Luke 1:42-43 (Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation) … Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
You do understand that in ancient times, the title "Lord" was used of anyone who had authority over others. It is not used exclusively of God or of his Christ.
Even Sarah referred to her husband Abraham as her "lord". (1 Pet 3:6)
The House of Lords in England is not a house of gods.
There you go, “mother of my Lord.“ And I’d say that “blessed among women” is actually an understatement in the bigger picture. Saint Mary is blessed among all creatures (which does not include the Divine Son because He is not a creature). She is entirely united with the Trinity as daughter of God the Father, mother of God the Son, and spouse of God the Holy Spirit.
The fact is, someone was going to be chosen to be the mother of God's son....if it hadn't been Mary, it would have been someone else. In order to come to earth and be born as a human child, Jesus had to have a human mother. Mary was the one favored because she filled the requirements that God had in mind for the parent that would not only give birth to his son but raise him with her equally important husband, to be a devout, balanced, law abiding Jew. But Jesus gave her no special status.
The titles given to Mary by the Catholic Church are not found in God's word......that includes "Mother of God", "Our Lady", "Queen of heaven" and any other title borrowed from pagan mother worship.
btw, Mary was not the spouse of the Holy Spirit....she was the legal wife of Joseph and mother to Jesus' siblings. He was one of at least 6 children in a normal Jewish family. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that this married woman remained a virgin. This too is a left over from pagan mother worship.
And speaking of the Trinity, I think we already established that belief in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was affirmed from the very beginning, not hundreds of years later.
Sorry, but before the Catholic Church adopted this belief, there was no trinity in either Judaism or Christianity. Since Jesus was Jewish and the founder of the Christian faith, he did not teach a trinity of any description.
The "origins of Christendom’s beliefs" are what Christ authorized the apostles to teach, saying “whoever hears you hears me.” What they taught is what the Catholic Church still teaches. But do you yourself believe what they taught?
I divorced myself from Christendom a very long time ago because of the hypocrisy I saw. I have also studied the Bible and examined its teachings thoroughly, tracing the origins of my beliefs to establish their validity. If something is not in the Bible, then Christ didn't teach it.
I have also studied the Bible with spiritually hungry Catholic people who were taught nothing in church except its ritual and traditions. They are angry when they learn the truth....how many lies they have been taught.
Well, there are the historical facts. And Christ said it himself. He called it “my Church” and said He would never leave it.
What makes you think that the "church" Jesus was speaking about was the Roman Catholic Church? The great apostasy was already beginning before the last of the apostles died. From the second century on, the church continued to became a shadow of what Christ began. By the 4th century, "Christianity" ( or what was left of it) was ripe for a complete defection. Constantine the great, as a move to consolidate his divided empire, fused weakened apostate Christianity with pagan Roman sun worship. This is NOT the church that Christ began....and it is certainly NOT the church whose conduct proved to be the rottenest fruit ever perpetrated in the name of Christ.
He said the Holy Spirit would always guide it -- “He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you." -John 14:26 Jesus didn’t promise that the Catholic Church would never be touched by the sins and errors of mankind, but did promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
If you really believe that Christ could ever have sanctioned the vile activities of the inquisition, then you really have lost your definition of Christianity and have a very distorted view of God's love.
Google the instruments of the inquisition and tell me how "Christian" you think they were.
When Jesus said that the "gates of hell" (hades) would not prevail against it, there was no such teaching of a hell of fiery torment. He was saying that death itself would not stop the progress of Christ's church to its ultimate conclusion, since unconscious death in the grave was the only "hell" Jesus ever taught.
Consider that nations and world powers have come and gone; cults and religions have come and gone since Christ established the Catholic Church.
Actually it was a pagan Roman emperor who established the Roman Catholic Church. Christ had nothing to do with it.
There is not even a slight similarity between the first century church and what Roman Catholicism became.
There was no Pope in Christianity.....there were no priests and no nuns either...does that surprise you?
Meanwhile, the Church still persists despite relentless efforts throughout its history to undermine, discredit, or destroy it both from within and without. And its teachings have remained constant since the beginning despite the attacks, false accusations, and anti-Catholic propaganda.
The problem is, the church has copped a lot of flack mostly because of its own conduct. The accusations are not false, especially in the recent cases of child sexual abuse that has cost the church millions in compensation to victims.
Jesus said that the tree producing rotten fruit will be cut down. Catholic institutions were notorious for their heartless cruelty and high levels of physical abuse. It wasn't an isolated incident here and there...it was systemic abuse within the church all over the world. That is not lies, false accusations and anti-Catholic propaganda. That is fact.
And you suggested googling pics to support certain points you made. Sure, there are pictures on the internet intended to illustrate how wrong Catholicism is in whatever way you please. There are blogs, articles, YouTube videos and such all attempting to do the same thing, but never with accurate information. There are entire websites devoted to trashing the Catholic Church with nothing but lies and misinformation.
The pics I was referring to show that the beliefs of the Catholic Church go way back before Christianity. Their pagan origins are part of history, not part of a hate campaign against the church.
Why don’t we see such intense and widespread efforts directing hatred toward other religions or Protestantism or Jehovah’s Witnesses, for that matter?
Are you serious? You are not aware of the hate sites that exist for Jehovah's Witnesses? Are you not aware of the persecution that we have suffered for the whole of our modern day existence? While the Catholic Church was supporting the war on both sides of world conflict, Jehovah's Witnesses were obeying Jesus' commands, remaining politically neutral and loving their enemies as Jesus commanded. (1 John 4: 20, 21) And we didn't do a thing to deserve what we got. We were persecuted for obeying our master. (John 15:18-21)
Judging Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses | Holocaust Teacher Resource Center
Have you ever considered that it could be due to Satan’s deceptive influence on earth, and his particular hatred for a particular Church?
I don't doubt satan's influence on the "weeds" of false Christianity that Jesus said were sown by him in the world. I also know that the fruits of the church are not good ones.
Maybe you should scrutinize your own church. Like if a church must constantly redefine scripture or explain it away, wouldn't that indicate a problem with its doctrines? Could they be misleading you?
Have you not asked these questions of your own church? We went back to the beginning and shed all the false doctrines that were adopted by Christendom centuries ago. We didn't redefine scripture, but went back to it as a reference and as a measuring rod for all our beliefs. Whatever we found that Christ did not teach, we got rid of it. It was a gradual process of cleansing and refining our beliefs....foretold for this "time of the end". (Dan 12:9, 10)
Jesus' words to those facing his judgment, who thought they were Christians in good standing, applies to all of us. (Matt 7:21-23) We do not want to be found to be ones that Jesus "never knew".....judged as "workers of lawlessness".
