I’m going to see if I can kick-start a rosary group here. Here’s what those who join it must vow to do–
- Pray a full rosary once a week (I waver to a more traditional side so this involves just the meditation on the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries–150 Hail Mary’s plus the three in the introduction)
- Pray at least 50 Hail Mary’s other days (when I don’t have time, I pray a Franciscan Crown which involves 72 Hail Mary’s)
- Give God thanks always
Well, I guess I’ll see who joins it.
Theological Rejuvenation 
The Rosary is an invocation to Mary. It is mostly about Mary if you notice and she is not God, not even close. She even calls to Jesus as her savior. She was not immaculate. However, she bore a son via immaculate conception. It was Jesus who was conceived without sin, and Mary never remained a virgin. She was married to Joseph. If she had remained a virgin, Joseph would have been truly a sexually deprived husband. The Gospel of Mark 6:3 and the Gospel of Matthew 13:55-56 state that James, Joses (or Joseph), Judas, and Simon were the brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary. The same verses also mention unnamed sisters of Jesus. These are not spiritual siblings but in fact, they were born to Mary in result to her marriage to Joseph. Stop believing the myths of the Catholic Church.
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“The Rosary is an invocation to Mary. It is mostly about Mary if you notice and she is not God, not even close. She even calls to Jesus as her savior. ”
I don’t believe she is God however, the rosary acknowledges the intimate union between Mary and her Son in the incarnation and in the Gospels. The mysteries reflect this quite accurately. Further, in the rosary, we invoke Jesus as the blessed fruit of the virgin’s womb and pray the “Our Father” to start of each decade. Even further, it is strongly based on the 150 Psalms especially the ones that describe the life of Jesus and intertwined with that of Mary as many Psalms talking about women are understood also talking about the Ever-Virgin as well. I agree Jesus is her Savior because he was the one who filled her with the Holy Spirit empowering her not to sin. And Mary knows this as well.
“She was not immaculate. However, she bore a son via immaculate conception. It was Jesus who was conceived without sin,”
The immaculate conception is about Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother, Anna. Anna was in her old age and Mary’s conception itself was immaculate. But according to tradition, both St John the Baptist and the Ever-Virgin Mary remained so filled with the Holy Spirit that they did not sin.
“Mary never remained a virgin. She was married to Joseph. If she had remained a virgin, Joseph would have been truly a sexually deprived husband. The Gospel of Mark 6:3 and the Gospel of Matthew 13:55-56 state that James, Joses (or Joseph), Judas, and Simon were the brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary.”
A) According to the tradition, St Joseph is acknowledged to be a widower who took guardianship over Mary and had children from a previous marriage.
B) You might find the following commentary on Matt. 13:55-56 helpful–http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/john-wesleys-notes-on-the-bible/notes-on-the-gospel-according-to-st-matthew/#Chapter+XIII
Wesley describes them as “cousins”. This view is more popular in the West. But there is zero evidence that Mary conceived any children other than Jesus and the majority of the tradition testifies strongly against this.
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I hope that God will open your eyes. Some people want to stay in manmade tradition I guess. I don’t rely on commentaries to understand scripture. I have the Holy Spirit for that, a guarantee to every believer, the moment they make a deliberate decision to accept Christ at the age of reason, and not during infancy when an infant is clearly devoid of the faculty of choice. Another faulty belief there of the Catholic faith. I can only point people to the truth but only God Himself can open the eyes of the blind. Have a Good Weekend.
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St Paul tells St Timothy that he (St Timothy) has known the scriptures from infancy so clearly an infant is fully capable of having genuine saving faith.
You will find that Catholic beliefs, by the way, are quite scriptural 🙂
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I knew John 3:16 when I was in elementary and that’s what saved me. That simple knowledge that Jesus saves but it wasn’t activated until I grew into adulthood when I called on Jesus. Honestly, you misunderstand that scripture. Tell me, when you were an infant, were you able to choose what you’re going to believe in for yourself? How exactly can God credit you free will if you didn’t deliberately make the choice for yourself what to believe? Catholics believe in blind faith and explanations given to them by the church but little do Catholics ever truly research about the validity of what they believe. Anyway, take the time to read my post. I try to line up Catholicism’s erroneous dogma which clearly go against scripture. Don’t take my word for it but read the bible for yourself. I’m sure the NAB has those same exact verses.
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I read the scriptures daily. I am fully aware that Jesus saves. This is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith. People who deny it are their own saviors.
