T
Thorwald
Guest
There is too much ‘junk’ above to respond to. In reference to Saul & Samuel, try reading the Chronicles. This is the scripture that I previously referenced, not Samuel.Do you know the story of the fishermen who got lost in the storm. His boat became broken and he is left with a few logs used to keep himself afloat. Thus he prayed and prayed for God’s hand in getting him to shore. During this time, boat after boat after boat come by and could not get his attention. He is only waiting for God. After a few days, he dies and after proper cleansing, he goes to heaven. He ask God personally there, “why didn’t you save me?” God tells him that he is foolish. God sent him three boats in response to his prayers but he just ignored them.
Does that sound like how we can ignore the saints who would pray for us and want to help us along to God? Mary is not divine. But Catholics understand that she is in Heaven right now (many mainline protestants would agree) and so she can be our helping hand. She can give us that extra prayer to get us connected to God. In Heaven saints can pray ceaselessly (remember revelations?) and obviously most if not all of us fail to pray at every moment of our existence. So it would only be smart to ask Mary to pray for us “now and at the hour of our death”. This now extends through time, not the now we know of as simple humans.
Yes, only God can judge us and we know that. We do not pray to anyone else to get their vote or anything sort of thing. We pray to the saints so that they can pray to God to give us graces to live our lives better and become saints ourselves if it is possible.
I hope you read what I wrote before about the term “father” and the Scriptures versus the text of the bible. I talked about understanding the meaning (the spirit) behind the words.
Saul, like many of the Israel, do not truly understand, so he and they only see and hear Samuel instead of seeing and hearing God. They know that it is from God that Samuel gets his words and revelations, but they are still caught up in the human priest standing before them. Of course then God would get mad at Saul, or anyone, for diminishing God’s presence by being focused on the man in front of him. And the same would apply to focusing on the particular text in the word while losing the meaning behind it. The text is important only so as to keep true to the meaning of the words in the text. (Which is hard to do in translations).
Notice in 1 Samuel 14: 10-11 " [Saul] had just finished this offering when Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him, and Samuel asked him, ’ What have you done?..’ ". Here Saul offered up the holocaust himself and was denounced by Samuel. “You have been foolish! Had you kept the command the Lord your God gave you, the Lord would now establish your kingship in Israel as lasting” (1 Samuel 14:13). See how you claim that Saul got in trouble for not talking to God directly earlier and now is in trouble for doing the offerings to God directly now? The reason is found in the context. Saul sought out Samuel, the human, not Samuel the prophet of God can bring Saul to God’s command. That is where Saul erred. And here, he tries to do something he has no right to, change God’s instructions and offered the holocaust himself.
As for Mary being our Mother. Remember when Christ was on the cross and "Then he said to the disciple,‘Behold, your mother.’ " (John 19: 27) This is in John’s Gospel, so he obviously know who that disciple is (it’s him) but he does not write his own name. He writes disciple. Are you a disciple of Christ? What is Christ telling you to do?
Lastly, please use references. It really slows down my responses to have to go look up what phrase you are referring to in your own casual words. Be serious. Christ did not tell us to be lazy. Instead he rebukes the lazy such as in the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12: 16-21) for the man thought he had enough and took to living the good life. He did not seek further and learn more, he was content with his own works and own fruits. Think of yourself in relation to this man as we all are called to do. You have heard, read, and/or learn some of what the Bible says, well keep learning. If you are asking these questions, you are reading words out of historical and literary context. The term of “father” for example shows up in the same Matthew chapter that says “call no one on earth your father”. Christ also says “and of your fathers”. These two passages contradict each other if you take them by themselves. Just as the two passages on Saul’s interaction, with and without Samuel, towards God contradicts each other if you take them by themselves.
