[–] thats_disinfo 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago (edited ago)
Part 1
Before getting into anything else, let me demonstrate how easy it is to refute the claim that Mary was a virgin her entire life:
(Matthew 1:24-25) "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: {25} And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS."
"To know" is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse. (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1097&t=KJV)
Matthew 1:25 tells us explicitly that Joseph "knew" Mary after she had given birth to Jesus. This single-handedly refutes all of their Mary false doctrine.
As typical for Roman Catholic attempts at theology, the amount of dishonesty in your link is jaw-droppingly shocking. I'll get to that in a moment, but first, let's look at some of their initial claims in the hard to read part over St. Peter's Basilica (which was paid for by the insane amount of money they made selling "indulgences", or paying to get out of "purgatory" (which is also nowhere to be found in the Bible) early):
"Mary is the model of perfect love and obedience to Christ."
Mary's the model of perfect love? Excuse me? Did she leave Heaven to come to earth to die on a cross for us when we were still sinners? I didn't think so. Mary is hardly in the Bible at all. She gave birth to Jesus, then followed Him later. To call her "the model of perfect love" when she's almost completely absent from the Bible, except for giving birth to Jesus and then being mentioned by name a few times later, is an absolute insult to Jesus, the Real Model of Perfect Love, and also ridiculous. In fact, this is so ridiculous given the actual Mary in the Bible that heresy and corruption of some kind in the Roman Catholic church is apparent.
"God preserved Mary from sin..."
No, He didn't. That's not in the Bible. What is in the Bible is this:
(Romans 3:23) "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Since Jesus is God (John 1:1, John 10:30, John 20:28-29, Revelation 1:8, Acts 20:28, Philippians 2:5-6, Titus 2:13), only He remained sinless. Mary was a sinner, just like everyone else.
"...we honor our Blessed Mother with great reverence and devotion because she is the Mother of God."
"Catholics can’t help but honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is full of grace, the Mother of God and our Mother..."
The "mother" of God? Excuse me? How is Mary, who was created by Jesus, the Creator of Everything (Colossians 1:16), the "mother of God"? And how would this make her our "mother"? If God is our Father, they're making Mary on par with God by saying this. They say she's not equal with God one second and the next say something that means she is equal or even greater than God.
"Catholics do not view Mary as equal to Christ, but rather venerate Mary because of her relationship to Christ."
See? This isn't surprising since nothing Catholic literature says is actually logical and makes sense. It can't be since it's full of lies.
Also, they're lying. Here's what the Catecheism of the Catholic church says:
"966 'Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.' The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death."
Here's where the Catholic version of Mary came from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_heaven_%28antiquity%29
Paganism.
Also, if Mary "delivers our souls from death" "by her prayers", this makes her co-Mediator with Jesus, as they also make clear here:
"969 'This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.'"
And here (among other places):
"971 'All generations will call me blessed': 'The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.' The Church rightly honors 'the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.' The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an 'epitome of the whole Gospel,' express this devotion to the Virgin Mary."
Please go read your Bible and see how small of a role Mary plays it in. She speaks a total of 4 times in the entire Gospel. All of this stuff is wildly made up and absolutely crazy. How can you support this?
Also notice how they give absolutely zero Scriptural support for their claims. Because obviously none of it is anywhere to be found in the Bible.
[–] thats_disinfo 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago (edited ago)
Part 2
Now, on to the QA part.
Question 1:
Their making the claim that we all share in Jesus' roles as the body of Christ in an attempt to defend Mary being "Mediatrix" (CCC 969. Notice the captial M) in Roman Catholicism is purely dishonest. They claim that Jesus is the Foundation, but there are multiple foundations; Jesus is Lord, but there are multiple lords; and that Jesus is the Judge, but there are multiple judges, since the Christian Church is the Body of Christ.
The Roman Catholic church doesn't just claim that "Mary could play a role as a small M mediator, since she's part of the Body of Christ". No. They claim that she's the "Mediatrix" that she "brings us the gifts of eternal salvation":
And that she "delivers us from death by her prayers":
That's not lower case m mediation, that's upper case, as evidenced by their use of "Mediatrix". Jesus is the only Mediator:
Mary doesn't mediate anything, she doesn't bring us anything or deliver us from anything, and to hold to something so extreme and bizarre when it's absolutely nowhere in the Bible is simply crazy and/or evil.
Question 2:
They compare Paul's quoting from Psalms 14 and his declaration made by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16) to try to twist them to somehow support that someone could be sinless, even though we were just told that no one is in Romans 3:23. Then they claim that babies haven't sinned, so "for all have sinned" isn't really saying what it seems to be saying. Really? That's either one of the dumbest things I've ever read, or one of the most dishonest. Most likely both.
No, it isn't. Mary was a sinner.
Question 3:
Here they try to evade the fact that worshipping Mary the "queen of heaven" was originally a pagan practice. To support this claim, they claim that we see the "queen of heaven" in Revelation 12:1:
Let's look at Revelation 12:
That isn't the "queen of heaven", unless the great red dragon that wanted to devour her baby is the "king of heaven". It's pretty obvious why they stopped at verse 1.
Mary isn't the queen of anything, and her being the "queen of heaven" (which is obviously nowhere to be found in the Bible) is completely pagan:
Question 4:
The Bible tells us explicitly that Mary did not remain a virgin. In Matthew 1:24-25, we're told:
"To know" someone is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse. (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1097&t=KJV)
Joseph "knew" Mary after she gave birth to Jesus, as Matthew 1:25 clearly tells us with "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son."
To defend their unbiblical doctrine of Mary remaining a virgin her entire life, they claim that Abraham and Lot were cousins, so every time you see "brother" or "sister" in the Bible, it could mean cousins too. But what if "cousin" exists in Greek and was actually used in the Bible? It does, and it was:
"Sister's son" is "anepsios", the Greek word for "cousin":
So "cousin" existed in Greek, but they didn't use it.
Also, why would they mention Jesus' parents and His brothers and sisters, if they were referring to His cousins?
Why would His cousins just be walking around with His parents? That doesn't make any sense at all, and anyone can see that Jesus had brothers and sisters without even needing to bring a lexicon into it. It's just Catholic dishonesty that necessitated it.
Jesus had brothers and sisters. Mary was not a virgin her whole life.
It's sad that a novice like me on Voat can absolutely deconstruct heretical Roman Catholic doctrine that millions hold to with only minor research. And besides that, you've ignored the fact that your "church" has murdered 50,000,000+ people, has tortured countless people horrifically, and blatantly disobeys Jesus with the title of your leader.