i.e., the seed of the woman] shall crush...,” and consequently CAN NO LONGER BE CITED in favor of the
Immaculate Conception.” (Volume VII, page 378)
Also, the Nova Vulgate, the revised Latin version which was
authorized by the Vatican, corrected this mistake, changing it from ipsa to
ipsum, “it” in the Latin. And in the footnotes of the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, it states that the
rendering “ipsa” could have been “due
originally to a copyist’s mistake...”
Yet, despite Catholic Scholars conceding this point,
Catholicism continues to view it as “she”. And the greater mistake is
interpreting the “she” as Mary. And it’s from this starting point that
Catholics begin to exalt Mary ever higher to Godhood in Marian theology.
They go on to say that because this “she” is Mary, Mary must
be the Second Eve. She crushes the head of the serpent through a perfect and
sinless life. Where Eve was imperfect, Mary would be perfect. Where Eve was
seduced by the Serpent and failed, Mary would be obedient and not fail. Because
the First Eve failed, there had to be a Second Eve to undo what the First Eve
had done. And that Second Eve is Mary according to Catholics. Yet, this
teaching of a Second Eve is foreign to Scripture because Scripture itself says
that it was Adam who fell, and the sin came through Adam, not Eve, and Christ
Jesus is the Second Adam who did not fail. Scripture teaches that Christ would
be the one who would come and in His perfect obedience Jesus would undo that
which Adam had done. Christ would restore what Adam had destroyed. Yet, it’s
from this foreign theology of a Second Eve arising from the mistranslation of Gen. 3:15 that the Roman Catholic
Church begins to elevate Mary.
So from step one Catholics move on to step 2. And that is, the Roman Catholic religion believes that Mary
is the Mother of God. What Catholics mean by this is that Mary gave birth to
God Himself. Their reasoning is that since Jesus Christ is God, Mary therefore,
gave birth to God. By doing this they are painting Mary as someone powerful,
someone so supernatural, someone greater than a mere human being. They cannot
ever get it through their minds how a normal human being could ever give birth
to Deity. So they make Mary out to be someone beyond a normal human.
Now Protestants, as well as myself, agree that Mary is the
mother of God, but only in the sense that she gave birth to that which was
fathered by the Holy Spirit. Mary was told that she would be with child through
the agency of the Holy Spirit. On her own Mary could not give birth to the
God-Man Jesus. And it is in this way that the conception of Jesus Christ is
supernatural because it was caused by God, wherein the pre-existent Christ was
made in the likeness of Man. That which is God is fathered by the spirit of
God. That which is human is given its human nature from Mary. This holy
creation is of God, NOT Mary. Mary in no way had any part in giving Jesus His
God nature. Christ’s divine nature was given by God through the agency of the
Spirit of God. The only thing Mary gave
birth to was Christ’s human nature.
The hypostatic union of Jesus Christ’s divine and human
nature was fashioned by God alone. Mary was merely chosen as a humble vessel to
give to Jesus His human nature. Christ’s conception and birth was something
unique which was made possible by God alone. God did not need Mary’s womb to
accomplish this unique creation, yet God so ordained it in order to display the
humility of Jesus Christ. I would ask Catholics, since when is the human
instrument of the miracle to receive greater adoration than the miracle itself?
Therefore, it’s false and an error to conclude that Mary has supernatural
status because she somehow gave birth to God.
And it’s from this false conclusion that Catholics are
forced to move to the next step to Godhood. They say that “how could Mary
possibly give birth to God?” “How could she possibly be the mother of God if
she were a normal human being?” Thus, Catholics arrive to the third step, and this is the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception states that Mary was born without sin, and thus, she never had sin
nor committed any sin whatsoever because she was conceived without sin herself.
Starting from the wrong premise of step 2, Catholics deduce that if Mary is
going to be mother of God Himself, then she cannot have sin herself. Otherwise,
she would pass that sin along to Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, they conclude
that because Jesus is without sin, Mary must have been without sin as well.
Catholics must realize that one is in danger if one speculates
beyond what the Scriptures say. And that is exactly what they have done. We
true Christians believe that Mary was indeed protected from passing along the
sin nature from Adam because Scripture tells us that sin is passed along
through the Man. The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ was not a man, but God the
Holy Spirit. The woman does not pass along the sin nature to her offspring. The
Man is responsible for passing along the sin nature because Scripture says that
it was through Adam and Adam’s sin that death entered into the world. It was
not through Eve. Yet, the Catholic’s belief goes beyond scripture, proclaiming
that because Mary is the Mother of God she must not have sin, therefore, they
invent the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, where they falsely view Mary
as the Second Eve, which only serves to minimize the role of Adam and the
Adamic nature.
From this false conclusion, Catholics move to the fourth step towards Godhood. And
that is, Mary’s Perpetual Virginity. Historically, Catholic theologians
believed that Mary must not have had any sexual relations whatsoever in order
to keep her purity and supernatural status of her human nature intact. They
argue that Mary could not have been involved in something as common as sex
because that would mean that her devotion would be diverted away from Jesus
Christ and to a mere man, to just a human. Such a devotion diverted away from
Christ could never be from one who is devoted perfectly to Christ and God.
Thus, they deny that Mary had sexual relations with her own husband, not just
prior to Jesus’s conception and birth, but after as well.
Now, because Mary has this special relation with God it
leads to the fifth step to
Godhood, and that is, Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. Catholic theologians are split
as to whether Mary actually died or went up alive into Heaven, just as our Lord
Jesus Christ was raised up into Heaven. Because of this uncertainty some
Catholic theologians just say that she became “dormant”, that is, her body did
not undergo decay at all and was taken up in Heaven.
Let’s look back at the steps we’ve gone through so far
before we go to the sixth step of Godhood. First, Mary is mistakenly viewed in Gen. 3:15 as the one who will crush the
serpent’s head. Second, Mary is proclaimed as the Mother of God. Third, she was
immaculately conceived, and thus, never had sin in her and never committed a
sin in her life. Fourth, she was a perpetual virgin, and thus, she gave
constant devotion to Christ and God. Fifth, Mary is assumed into Heaven in a
perfect state, being without sin and perfectly devoted to God.
Thus, we enter the sixth
step of Godhood, and that is, Mary is the Mediatrix of all Graces.
Catholics argue that because Mary was set apart to live this perfect life, then
surely, all graces must come through her. People in Catholicism are taught
that: If there is anything they need, then they should ask Mary because Jesus
always says yes to His mother. They are told to go through Mary if they need
anything from Jesus.
From this Mary is then elevated to the seventh step, and that is, Mary is Co-Redemptrix of the
Universe. Mary is put on a level on par with Jesus Christ. In terms of
salvation, Catholics argue blasphemously that without Mary Jesus could not have
been born, without her faithfulness on Earth as a sinless person perfectly
devoted to God she would not have set the example for mankind.
And now that Jesus is pleased with her, He elevates her to a
state wherein we can go to her for forgiveness of sin, looking to her in her
co-redemptive activities, and thus, step
8, she is elevated as the “Queen of Heaven” in Roman Catholic theology.
No comments:
Post a Comment