₦airaland Forum

Ayobase and Mr. Drizzy: You insult God Himself when you insult His Mother, calling Her a mere "vessel." Read your Bible! She carried Jesus in Her womb for 9 months, and thanks to Her "yes" to God's request, WE ARE SAVED, IN PART, BECAUSE OF HER COOPERATION WITH GOD. Does that sound like a mere "vessel" to you? Do you not feel an ounce of gratitude to your Mother for what She suffered for you? She suffered when She saw Her Son die on the cross so you could be saved!

Even today, She continues to bring Jesus to everyone whose heart is humble and open to receiving Him. Remember, God demanded high standards for the construction of the Ark of the Covenant that the Israelis were to build and which carried the Word of God. Read Exodus 25 where God tells the Israelis how to build the Ark of the Covenant. In the new covenant, Jesus is the Word of God. Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant, and God made her beautiful and perfect in His eyes. Beware when you insult God's Mother. God is merciful. It is His greatest attribute, but He defends His Mother's honor. He is not indifferent to the insults men fling at Her.

Read your Bible and explain to me why Protestants imply that God would contradict Himself by telling the Israelis not to worship idols (Exodus 20), but then tell them to build statues of angels (which you call idols) on the Ark of the Covenant. (Exodus 25) Tell me. You haven't answered my question. Instead, you simply repeated your assertion that having a statue in one's home or church was sinful. You evaded my argument that God does not contradict himself. Why do Protestants contradict God Himself by saying having statues in church is "idol worship"? It is a sin to say that. As a matter of fact, that whole question was settled in the early Church when Eastern emperors in Constantinople were persecuting Christians who dared to argue that statues were pleasing to God. It was considered a heresy to believe that statues were idols.

We Catholics follow the Bible. I bet you didn't know the Bible is a Catholic book. Our bishops (the apostles) wrote the New Testament and selected the authoritative chapters belonging to the Old Testament! (Catholic priests can trace their ordinations to the apostles, but Protestant ministers cannot.) In the 4th century, at the Councils of Hippo and Carthage, the Catholic Church selected the authentic chapters that are included in the Bible. Martin Luther, however, removed those chapters that weren't in accord with his doctrine (i.e. 1 and 2 Maccabees), as if Luther's authority were superior to the successors of the apostles, the bishops of the Catholic Church! The Bible warns in the Book of Revelation that no one should ever change or remove what is said in that book. Luther did it, and you Protestants accept that sinful behavior!

Protestants like to say that the Bible is the pillar and foundation of the Truth. Martin Luther said it was so. Catholics, however, believe the Bible when it says in St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy 3:15, the Church of God is "the pillar and foundation of the truth." Do you accept the Bible as an authority? If so, you must accept the Bible's teaching about the Church being the "pillar and foundation of the truth." But Protestants don't accept the authority of the only Christian Church that existed in the 4th century - the Catholic Church - the only Church founded by Jesus Christ. So what infallible authority do Protestants say approved the canon of the Bible if Protestants don't accept the authority of the Catholic Church? How can a Church you say is wrong produce an infallible Bible? How does fallibility produce infallibility? It's yet another contradiction among Protestants! We have the apostles and the apostolic succession to show us the way. Protestants do not because they reject the authority of the one, true Church. Protestants believe solely in the authority of the Bible - the doctrine of "Sola Scriptura" - but Catholics believe the true authority includes both the teaching of the apostles and the Bible. But you will not find the term "Sola Scriptura" anywhere in the Bible!

As the Anglican convert to the Catholic Church, Cardinal John Newman, once said, "To know history, is to be Catholic!"

And Protestants insult God when they argue that Mary had other children. What you're really saying is that God allowed others to occupy his Throne (Mary, His Mother). It's like arguing that God would have allowed Israelis to sit on His Throne - the Ark of the Covenant. They weren't even permitted to touch it, and if they did, they died immediately thereafter.

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told Her she would conceive and bear a son, what was her reply? She said, "How can this be since I have had no relations with a man?" She was implying, "Nor do I ever intend to have relations with a man." She is Blessed Mary Ever Virgin.

Mr. Drizzy: Does it make sense to you that God would forbid His people to make idols, but then contradict Himself by telling the people to make idols by building statues? He told the Israelites to build the Ark of the Covenant with two angels standing on top of it! God forbids us to make idols out of created things, such as worshiping money, gold or silver. God does not forbid us to make statues. (Exodus 20 and 25)

Do you have photographs of the people you love in your home? Do you carry photographs of the people you love in your wallet? Are photographs of your loved ones idols? Of course not! Are your loved ones pleased when you display photographs of them in your home? Of course they are! God is equally pleased when you display an image of Him or his Mother.

Catholics know that statues of Mary and the saints are inanimate, powerless things that cannot help them. But, praying before a statue helps a person not to be distracted.

One of the titles that the Catholic Church gives to Mary is "Ark of the Covenant" because, like the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament which carried the Word of God, Mary carried Jesus, the Word of God, in her womb for 9 months.

The people of Israel greatly revered the Ark of the Covenant. They carried it into their battles. When their enemies stole it from them, they lost their battles. When King David sang and danced before the Ark of the Covenant, Saul's daughter, Michal, despised him in her heart for degrading himself. God punished her for it by making her childless throughout her life. (2 Samuel 6:23)

Do not despise Catholics who revere their Mother, just as the Israelites revered the Ark of the Covenant.

The angel Gabriel was the first to say, "Hail Mary, full of grace, THE LORD IS WITH YOU." When you pray to God, Mary is there. When you pray to Mary and ask her to pray for you, God is there to hear her prayers on your behalf.

Love your Mother, and do not despise those who love her. When you despise those who love her, you are despising the Lord because she carries Him in her womb.

Imagine going to a man's house for dinner and completely ignoring his mother. Don't you think he would be highly offended? Do you think that man would invite you to return to his home for dinner?

That's what people do when they completely ignore Christ's mother. St. Louis De Montfort wrote in his book, True Devotion to Mary, that only a reprobate (or someone uninformed) would encourage a child to ignore his or her mother. Consider for a minute how unnatural that is.

Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) Little children love their mother. It is a sin to ignore her. It is a sin to persuade others to ignore her. St. Louis de Montfort taught that Jesus CHOSE to come to us through His Mother. He didn't have to do it that way. He wanted it that way. Similarly, the saint said, we need to go to Jesus through His Mother. A mother living on earth doesn't ignore her children. She protects them from all danger, and she intercedes on their behalf. Our heavenly Mother loves us, too.

Jesus invites all people to attend his heavenly Wedding Banquet, the Catholic Mass, but many refuse his invitation because they are too busy or don't care about the Banquet, so he invites the poor and the sick and the disabled instead. He invites us to love His mother as He does. Those who refuse to love her are not imitating Jesus.