Refuting the Plagiarized Lies of Mr. Anon Nymous PART 4

(On the Assumption of Mary and Mary Co-redemptrix)

The Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross
Source: catholicsoul.tumblr.com

[Anon Nymous March 25, 2014 at 11:39 PM 

Catholic False Doctrine 4

The Roman Catholic Church claim that Mary is in Heaven and is co-redeemer with Jesus. 

"That we may rightly say she (Mary) redeemed the human race together with Christ." (Benedict XV, Inter Sodalicia, 1918) 

"In fact, by being assumed into Heaven she (Mary) has not laid aside the office of salvation, but by the manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the grace of eternal salvation." (John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 1980, quoting Lumen Gentium) 

Praise God that we have His Word to expose these false and dangerous teachings. There is ONLY ONE Mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus. The Bible also reveals that those who have died in Christ are still in their graves awaiting the resurrection. Mary is in her grave, NOT in heaven. 

1 Timothy 2:5 .....'For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.']

REPLY: As we proceed on the fourth instalment of our series of rebuttals, we notice that the arguments that are being presented are becoming more and more obnoxious and absurd. Again, we will scrutinize, expose and debunk another set of fallacious and ‘epic fail’ statements of Mr. Anon Nymous just like what St. Paul taught us to do:

Ephesians 5:11

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Mr. Anon Nymous [through his plagiarized en toto comment] wrote: 

Anon Nymous March 25, 2014 at 11:39 PM 

Catholic False Doctrine 4 

The Roman Catholic Church claim that Mary is in Heaven and is co-redeemer with Jesus. 

"That we may rightly say she (Mary) redeemed the human race together with Christ." (Benedict XV, Inter Sodalicia, 1918) 

"In fact, by being assumed into Heaven she (Mary) has not laid aside the office of salvation, but by the manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the grace of eternal salvation." (John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 1980, quoting Lumen Gentium) 

This time, Mr. Anon Nymous shortly attacks the Dogma of Mary’s Assumption and the unofficial catholic teaching on Mary as the co-redemptrix by again citing Catholic documents which are most probably taken out of context. He seeks to challenge the biblical basis of these catholic Marian beliefs and categorizes it as another “Catholic False Doctrine.” 

As usual in response to this, we are willing to once again present the scriptural evidences that demolishes the erroneous notions of heretics, this time with regards to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let me point out some of the basic and essential facts on each of these Marian teachings.

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

The Assumption of Mary painted by Palma Vecchio
Source: wikipedia.com 

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is primarily the result of her sinlessness as tackled on the previous blog post. Since God, in anticipation of his Incarnation, saved and preserved Mary from sin, then Mary is not subject to bodily CORRUPTION and DEATH.

Romans 6:23 [emphasis added]

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Again, this points us to the PROTOEVANGELIUM pronounced by God himself right after the Fall of Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:15 [labelled for emphasis] 

I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman [Mary],
and between your offspring [works of Satan; i.e. sin/death] and hers [Jesus Christ];
he will strike your head [Resurrection of Christ],
and you will strike his heel.[Sufferings of Christ; i.e. Crucifixion]”

Christ along with Mary is the fulfilment of this very early prophesy.  Mary in order to be in enmity with the old serpent must be set apart from the works of the latter, thus she must be sinless. It is also understandable that Christ's flesh and blood are purely Marian in origin. Therefore if Mary has a stain of sin then Christ must also possess it. But then as we know, this is not the case.   

So again, if Mary is sinless then she cannot suffer DEATH!

Now this leads to the discussion of whereabouts of Mary.

Accordingly, Mary is already in HEAVEN as St. John of Patmos wrote in his vision:

Revelation 11:19 

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

As we know, this God's Temple refers to Jesus himself:

John 2:21

But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

Revelation 21:22 

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

but what about the Ark of the Covenant?

We have a good number of evidences that says MARY IS THE NEW ARK OF THE COVENANT. As we have noted in our post regarding Marian Veneration, 2 Samuel 6:1ff are parallel to Luke 1:39ff showing Mary's visitation to Elizabeth. Striking parallelism is exhibited to the greetings of Mary's cousin which is almost verbatim to that of David. The Church also argues that Mary indeed personified the ARK OF THE COVENANT for she literally bore in her womb the Living Bread (Manna), the Highest Priest and the incarnate Word of God.

Surprisingly, the next verses of Johannine vision do not shift topic but instead continue revealing what John saw in HEAVEN.

Revelation 12:1

A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Now, it has been noted that Jesus, the new Adam (cf. Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45), never called her "mother, mama, mom, etc" but only "WOMAN" (cf. Jn 2:4, 19:26-27; Gal. 4:4; Rev. 12:1ff) not to disrespect her but to emphasize the fulfilment of the prophesied woman of Genesis on her.

So before any other biblical exegeses, this woman in heaven who has feet and head (v. 1) and who gave birth to a son who will rule nations (v. 5) pertains to none other than Mary in the most literal sense. This is a clear affirmation of Mary's Assumption in Heaven!

