Protestant Christians: Are you afraid of Mary?

[Zenas]

I am looking at a Catholic Bible. (Isn’t New American Bible Catholic?) And it says,

Yes, you are right that the NAB uses the masculine pronouns. But it only came out in 1970 so it has not had as much effect on Catholic thought as the Douay-Rheims, which has been around more than 100 years. (The NAB also gives a very uncatholic rendition of Luke 1:28.) Nevertheless, the purpose of my post was that you won’t see Mary in any Protestant version of Genesis 3:15 unless you are really trying to find her there.

 

[rbarcia]

Jesus did gave us his mother at the cross. He gave his mother to an unnamed disciple, whom tradition regard to be John. Since Christians are disciple of Christ, we too must accept her as our mother. Remember, Jesus Christ is our brother made possible by our baptism. Mary is our spiritual mother. The love I hold for her is not greater than God.

I am merely obeying the commandment. “Love God with all your heart, mind, etc. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

The Lord giving Mary to John to take care of her does not translate to her being our mother.

Luke also wrote.

**

Luke 11

27And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

**

Mary is blessed because the fruit of her womb. Much like Seth replaced Abel, you cannot say that if Mary did not give birth to Jesus, that the Lord, being all powerful, could not bring the Savior into the world by another means. Jesus came from His Father.

**
John 8:42

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

**

My Church preaches about Mary around Christmas. Also when there are sermons around being a good wife (and Joseph around being a good father when there is a sermon around being a good father).

why do we need more?

 

[boppaid]

Yes, you are right that the NAB uses the masculine pronouns. But it only came out in 1970 so it has not had as much effect on Catholic thought as the Douay-Rheims, which has been around more than 100 years. (The NAB also gives a very uncatholic rendition of Luke 1:28.) Nevertheless, the purpose of my post was that you won’t see Mary in any Protestant version of Genesis 3:15 unless you are really trying to find her there.

Thank you for trying to help me understand. I guess I’m still confused because I don’t see Mary in my Catholic version of Genesis 3:15 either.

 

[BrewMax]

Thank you for trying to help me understand. I guess I’m still confused because I don’t see Mary in my Catholic version of Genesis 3:15 either.

It’s a huge leap to get Mary out of Genesis 3:15. I don’t see it personally.

 

[BrewMax]

The Lord giving Mary to John to take care of her does not translate to her being our mother.

Luke also wrote.

**

Luke 11

27And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.**

28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Mary is blessed because the fruit of her womb. Much like Seth replaced Abel, you cannot say that if Mary did not give birth to Jesus, that the Lord, being all powerful, could not bring the Savior into the world by another means. Jesus came from His Father.

**
John 8:42

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.**

My Church preaches about Mary around Christmas. Also when there are sermons around being a good wife (and Joseph around being a good father when there is a sermon around being a good father).

why do we need more?

I agree with you.

 

[AgnosTheist]

We just arent going beyond what the bible says is all. We/I think Mary is a fantastic example of how to submit or bend your will to God’s will. But, you know there are many , many examples of other people in the bible doing the very same thing–so—

mary was only mentioned 46 times in the bible. thats less than 10% of what was given to David & Jesus.

 

[AgnosTheist]

We just arent going beyond what the bible says is all. We/I think Mary is a fantastic example of how to submit or bend your will to God’s will. But, you know there are many , many examples of other people in the bible doing the very same thing–so—

Mary was mentioned less than 46 times in the bible. Thats less than 5% of what was given to David & Jesus.

 

[Mickey]

Mary is the “new Eve” who said “yes” to God where the first Eve said “no.”

 

[Mannyfit75]

The Lord giving Mary to John to take care of her does not translate to her being our mother.

She is our Spiritual mother not literal mother. I adhere to this because we have been made brothers and sisters in Christ through our baptism.

Luke also wrote.

**

Luke 11

27And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

28But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Mary is blessed because the fruit of her womb. Much like Seth replaced Abel, you cannot say that if Mary did not give birth to Jesus, that the Lord, being all powerful, could not bring the Savior into the world by another means. Jesus came from His Father.**

I agree. I also believe the passage you cited also had Jesus praise his mother. For Mary did consented to God’s word by her FIAT (Be it done unto me according to your Word), and the Word became flesh.

**
John 8:42

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

The Father did. He send the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Holy Spirit overshadow Mary, and she became pregnant with Jesus in her womb.

**

My Church preaches about Mary around Christmas. Also when there are sermons around being a good wife (and Joseph around being a good father when there is a sermon around being a good father).

why do we need more?

That’s good. Because Jesus love his Mommy. You ought to love her too.

 

[BrewMax]

That’s good. Because Jesus love his Mommy. You ought to love her too.

Jesus doesn’t love us any less than he loves Mary.

 

[Hesychios]

Once again, Genesis 3:15
newadvent.org/bible/gen003.htm

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.

A notorious mistranslation traceable to the original Vulgate. This phrase has launched an incredible amount of exceptionalism over St Mary.

BTW, I understand the Nova Vulgata has corrected it. As have most of the other Catholic translations.

 

[Hesychios]

Jesus doesn’t love us any less than he loves Mary.

I think that you are probably right about this.

 

[ChrisWRIT]

Love your neighbor as yourself means everyone equally. It doesn’t make the case for elevating Mary to a diety. You must remember my friend that Mary needed that same sacrifice as we did. Scripture says that ALL have fallen short of God’s grace. Doesn’t take much more than your eyes and a small amount of thinking to get that does it?

I’m sorry. Would you show where the Catholic Church “elevates Mary to a deity”? Are you referring to the teaching of the Immaculate Conception?

Yes, Mary did require a Savior. Like all descendants of Adam, she was subject to being stained by original sin. But she was preserved from that stain by a special intervention of God. She was redeemed by the grace of Christ, but in a special way—by anticipation. By receiving Christ’s grace at her conception, it was applied to her before she was was mired in original sin and its stain.

Additionally, the claim that if Mary were without sin, she would be equal to God is incorrect. God created Adam, Eve, and the angels without sin, but none of these were equal to God, right?

Jesus doesn’t love us any less than he loves Mary.

No, but as evidenced by His special gift of salvation to her at her conception, Jesus honors her more than us. (I mean, if you could preemptively save your mom from the stain of sin, wouldn’t honoring her (as the 4th commandment states) almost require it?)



Chris