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I did not read this whole thread, but I was raised in Catholic family and we did honor the Virgin Mary as well as prayed to Saints. I see nothing wrong with it. Why would it be wrong? I still pray to different Saints at different times, and have pictures of Saint Francis. I have prayed to Saint Anthony often, especially when I lost an item that I wanted to find. I even have a small prayer book of Catholic Novenas, which I admit I don't really use, but maybe I will start. I also have a tiny little statue of the Virgin Mary that I really like.
Catholics believe she remained a virgin the entire time she was on Earth. They believe Jesus was the only child she had.
Yes, the mystery of man-made myths at work again. Here's the verse Catholics throw in your face when you raise the issue:
Quote:
Matthew 1:24-25
When Joseph woke up, he...took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.
Note how Matthew could have and likely did say, "no union with her until after she gave birth". That wouldn't have set well with the RCC leaders so they likely go hold of the text and edited out the "after" and then insisted that the text only talks about what happened up until Jesus' birth, not afterward.
I thought is was well accepted by Biblical scholars that there were other children in the household of Mary and Joseph. Am I wrong?
Catholics will tell you they are wrong. Catholic doctrine has something called the perpetual virginity of Mary. Always a virgin, no other children. The conception and birth of Jesus being miraculous. There's a pretty good Wikipedia article on how the doctrine evolved if you're interested.
I thought is was well accepted by Biblical scholars that there were other children in the household of Mary and Joseph. Am I wrong?
You're only wrong in that "well accepted by Biblical scholars" uses something called "theology" to base their conclusions and do so at the risk of not being harmonious to variant claims, beliefs.
And even more alarming is that these same "well accepted by Biblical scholars" expect people of the same shared views of "Biblical scholars" to be true to themselves, true to their theological beliefs in all aspects of their life being the standard that is "well accepted by Biblical scholars".
I've searched through many responses on this thread for the answer to something I've always wondered about relative to the ‘honoring’ of Mary by Catholics: What is meant by "HONOR?"
We "honor" many people, including the Apostles, the virgin Mary, a variety of historical and current religious leaders ... and many others. In this sense, "honor" means 'to acknowledge, respect, hold in high esteem).
“Worship” however, is different. It means that we idolize or ascribe deity to the person. Scripture clearly says that we are to ONLY 'worship’ God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), NOT any person!
The failure to define the term "honor" in this thread, has left me (and I suspect, many others) still confused about what is being discussed. - Thanks.
Catholics insist Mary's hymen remained intact even after she gave birth to Jesus.
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