MARY AS THE CO-REDEMPTRIX

This title is not officially proclaimed by the Church but catholic theologians still offer possible biblical evidences with regards to Mary as the Co-redemptrix.

As an example, let us consider this Pauline epistle to the Colossians:

Colossians 1:24 [emphasis added] 

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

It is significant to note that Jesus' one and complete sacrifice in Calvary is not only enough but superabundant for the redemption of the humankind. However, St. Paul emphasizes that this sacrifice must continue in history through man's participation and cooperation in the salvation of the world, thus qualifying us including MARY to be "co-redeemers" with Christ.

Of course, this does not equate us to Christ. The prefix "co-"  does not always imply equality but simply cooperation just like what St. Paul wrote in his Corinthian epistle: "we are co-workers in God’s service" (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9 NIV)

This explains why the belief on MARY AS CO-REDEEMER WITH CHRIST is seen as biblically correct and consistent.

Mary's coredemption is highly exceptional and unique in nature compared to other Christians because of her intimate relationship with Christ. As St. Simeon prophesied:

Luke 2:35  [emphasis added] 

so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Indeed, Jesus' suffering is deeply connected to that of Mary. If Jesus suffered so much in the Cross, how much more Mary who witnessed the pains of his only beloved son? If St. Paul without any blood relations with Jesus could say: “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), how much more Mary--the Mother of the Redeemer?

Mr. Anon Nymous also wrote:

Praise God that we have His Word to expose these false and dangerous teachings. There is ONLY ONE Mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus. The Bible also reveals that those who have died in Christ are still in their graves awaiting the resurrection. Mary is in her grave, NOT in heaven.

1 Timothy 2:5 .....'For there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.'

Mr. Anon Nymous’ remarks are deceptively brief and simplistic. Without having established anything yet, he then concludes that those marian teachings discussed above are nothing but "false and dangerous."  He did not even spare some of his time considering the Catholic positions in this matter. As a result, his 'conclusion' is significantly too far from what he had discussed. Remember that he started with Mary's Assumption and Co-redemption. But now instead of refuting these two he deviate and proceed to another topic of CHRIST SOLE MEDIATION.

This inconsistency and doctrinal dance proves that Mr. Anon Nymous cannot even establish a logical case. His objections to the catholic faith are highly pathetic due to his inability to comprehend the Word of God and his deliberate misunderstanding of Church documents.

By the way, the context of 1 Timothy 2 is not about the exclusivity of mediation of Jesus Christ. In contrary, St. Paul speaks of "petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving" to be made by all Christians for our good on the first verses of this chapter.

Moreover, the original greek text of 1 Timothy 2:5 is as follows:

1 Timothy 2:5 Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (MOUNCE-emphasis added)

Forgar there is oneheis Godtheos, andkai oneheis mediatormesitēs between Godtheos andkai peopleanthrōpos; a personanthrōpos, ChristChristos JesusIēsous

Notice the term "heis" which is translated as "one" in English.

heis 

Word Origin
a primary number 

Definition
one 

NASB Word Usage
agreement (1), alike* (1), alone (3), common (1), detail (1), first (9), individual (2), individually* (1), lone (1), man (1), nothing* (1), one (282), one another (1), one man (2), one thing (5), one* (2), person (1), single (1), smallest (1), someone (2), thirty-nine* (1), unity (1).

Source: NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries available at <http://biblehub.com/nasec/greek/1520.htm>

Instead of the word "monos" which means absolute and exclusive uniqueness, St. Paul intentionally used "heis" to denote "first" and "unity." It suggests "pre-eminence" of Christ' Mediation without excluding that of minor mediators.

In the Old Testament alone we see many other mediators:

Abraham (Genesis 18:22- 26)
Moses (Exodus 32:30-32)
Jeremiah (Jeremiah 42:1-5)
David (1 Chronicles 21:17, 26-27)
Angels (Job 33:23-24)

And in the New Testament, saints served as mediators in the form of intercessory prayers:

St. Peter (Acts 8:24)
St. Paul (Colossians 1:9)
Christians (James 5:16; Colossians 4:2-4; 1 Thessalonian 5:25; Romans 15:30)

And of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary's intercession during the Wedding at Cana which paved the way for the first sign of Jesus Christ (John 2:1-12)

Now, this "pre-eminence" of Christ' Mediation comes from his unique and distinct mediation of the new covenant:

Hebrews 8:6 [emphasis added]  

But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises.

Hebrews 9:15 [emphasis added]

For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

But by virtue of our communion with him [Christ is the Head, We are the Body], we are made partakers of his unique MEDIATION in the same way we share in his distinct PRIESTHOOD.

Now, he goes on to say: "Mary is in her grave, NOT in heaven."

So where are the remains of Mary? Where is her grave? Mr. Anon Nymous does not tell.

Now, our challenge is this: IF YOU COULD FIND ANY ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES ON MARY'S REMAINS AND HER ORIGINAL GRAVE, WE WILL CONCEDE AND RETRACT! BUT IN THE CASE YOU COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING,  REPENT AND CONVERT!

+Pax Christi! 

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*Unless otherwise stated, all scriptural verses cited by the author of the blog are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.