Mormon Talk

You guys are rediculous. you would believe what this john smith charecter or joseph smith whatever his name is, over the Lord Our Savior Jesus Christ. that is insane. and you guys call yourself christian. give me a break.

Catholics do not just repeat the same prayer over and over again when they pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a progression of many prayers–the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Gloria, the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina–and these prayers are accompanied by many holy meditations. As the Rosary progresses, Catholics meditate on the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the life of Christ and His Mother. True, the Hail Mary is repeated many times during the course of the Rosary, and some of the other prayers are repeated several times, but this is not “vain” repetition, certainly not the vain repetition condemned by Our Lord. The vain repetition He condemned is that of people who pray standing “in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.”
No prayer is vain, no matter how often repeated, if it is sincere, for Christ Himself engaged in repetitious prayer in the Garden of Gethsemani (“. . . he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word”–Matt. 26:39, 42, 44), and we are informed in the Apocalypse (Revelations) 4:8 that the angels in Heaven never cease repeating, night and day, the canticle: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” The publican humbly repeated the prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and he went away justified; whereas the pharisee went home unjustified after his long-winded extemporaneous prayer. (Luke 18:9-14). God was likewise pleased with the repetitious prayer of the three young men in the fiery furnace, whom He preserved miraculously untouched by the flames. (Dan. 3:52-90). Protestants also engage in repetitious prayer: the same prayers at mealtime grace, the same prayers at Benediction, etc. The time lapse is no factor; it is still repetitious.

When Catholics pray to Mary and the other saints in Heaven they are not bypassing Christ, whom they acknowledge as the sole Mediator between God and man. They are going to Christ through Mary and the other saints. They are asking Mary and other saints to intercede for them before the throne of Christ in Heaven. “For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.” (James 5:16). How much more availing is the unceasing prayer of the sinless Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ! St. Paul asked his fellow Christians to intercede for him: “Brethren, pray for us.” (2 Thess. 3:1). And again: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God…” (Rom. 15:30). Christ must particularly approve of our going to Him through Mary, His Blessed Mother, because He chose to come to us through her. And at Cana, He performed His first miracle after a word from His Mother. (John 2:2-11).
It is clear in Sacred Scripture that the saints in Heaven will intercede for us before the throne of Christ if they are petitioned in prayer (Apoc. or Rev. 8:3-4), and it is clear in the records of primitive Christianity that the first Christians eagerly sought their intercession. Wrote St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century: “When thou perceivest that God is chastening thee, fly not to His enemies, but to His friends, the martyrs, the saints, and those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power.” If the saints have such power with God, how much more His own Mother.

Catholics do not worship Mary, the Mother of Christ–as though she were a deity. Of all the misconceptions about Catholic belief and practice, this one is the most absurd. Catholics are just as aware as Protestants that Mary was a human creature, and therefore not entitled to the honors which are reserved to God alone. What many non-Catholics mistake for adoration is a very profound love and veneration, nothing more. Mary is not adored, first because God forbids it, and secondly because the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which is based on Divine Law, forbids it. Canon Law 1255 of the 1918 Codex strictly forbids adoration of anyone other than the Holy Trinity. However, Catholics do feel that Mary is entitled to a great measure of exaltation because, in choosing her as the Mother of Redemption, God Himself exalted her–exalted her more than any other human person before or since. Catholics heap tribute and honor on Mary because they earnestly desire to be “followers of God, as most dear children.” (Eph. 5:1). Mary herself prophesied: “For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:48-49). Catholics know that every bit of the glory they give to Mary redounds to the glory of her divine Son, just as Mary magnified God, not herself, when Elizabeth blessed her. (Luke 1:41-55). They know that the closer they draw to her, the closer they draw to Him who was born of her. In the year 434 St. Vincent of Lerins defended Christian devotion to Mary this way: “Therefore, may God forbid that anyone should attempt to defraud Holy Mary of her privilege of divine grace and her special glory. For by a unique favor of our Lord and God she is confessed to be the most true and most blessed Mother of God.” Today 75% of all Christians still hold to this same view.

Most non-Catholic Christians believe that the Bible is the sole rule of Faith. This was one of Martin Luther’s claims when he broke away from the Catholic Church, ie., the claim of “Sola Scriptura.” Catholics have, however, always accepted the teaching authority of the Church together with the Bible as the basis for our Faith.

SO HOW DID CATHOLICS ARRIVE AT THIS POSITION?
Well they didn’t actually arrive at it, they simply lived it out since the very inception of the Church. Maybe a brief historical perspective will be helpful in understanding this.

We saw that the New Testament books were not really put together as a completed Bible until approximately 400 AD. So we know that the earliest Christians did not have access to the written word. We also know that until the invention of the printing press in the 1450’s, the Bible was not accessible to most people due to the laborious task of making copies by hand. It wasn’t even until relatively recently that faithful Christians were educated enough to be able to read the Bible!

HOW WAS THE CHRISTIAN FAITH TRANSMITTED TO BELIEVERS DURING THIS PERIOD OF TIME WHEN ACCESS TO THE BIBLE WAS QUITE LIMITED?
The answer is that virtually all of the teaching during this time was done by oral instruction relying on the teaching authority of the Church for the proper interpretation of the Scriptures and for the passing on of Apostolic Tradition.

The Bible itself is quite clear regarding the significance of tradition (see John 21:25, 2 Tim 2:2, 2 Thes 2:15 and 1 Cor 11:2). Since these scripture references, along with many others, refer to both tradition and the spoken word, they MUST be integrated into the Christian understanding of revelation. Since the Word of God can not contradict itself, the only choice we have as Bible believing Christians is to accept tradition as well as scripture as our source of faith. i hope yopu reply to this b/c i was wrong when i spoke out earlier. and i apologize. so here you go!!!