God is the one who moves our will. There is no free will unless it is a will that allows God to move it. Something that infants do. For the record, I was raised non-denominational Anabaptist. We didn’t do infant baptism. I was only baptised a couple years ago as an adult at age 22. Was it my own individual faith? There was a confession of faith I made that infants don’t make but it was merely me surrendering my own pride to that of the Church so really for me, at my baptism, I wasn’t expressing my individual faith but rather throwing away my individual faith for what the Church believed.
I don’t know any Catholic who believes in blind faith.
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Hmm, then you must not know a lot of Catholics lol. Anyway, I grew up in Catholicism and witnessed my family fall into works based salvation through the sacraments. No amount of good meritorious work can ever guarantee one’s salvation because Jesus’ death would be for nothing if that were the case. Doing the 7 sacraments won’t save you. Only realizing the implication of what Jesus did for you can.
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My primary spiritual mentor is a Catholic. I am not Catholic but am Anglo-Catholic. Some people think the sacraments are “works” but on the contrary (well they are divine works). They are means by which we receive faith. At the eucharist, I eat God who feeds himself to me. I go to confession to receive spiritual aid to fight my temptations. It is faith working through love (Gal. 5:6), not works-righteousness. Catholic dogma is very clear that our works come from God leading us and moving our will.
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Ephesians 2:8-9 (NABRE)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so no one may boast.
This is clear. You don’t need the Catechism of any other Catholic dogma book to explain the clarity of this. But I can understand you say you are not Catholic so you are oblivious. Still. Anyway, I only need you to consider that no other book or set of rules should override Scripture. Have a good evening. Lastly, pray to Jesus, not Mary and pray what’s in your heart, not the rosary. Btw, the “Our father” was a model prayer, a guideline if you will. It wasn’t meant to be prayed verbatim as doing so makes it become vain repetition.
May God open your eyes to the knowledge of the truth. Take Care.
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Salvation is not from our own individual works. Our works are ultimately moved by the will of God so they do play a part in our salvation but it is that faith working through love which saves us. This is much more the Catholic doctrine than what you say the Catholic doctrine is.
I highly value scripture for scripture points to the Church. Even if I was Catholic, I don’t need a catechism. The Catechism is a helpful tool for explaining the dogmatic theology of the Catholic Church but it is not a required part of the faith. Some catechists prefer different catechetical books.
I do pray to Jesus. But Mary is my mother and so I ask her to pray for me as well. All the saints are my friends but I love my mother most. I agree in converting prayers to heart but some of us need the written prayers in order to achieve to the mental contemplation.
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You can justify it all you want, that is your choice. I can’t dissuade you from what you are convicted of. I just hope that you realize Mary is NOT your mother and never will be. She was merely a conduit to bring Jesus into the world. I want to disengage simply because I cannot stand the fact that the Catholic Church is simply deluding billions of genuine God-loving people with their idolatry. You can reply but I am simply done. God Help You, truly. Lastly, I wouldn’t trust confessing to my sins to a priest who might be an ongoing child molester. It is utterly insufferable.
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Elizabeth says that Mary is the mother of her Lord in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is God so Mary is the Mother of God. Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren (spiritual brethren–Romans 8). So Mary is the mother of all those who are in the family of Christ. No justification, just simply what scripture says. 🙂
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Clearly and apparently a twisted Catholic understanding. Nowhere in Scripture does it ever say Mary is GOD (The Father’s) mother. You mean to say the Creator of the Universe’s mother is human? She was merely a conduit. Scripture only refers to her as the mother to the Son of God, a distinct title of Jesus when He was in the flesh. He is God in the flesh but manifested Himself lower in hierarchy when he came down as a man. The bible does not talk about a spiritual mother either. That is another Catholic allusion or should I say illusion.
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Your position on the incarnation, strictly speaking, is a theological heresy. No where do scriptures say Christ gave up his deity or that he was only partially God.
I hate to break it to you but your theology ain’t Christian. Christians believe Mary is the Mother of God, Theotokos, God birth-giver, etc. You do not.
She is the Mother of God the Son but God the Son is no less the one God than God the Father.
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I never said Christ gave up His deity. He came down and assumed a secondary hierarchy, The Son.
Read Philippians 2:6-7 (NIV)
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Ponder on that verse because this will be my last reply.
There are those people whom Jesus says “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;..”
Honestly, I was hoping that wouldn’t be you. Giving me greek is no help and even worse especially if it’s misapplied. I can see this is going nowhere and please honor my request to disengage. Have a Good evening.
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Where does scripture call Mary a mere conduit then? To say that Mary is a mere conduit is Nestorianism.
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