Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
Luke 1:28. Depending on which one you read, you may get a different idea of just what is being said:
Wycliffe Bible, "Hail, full of grace"
Douay-Rheims "Hail, full of grace"
Geneva Bible "Hail thou that art freely beloved"
KJV "Hail thou that art highly favored"
ASV "Hail thou that art highly favored"
RSV "Hail, O favored one"
NIV "Greetings, you who are highly favored!"
NRSV "Greetings, favored one!"
NCV "Greetings, the Lord has blessed you"
TLB "Congratulations, favored lady"
MSG "Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty"
I suppose one could accuse the Douay-Rheims as having a "Catholic bias" - though Wycliffe rendered the exact same translation. More investigation may be helpful...
Jerome's Vulgate uses "gratia plena" which is full of grace. The French LSG says "Je te salue, toi à qui une grâce a été faite" which is also saying the she has already been made perfect in grace (past perfect tense). Of note, Luther's German translation says "Gegrüßet seist du, Holdselige!" which does signal a shift from "full of grace" to "highly favored one".
The Greek here says κεχαριτωμενη which comes from the root word for grace, charis, which means that only some are honest enough to tell you that Mary has been made full in grace. The Greek, kekaritomen is in the perfect passive sense which means it has already come to pass, it has been done to her - to state it as literally as possible: Mary has already been made perfect in grace! The Angel proclaims this to be true and it is recorded in Scripture as such. Saying that Mary is all-immaculate is another way of saying "full of grace" or "perfected in grace".
We're not saying she is the source of her own grace - that would, of course, be Jesus. However, Jesus' grace was already perfectly applied to her before she became pregnant with God. She was, literally, made immaculate.
Believers (in India) face opposition (and persecution at times) from Hindus and Catholics equally.
Similarity between Hindus and Catholics are that they have female 'gods'. Catholics behave like Hindus - there is LOT of syncreticisim going on there. One ought to see it to believe it.
It is equally difficult for a Hindu to become a believer, and a Catholic to become a believer. Both have the same traditional bondage that need to be broken off before they can freely worship the one true living God.
such adamant (and wishful, shallow) misinterpretation .... rather misreading of scripture.
Yes, Mary represents Israel, out of which the Messiah came. Her children are the Church.Well that is clearly a misapplication of this symbolic woman clothed with the sun. The twelve stars represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and Messiah Himself came forth from Israel of the tribe of Judah and the line of David (Micah 5:2). Furthermore the believing remnant attacked by Satan can only be the believing remnant of Israel, not Mary.
If it told us which traditions those might be, you could possibly have a point there."Sola Scriptura" is a heresy contradicted by Scripture, which tells us to keep traditions, including oral ones (2 Thess. 2:15)
Let's see. You said that Scripture doesn't say that Mary was sinless. But what Scripture DOES SAY is that she was not.Protestants claim to know Holy Scriptures and their Sola Scriptura idea but cannot even refute using Holy Scriptures. I challenge you and your authority of Sola Scriptura to refute the arguments I have put forth.
You do know you are the one who asked about Her? I merely provided a possible solution to your inquiry. I believe in the Holy Trinity, the Triune God too.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is Special and Holy, isn't She? She's all about God in Her Messages. God this, God that, God left, God right, God up, God down, God here, God there, God in, God out, God front, God back. She's all about God. I just find Her Utterly Terrific.
My thinking is this. If this Woman named Mary is not suppose to be important, and God is Almighty and can do anything He wants, why would He even need to be carried by the Woman in Her Womb? That's just ridiculous.
Angel Gabriel could have just come to Mary and given Her a Baby and tell Her, "This is God, the Son, look after Him. God don't need no human vessel to pop Him out. He is Almighty and can pop in and out of worldly existence just through His Word. So here is Baby Jesus Christ, He has just been popped into my Arms by God the Father and I present Him to you to look after Him because that is God's Will. You are just His adoptive mother, understand woman? Don't go assuming you're more important than anybody else. You're just a nobody looking after the Redeemer of the World. You're not special. I have to go back to God now. Can't spend all day talking to a nobody like you. Make sure you don't pass any of your human, crappy, diseased, sinful nature and condition to Baby Jesus Christ. You will contaminate Him with your nothingness. That will be totally gross and you will ruin the Plan of Redemption for the whole human race. Got it, Mary? Bye." This is what a lot of people say about Her which makes no sense at all to me.
Mary is more than just a mortal woman. I would not be surprised if She had a pre-existent life. If you look at God's attitude in regards to marriage and procreation, it is solemn and serious in nature. So for God to have a Son through this Woman named Mary, this Woman just by that Deed and Act of God Almighty is Holy. This Woman named Mary while married to Joseph but before they lived together put God first before Her own husband, Joseph to have God's Son. She's like committing adultery with God to bear His Son. But it's not adultery only if this Woman named Mary was married to God first. Otherwise God would be breaking His Own Law. So Mary is one spirit and then one flesh with God. Even Jesus Christ, Her Son talks about the Sanctity of Marriage. Joseph was the adopted husband of Mary and adopted father of Jesus because God willed it so. So basically Joseph was looking after God's Wife and Son because God Himself was not able to do so at that particular point in time.
This Woman named Mary is the Spouse and Mother of Almighty God and Has a Spiritual Connection with the Holy Trinity that nobody else have. Angel Gabriel Hailed Her. Angel Gabriel doesn't hail nobodies. Angel Gabriel did not hail Zechariah, the priest, who was just a worshipper of God, that's all. Zechariah despite being righteous in the eyes of God and even prayed for a baby was not able to believe Angel Gabriel while Mary, who was married to Joseph despite hearing the most ridiculous announcement from anybody in Her entire life believed Angel Gabriel.
Anyway, you don't have to believe in Her. It's done by faith, by choice. Jesus Christ is more than enough for most. It's just that I came to faith in Jesus Christ through Her so I'm one of Her son. She has power over me and I like it that way because She teaches me about God.
God bless you.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?