Interesting Questions-114
Mary everywhere?
Letter to the Editor:
GOD'S MESSAGE, September 2005, p.4
NON-CATHOLICS OFTEN ATTACK
the respect and veneration we dedicate to the Virgin Mary.
But you cannot blame us for having such devotion as a reaction
to Her apparition. For what can you say about the apparitions
of the Holy Mary in Portugal and in almost every Christian
country, which the world believes to be real? Are
they not real?
Juny Chan
Bangkok, Thailand
Editor's reply:
Even Catholic authorities will agree
that Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, died in the first
century.
The Bible teaches that the dead are in
the grave (Ps. 88:5), including those who are holy (Ps. 86:2; Acts 2:29, 34).
29 “Men
and brethren,
let me
speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
34 “For David did
not ascend into the heavens, . . . (Acts 2:29, 34, NKJV)
The Holy Scriptures prove
that when a human being dies, he can no longer participate in
anything done under the sun (Eccles. 9:5-6), his thoughts perish
(Ps. 146:4), and he cannot come back to the world of the living (Job
7:9-10; II Sam. 12:23). The dead remain dead till the heavens are no
more:
“But man dies and is laid away; Indeed
he breathes his last And where is he?...
“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, New King James Version)
The heavens will be no more or will pass
away on Judgment Day (II Pet. 3:7, 10). Therefore, only then will
Mary, together with the rest of the dead who are worthy of
salvation, live again to receive their reward (I Thess.
4:16-17; Matt. 25:31-34).
What others claim to have seen in
so-called Marian apparitions could not be the mother of Jesus. When
a person dies, not only does his body return to dust (Ezek. 18:4;
Rom. 3:23; Ps. 119:25), and the spirit
returns to God (Eccles. 12:7).
Moreover, no less than Catholic priests
and authorities themselves testify to the fact that the Catholic
doctrine of Mary’s Assumption, or her alleged being taken to heaven
body and soul after her death, is not found in the Holy Scriptures:
“There is no statement of the Assumption
in Holy Scripture. Moreover, if we consult the historical writings
of the first five centuries, we find them void of any historical
data to certify the fact of the Assumption.” (God the Redeemer, p.
98)
“There is no explicit reference to the
Assumption in the Bible, yet the Pope insists in the decree of
promulgation that the Scriptures are the ultimate foundation of this
truth.” (New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, 1967, p. 972)
It is, therefore, clear that the very
principle of what Catholics believe as apparitions is against the
teaching of the Bible.
___________________
Bible Study
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