Letter to the editor

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After reading the second lengthy letter to the Eagle by Friar Tobin, I thought I should submit a brief reply. While i appreciate his thorough writing about Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I would like to share a different perspective of his general emphasis and some of his key interpretations.

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Mary first said “He has regarded the low estate of His handmaid.” Luke 1:45 The (Roman) Catholic Church did not exist for the first 300 years after the birth of Jesus. Catholic is a word meaning general or universal and all who repent and give their lives to Jesus belong to the general or universal church of Christ! John 3:16 The Roman Catholic religion was established more than three centuries later, and the Easter Orthodox Catholic Religion a century after that, and the Protestant Denominations many centuries later. There were, however, many small groups of Bible believing Christians in various places around the world following the resurrection of Christ up to the present day! They all call her blessed to be chosen to be the mother of her Savior, the wife of the Holy Spirit and the wife of Joseph, the step-father. Luke 1:31-35 Mary was born of a sinful rave and needed a Savior! Luke 1:38-, 47.

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The Angel came to Mary who was a cousin to Elizabeth.

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Adam and Even fell into sin thousands of years before Jesus came! Genesis 3:6, 7.

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You say “The likeness of God in man is God’s Divine grace which makes us holy like God Himself.” They had complete human holiness before the fall, but they were not like God Himself who is the only eternally and perfect One and He will reign forever and “His kingdom shall have no end.” Luke 1:33.

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Adam and Eve ate the fruit and died spiritually and would die physically, but they did not lose God’s divine grace permanently; Luke 1:77 tells us that “this Child will give the knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins”!!

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Of course God is talking to the serpent Satan and Eve! A text without a context is pretext. Genesis 3:15 God continues in Genesis 3:16 telling us that this woman (Eve) will bring forth children (plural) with her husband. Mary was not born until over a thousand years later and Mary was a definite sinner as are all men and women. That is why she said Jesus was her Savior from sin-Luke 1:47!

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Mary quickly went to Elizabeth to tell her of all the amazing things that God was going to do eternally through her child Jesus!! Luke 1:46-56.

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You Quote John 11:29- “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your soul.” (plural) But Mary gave birth to Jesus in the stable because “there was no room for them in the inn”! Just as many have no room for Jesus today.

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You mentioned “Mary is called the New Ark of the Covenant” but this is not found in the Bible! The Ark was a sacred container for covenant items used in worship (Exodus 25:9-22) and also a great vessel built by Noah to be saved from the flood (Genesis 6:14-16). But it was never connected to Mary in any way!

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You may want to call Mary the new ark because she contained Jesus in her body during her pregnancy, but even Jesus was never called an ark, though Jesus the Son of God and God the Father had an ark. In the 200+ Bible references of the ark, Mary is not mentioned and in the 200+ references of mother, the “mother of God” is not mentioned! Only the one reference of Elizabeth saying, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” She was asking why Mary would come to her being pregnant with the baby Jesus? Jesus is called the Lord in the human physical sense! Jesus said He had no father or mother in the spiritual sense-Matthew 12:46-50. To call Mary the mother of God is blasphemous! God has no mother and He would not be God if He had a mother!! (Isaiah 45:21, 22)

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There is no Luke 27:11 but I think Luke 11:27 is meant that states: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee,” and compares it with Luke 1:28 (b)-”blessed art thou among women.” Even though this passage isn’t talking about Mary! Also the next verse, Luke 11:28 says those who hear the Word and keep it are more blessed!!

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You say Revelation 12:1 is definitely the “Blessed Virgin Mary” but it does not say that at all! However if you guess that after looking at Revelation 12:4-9, which is really symbolic, then the folks who have a mother that they think are like that could sing with you about her if they wanted to.

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I would think that a lot of Catholic people might want to sing about her, and not the non-Catholics, but who knows?

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You state that at the time of the so-called Reformation, Luther had a special devotion for Mary. I never read of that. And you said that some of the other reformers had nothing to do with the (Roman) Catholic Church and that was also my impression from what I read. You then ask if your readers feel that way? I don’t know but I wouldn’t think they would have much to do with the Catholic Church or they would still be in it. But I know you can feel that some of the Catholic teaching is not according to the Bible, and still have Catholic friends and really love Christ, without much love for His human parents. I wouldn’t think that thinking and loving Protestants would let Mary take away from their love for Jesus anymore than the disciples or other Bible characters. I haven’t seen much “hog wash”!

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Regarding the Altar and the Altar Call, I don’t know what the argument is. The word altar or altars is mentioned a little over 300 times in the Bible so it is quite prominent. There are a few churches who still have a literal altar. There are many churches who consider their (invisible) altar a part of their platform in front of their sanctuary. The Bible doesn’t speak of the Altar Call specifically, but many Evangelical and Pentecostal and Bible churches invite people to come forward to the platform and/or invisible altar to receive Christ, or pray, or sing, or testify. There are a few churches who don’t have altar calls, but most churches who do have people come up as a part of worship find it very meaningful. If you did go farward once-especially for salvation or service, you might think of it as solemn and not silly! I am sorry that you concluded that paragraph with “Holy Cat” and I am ignorant of that expression.

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You ask people to wake up! Your article was long, but it shouldn’t have put people to sleep! You mention Jesus’ mother. We never speak of her very much this way. She is only mentioned a few times in the Gospels. She seems to have been a wonderful disciple however, and a good example of motherhood. As I said earlier, real Bible believers almost never speak of the “mother of God” or “Mother of Jesus” phrases so they won’t be misunderstood or lead non-believers or believers to think that we believe, or worship, a man or woman, instead of God alone!!

Who is God? Our wonderful Trinity of Father and Son and Holy Spirit with perfect knowledge and justice and holiness and love eternally pictured in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to provide forgiveness and salvation and service and heaven for all who will give themselves to Him!!! This is our great God!!!

Jim Phalen

P.S. Thanks to Friar Tobin and Editor Lovec for having an unusual and special article in the paper. It can be our beginning preparation for thinking about Christmas, as Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!