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Mary, the Mother of God

steveb1

Member
I was a Catholic for the first 28 years of my life, and so am familiar with genuine Catholic doctrine.

Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".

They correctly reason that an eternal God cannot have a mother.

They further argue that the Catholic view is not only heretical, but that it is a borrowing from Pagan myths about gods who had mothers.

But there isreally not a valid issue here, for the simple reason that the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is the mother of God Eternal.

On the contrary, and completely in line with standard Trinitarian christology, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus, as the Second Person in the Trinity, is ontological God - "God of God's flesh", or better phrased, "of one substance with the Father".

Thus, in the Incarnation, God dwelled ("pitched his tent") among us in the person and the "flesh" or human nature of Jesus, and He accomplished this through the action of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" Mary, thus causing her to become "with child". Mary was pregnant with Jesus - who is God, as the Second Trinitarian Person.

Therefore, Mary was the mother not of God Eternal, but rather of "God incarnate".

When this is rightly understood - as well it should be by all who profess Jesus to be God - then the semantic problem evaporates, and it becomes clear that the Catholic Church simply teaches the traditional view that Jesus, who is God, acquired a mother in the Incarnation, through the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.

If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:

"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...

... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.
 

shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
I was a Catholic for the first 28 years of my life, and so am familiar with genuine Catholic doctrine.

Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".

They correctly reason that an eternal God cannot have a mother.

They further argue that the Catholic view is not only heretical, but that it is a borrowing from Pagan myths about gods who had mothers.

But there isreally not a valid issue here, for the simple reason that the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is the mother of God Eternal.

On the contrary, and completely in line with standard Trinitarian christology, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus, as the Second Person in the Trinity, is ontological God - "God of God's flesh", or better phrased, "of one substance with the Father".

Thus, in the Incarnation, God dwelled ("pitched his tent") among us in the person and the "flesh" or human nature of Jesus, and He accomplished this through the action of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" Mary, thus causing her to become "with child". Mary was pregnant with Jesus - who is God, as the Second Trinitarian Person.

Therefore, Mary was the mother not of God Eternal, but rather of "God incarnate".

When this is rightly understood - as well it should be by all who profess Jesus to be God - then the semantic problem evaporates, and it becomes clear that the Catholic Church simply teaches the traditional view that Jesus, who is God, acquired a mother in the Incarnation, through the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.

If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:

"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...

... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.

I was raised in the Roman Church and I consider this a 'Blue Smoke and Mirrors' approach to 'Bait and Switch' the problem of the pagan concept of the Divinity of Mary being the Mother, capital 'M' of an incarnate God, and clearly a polytheistic belief in at least for Gods.

No one ever considered Mary as mother of God the Eternal Father. God the Father is the Father and Mary the Mother of Jesus Christ the eternal God incarnate. One happy family with Jesus Christ seated on his throne on the right hand of God the Father.
 
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steveb1

Member
Thanks for your reply.

"No one ever considered Mary as mother of God the Eternal Father."

Actually, many Protestants invested in this distortion and many "Bible church" fundamentalists continue to do so, from TV preachers to the infamous Jack Chick publications.

I won't quibble about the capitalized "M". According to Trinitarianism, Mary is the mother of the incarnate God and this claim doesn't require a capital "M".

Agreed that it's a happy family, which is the subject of so many paintings of them all in their heavenly home.
 

JJ50

Well-Known Member
Mary was the mother of the very human Jesus who got pregnant by either Joseph or another man before she was married. I reckon the silly god getting her pregnant story was created as conception before marriage was considered shameful then.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.

If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:

"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...

... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.

People will believe whatever they want to believe.

It's kind of funny, in a way, considering how many believers approach non-believers and say things like "if only you would believe" and "open your heart."

And yet, they don't even practice what they preach when they declare other believers to be "heretics."

Why don't they believe? Why don't they open their hearts?

Maybe they believe they'll go to Hell if they embrace the "wrong" belief?

It makes me think that choosing a religion is analogous to playing Russian Roulette. The only winning move is not to play.
 

rstrats

Active Member
Stevicus,
re: "Why don't they believe?"

Well, a belief can't be consciously chosen, so apparently they haven't been exposed to the appropriate stimuli to cause their subconscious mind to engender one.
 

shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
Thanks for your reply.

"No one ever considered Mary as mother of God the Eternal Father."

