I’m sorry that I can’t answer all posts. I really do try my best to pick out the ones that appear to address the most common concerns being expressed. I do appreciate all the time that each and every one of you put into this thread and while each of you deserve a response, my clock just ticks a little to quickly to be able to respond to each post and I really do regret that.
Mary is our intercessor, we talk to her by praying to her through Christ, her will being perfectly aligned to Gods, if our prayer intention is pleasing to God she will pray for us.
No, Mary is not our intercessor. This is what the Bible says about Who it is in the heavenlies that intercedes for us:
Romans 8:34 - “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Romans 8:27 - “and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Hebrews 7:25 - "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (NASB ©1995)
Please don’t discount what the Bible says about this matter. It is so vitally important for our spiritual health.
I find your dodge of what I was getting at interesting, do you or do you not except the entirty of scripture as being divinly inspired?
Yes, I do believe that the entire scripture is divinely inspired, but the comment I was referring to tells us not to be content with it. I found that quite offensive to God’s inspired word.
Now since you are going on a tangent regarding the word of God, here is some more scripture for you to potificate on:
May I ask a favor of you? Rather than using the quotation function for scripture, could you please copy and paste? That makes it much easier to respond to each scripture because the quotation function doesn’t allow the scripture to be seen when responding to quotations. I’ll just say this about the first scripture you drew my attenition to - “Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.” We can be sure that what these brethren were being told to hold fast to what had been preached to them, but we need to understand that what was preached to them was truth and had no conflict with what was scripture then and what became scripture later on. How do we know this? Because there are several sharp rebukes against following the tradition of men found in other places in scripture:
Mark 7:8
“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
Mark 7:9
"And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”
Matthew 15:6-7 (New International Version)
“…Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:”
Are you so sure, that the only existing word of God found is in the Bible?
Yes.
You’re trying to argue against intercessory prayer, I’m not sure if you’re entirly aware of this yet. I’m glad you at the very least accept intercessorary pray, though I’m a little confounded as to why you think someone stops being able to pray for you when they die, have you not read:
As stated elsewhere, I’m not against intercessory prayer, but I’m very much against praying to those who have died because I do not believe we should call up the dead even if they have made it to heaven. There are several severe warnings against the practise of contacting the dead in scripture, but I’ll list just a couple:
“Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31)
“And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.” (Leviticus 20:6)
Oops, too long…To be continued
Sorry for misunderstanding you! Reading long apologetic threads makes me feel tired and annoyed. That’s why I usually avoid them … and obviously, I didn’t read this one very carefully, although I tried.