Interesting Questions-111

Mother of God?

Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, January-February 1993, p.2

I AM 21 years old and an active member of the Catholic religion.  As a Catholic I believe that Mary is the  mother of God (Lord Jesus Christ). Do you believe on the apparition of Virgin Mary?

June Esteban-Esquivel
Quezon City, Philippines

 

Editor's reply:

If you believe that Mary is the Mother of God and if your God is Jesus Christ, then your beliefs are taken from Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria and from Ignatius, bishop of Antioch.

Cyril was the first one to officially declared that Mary is the Mother of God in September 431 at the council of Ephesus. Ignatius was the first one to do declare that Jesus Christ is God.

Apostle Paul says that there is “One God and Father of All” in Ephesians 4:6.

one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Eph. 4:6, NKJV)

If God is the Father of Mary. How can Mary, a daughter of God, be the mother of God?

According to Christ Himself, He is a man telling the truth in John 8:40.

But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. (John 8:40, NKJV)

According to Apostle Paul, the Man Christ Jesus is the one mediator between God and man (cf. I Tim. 2:5).

 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5, NKJV)

God is not a man according to the prophets in Hosea 11:9 and in Numbers 23:19.

I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;  I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,  The Holy One in your midst; 
And I will not come with terror. (Hosea 11:9, NKJV)

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num 23:19, NKJV)

Thus, if God is not a man, and if Christ is a man, therefore, Christ is not God.

Apostle Paul as well as the other Apostles and Christ and the prophets are the messengers of god and we must believe them (cf. I Cor. 11:1). Rejecting them is a fatal (cf. Mk. 6:10-11; Lk. 10:16; Mt. 10:11-15).

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.  (1 Cor. 11:1, NIV)

 “When anyone listens to you my followers, they are really listening to me. But when anyone refuses to accept you, they are really refusing to accept me. And when anyone refuses to accept me, they are refusing to accept the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:16, Easy to Read Version)

Therefore, we must believe Christ, the Apostles, and the prophets and not the likes of Ignatius or Cyril who are not eyewitnesses to the events of Christ’s time.

Mary is dead and waiting in her grave for the return of Christ. The alleged apparitions of Mary cannot be done by Mary but by the devil who is out to deceive people into believing that Mary is alive and at work.

Mary being a human being, died in the first century. When a human being dies, he is actually asleep in the grave (cf. I Thess. 4:13; Jn. 11:11-14; Acts 7:59-60; I Kings 2:10).

¹³ But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. (1 Thess . 4:13, NKJV)

⁵⁹ And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60, NKJV)

 The dead are waiting for the resurrection on the second coming of Christ (cf. I Thess. 4:13-14; Job 17:13; 14:14; I Cor. 15:51-53; Ezek. 37:12.

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those who have died. We don’t want you to be sad like other people—those who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died, but we also believe that he rose again. So we believe that God will raise to life through Jesus any who have died and bring them together with him when he comes. (1 Thess . 4:13-14, ERV)

When a human being is dead, he cannot participate in anything that is done under the sun (cf. Job 14:10-12).

But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last; And where is he?
¹¹ As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
¹² So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more,
They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.  (Job 14:10-12, NKJV).

The heavens will be no more on Judgment Day (cf. II Peter 3:7, 12)

⁷ But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  (II Peter 3:7,10,12, KJV)

So, Mary cannot be the author of those apparitions. If it is not Mary, then somebody is posing as Mary, an impostor, a deceiver, a liar, a son of the devil (cf. Jn. 8:44).

⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (Jn. 8:44, NKJV).

Don’t believe nor follow liars for liars will go to hell (cf. Rev. 21:8).

⁸ But the cowardly, unbelieving,^[e] abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”(Rev. 21:8, NKJV)

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Note: Some verses are added for clarity. Emphasis ours.

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