November 4, 2005

Clarifying
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Farlas, hmmmm where to start where to start..? The way I see Prayer is any communication that is about religion. In truth you and I are praying now because we are delving into our shared Christian heritage, keeping God in our minds. Perhaps a better word should be used instead when describing communication directed towards Our Lady and the Saints. It is no different to me asking you to pray to God for me, yet no one would say I'm Worshipping you. Dead or alive people in Heaven and on Earth are members in the same Church, no difference between them (accept that the Saints have passed the test).

By their acts you can judge them; Visions of Mary may be acts of the Devil? It is not impossible, yet to judge by what the apparition says... it urges a return to God's love and the teachings of Jesus. If thats the Devils work then he has to rethink his script. Indeed to play devils advocate (bigtime) by your rationale could not Jesus have been an incarnation of the Devil? Do a miracle here or there, "die" for our sins and miraclously "rise" from the dead... all just to lure Humans away from the worship of God and into a Pagan idea of a trio in one God?
(Disclaimer: Just wrote the above to illustrate a point, does not reflect true belief..checks sky for lighning bolts)
Its not as if the dead never interact with the living (I wont mention Sauls raising of Samuel)... What of Moses at the Transfiguration? I can't mention Elijah as technically he's still alive.

Why I said Mary is Holy is a matter of respect for Jesus. (what is he on about says you). Picture this, I want to make the most perfect of cakes. I have the purest flour, eggs etc no blemish on any fruit that is used etc. (I'm getting hungry thinking about this) I make the mix and only have to bake it. The mix is them put into a dirty, rusty, bacteria ridden baking tin and thrown into an oven, which is to say the least, unclean. no one in their right mind would do such a thing, it shows no respect for the food for starters. It is the same with the birth of the Christ. Mary through divine intervention was kept without stain, so Christ could be brought into this world by as clean and pure a vessel as possible.
As for Jesus having brothers and sisters, I know the parts in the Bible you refer to, but equally they can refer to cousins as to actual brothers and sisters. It can be taken either way. I dont have a huge hang up on either.

Personnally I dont think there should be a single Church, but I do think we should work together better. I always think of it this way, Christ took Peter's boat out to catch fish but they caught so many they had to call to the shore for more boats to help them take in the catch. The boats being the different Churches...
A common council of all Churches to see where we can all work together.

You never heard that old phrase, "We have Abraham for our father"? I saw this picture ages ago in a book. What I meant was all Three Faiths stem from Abraham, I didnt mean bloodline.
http://www.beshara.org/images/abraham.jpg
The picture has Abraham holding all his children in faith, Muslim, Jew and Christian.

I better head off... see ya later :) Ash Nazg...

Glad I could be of any help in the assignment