Actually, many Protestants invested in this distortion and many "Bible church" fundamentalists continue to do so, from TV preachers to the infamous Jack Chick publications.

I won't quibble about the capitalized "M". According to Trinitarianism, Mary is the mother of the incarnate God and this claim doesn't require a capital "M".

Agreed that it's a happy family, which is the subject of so many paintings of them all in their heavenly home.

In the Roman Church (RCC) it is capitalized. but in secular sources it is often not capitalized. It need be distorted to be a Roman pagan polytheistic corruption of Christianity. Some sources may not get it right, but dominantly they know very well what the Roman Church believes. See the following.

From: Mary: Mother of God

"Fundamentalists are sometimes horrified when the Virgin Mary is referred to as the Mother of God. However, their reaction often rests upon a misapprehension not only of what this particular title of Mary signifies but also of who Jesus was—and of what their own theological forebears, the Protestant Reformers, had to say regarding this doctrine.

A woman is a man’s mother either if she carried him in her womb or if she was the woman contributing half of his genetic matter or both. Mary was the mother of Jesus in both of these senses, because she not only carried Jesus in her womb but also supplied all of the genetic matter for his human body, since it was through her—not Joseph—that Jesus “was descended from David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3).

Since Mary is Jesus’ mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God: If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God. There is no way out of this logical syllogism."
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:

Its not non-Catholics alone who misunderstand Catholic teaching on Mary's place in relation to God as witnessed by the many Marian cultic devotions which gave to Mary herself that belonging to Christ alone. Mary has no merit of her own apart from Christ.
 

1213

Well-Known Member
I was a Catholic for the first 28 years of my life, and so am familiar with genuine Catholic doctrine.

Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".
....

But, Bible tells Jesus is a man and God’s temple. God lives in Jesus.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
John 14:10

It is sad if Christians don’t believe and understand Jesus.
 

pearl

Well-Known Member
But, Bible tells Jesus is a man and God’s temple. God lives in Jesus.

Mother of God was never meant to apply to God the Father, only the Son. When Catholics use the term God alone it is always the Father.
 

sooda

Veteran Member
Its not non-Catholics alone who misunderstand Catholic teaching on Mary's place in relation to God as witnessed by the many Marian cultic devotions which gave to Mary herself that belonging to Christ alone. Mary has no merit of her own apart from Christ.

Its harmless enough to revere Mary unless you just want to **** in their cornflakes.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...
In Catholicism, the view is that Jesus is of the "essence" of God but certainly not specifically God. Much the same kind of Hellenized approach is used in dealing with the Eucharist, whereas the bread & wine are the "essence" of the body & blood of Jesus. Here's a link for one to better understand the use of "essence": Essence - Wikipedia

Anyhow, thanks for your well-stated OP.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
I was a Catholic for the first 28 years of my life, and so am familiar with genuine Catholic doctrine.

Some Protestants object to the Catholic statement that Mary is "God's mother".

They correctly reason that an eternal God cannot have a mother.

They further argue that the Catholic view is not only heretical, but that it is a borrowing from Pagan myths about gods who had mothers.

But there isreally not a valid issue here, for the simple reason that the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is the mother of God Eternal.

On the contrary, and completely in line with standard Trinitarian christology, the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus, as the Second Person in the Trinity, is ontological God - "God of God's flesh", or better phrased, "of one substance with the Father".

Thus, in the Incarnation, God dwelled ("pitched his tent") among us in the person and the "flesh" or human nature of Jesus, and He accomplished this through the action of the Holy Spirit, who "overshadowed" Mary, thus causing her to become "with child". Mary was pregnant with Jesus - who is God, as the Second Trinitarian Person.

Therefore, Mary was the mother not of God Eternal, but rather of "God incarnate".

When this is rightly understood - as well it should be by all who profess Jesus to be God - then the semantic problem evaporates, and it becomes clear that the Catholic Church simply teaches the traditional view that Jesus, who is God, acquired a mother in the Incarnation, through the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing heretical or Pagan about it. It has been the bedrock of mainstream Christian belief for centuries.

If non-Catholics could simply understand that the Catholic phrase "Mother of God" in reality means:

"Mary: the Mother of God incarnate" ...

... they would realize that there is nothing heretical or even controversial about the assertion.
Yes, most Protestant criticisms of Catholic doctrine are really just misunderstandings of it.
 
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