Question for the 'non-bible alone' Christians

eselam said:

catholics are also kind of different to the christians in terms of belief. is that right? from what i have heard, they consider mary as part of the trinity, don't know how accurate that is though.

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It's not accurate at all. Mary is not in any sense at all part of the Holy Trinity. Mary is the Mother of God (or Birthgiver of God) in that she has given birth to Jesus, who is the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus is God; Mary is His Mother; therefore Mary is the Mother of God. However, she does not exist eternally and her status derives entirely from her personal holiness/dedication to God and the fact that she has given birth to Him. Jesus is eternal deity. Mary is just a woman -- but the holiest, most godly, very best woman ever.

but how can a mortal have an immortal child?

eselam said:

but how can a mortal have an immortal child?

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Well, I think the early Christians were pretty much ignorant of biology as we know it. They thought the man's seed grew in the "earth" of the woman's womb. In this case, it was a divine "seed." In Eastern Orthodoxy, strictly speaking, Mary is dogmatically defined as Theotokos (Birthgiver of God) but not as Meter Theou (Mother of God) -- though in fact she is called Meter Theou, too. (And in Orthodoxy established custom is as good as dogmatic definition.)

It doesn't mean God descends from Mary or that Mary precedes God in any way; it means that Mary was the one person who so perfectly submitted to God's will that she became an acceptable vessel for His incarnation.

eselam said:

but how can a mortal have an immortal child?

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You can't discount the importance of miracles in Christianity (as well as many other faiths).

Here's an excerpt from a simplistic argument in favor of the logical acceptance of the possibility of miracles. We could go deeper into this, but that's probably a topic for another thread.

Logic

Finally, it would be basically illogical to state that miracles cannot occur. This is because in order to logically state that miracles cannot occur, a person must either know all things in the universe so that he can rightfully state miracles cannot occur, or he must have some logical proof why miracles cannot occur, or possess a sufficiently sophisticated knowledgebase to conclude the miraculous cannot occur, etc. Furthermore, it is not enough to state that there is no evidence for the miraculous since a person's experiential base is limited. It may very well be that miracles have occurred and this person is simply not aware of it.
Therefore, at best someone could simply say "I do not believe that miracles occur because (insert reason)." At least this leaves open the possibility that they may occur. And if they might indeed occur, why not have the possibility that Jesus who claimed to be God (John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14), who fulfilled Old Testament prophecies (i.e., Psalm 22:11-18; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, Micah 5:1-2, etc.), who predicted his own death and resurrection (John 2:19-21; ), appeared to people after his public execution (Luke 24:39; John 20:25-28), did indeed actually rise from the dead? Since the eyewitness accounts have been accurately transmitted to us, would it not be logical to believe the witnesses who described what they saw? It would seem so.
Can miracles occur? Yes, they can because there is a God in the universe.
Miracles cannot happen | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry