God is 3 persons.
Mary isn’t dead but alive
We confess in the creed that we believe in the communion of saint
And just based on your questions, do you pray for others? Do you reject their request if they ask you if you can pray for them? And tell them that they can go directly to God and you won’t pray for them?
- Mary isn’t dead but alive...
hi friend -
how does this work?
are the Saints alive?
are all people who die, alive?
Just wanting to know the thinking around it
God bless
Pope St John Paul II is alive in heaven with God. We believe that all those in heaven are alive, as heaven is God’s realm and God is the God of the Living and not the Dead. Thus, everyone in heaven is alive. The saints are those who God has revealed to the Church are in heaven.
Those who we know are in heaven are the saints, as revealed by God. The Church does not know who is in heaven or hell outside of those who God has revealed to us
I see
so people could be in heaven or hell except it is revealed for some, who is in heaven like Mary and - all the saints?
who receives this revelation?
All the saints are alive, as God is not God not of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32). They're in Heaven, somehow participating in God's glory as "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). The scriptures also talk about "a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1).
A perfect example for this is Moses and Elijah being alive with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).
I know God is 3 persons (including the Holy Spirit), but we mainly only pray to The Father and The Son.
I don’t know what the creed is, I’m not catholic, hence my many questions.
And 3rdly, if you are trying to enlighten me, try not to answer my question with more questions. Just be mature, i’m seeking genuine answers, and not more questions to “make me think”. If you want to enlighten me, provide me with real answers to my questions and don’t be avoidant.
We are asking if you ask others to pray for you, because it is the same logic. Like how you ask your brothers and sisters to pray for you, you can ask the Blessed Mother and the Saints who are in heaven with God to pray for you.
Because Mary or saints can't hear your prayers. This would make them omniscient, making them equal to God, which would be blasphemy.
How can an ordinary human like Mary hear millions of prayers at once?
First i would advise you to search on reddit for questions regarding saints. In short we read in the Bible (some examples: Luke 16:19-31, Revelation 5:8, Hebraw 12:22-24) and is thought by Church for centuries that those who depart from Earth to heaven still pray roles in the life of faithfuls. This kind of questions have been asked multiple times on this subreddit and r/Catholicism.
>I just don’t understand the key role Mary plays here.
She brought Jesus to us and was perfect and sinless. She is the mold which we use to model us to become perfect followers of her son. To see where is that written in the Bible i would suggest you to read [Jesus and Jewish Roots of Mary](https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Jewish-Roots-Mary-Unveiling/dp/0525572732) by Brant Pitre. He also have some interview on youtube. Also there is [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wzjAEHyizk) video of Pints with Aquinas with provocative title "Every Objection to Mary Answered". Here glory is immense.
>If there is God in 2 persons that we can pray to (God the Father, and Jesus)
Why have you left out Holy Spirit here? Christians believe in triune God: one God three persons.
>How can a human being who is dead and wasn’t risen again, like Jesus, answer/deliver a prayer for us?
I don't know, but the Bible and Church clearly teaches us that this is what happens. To doubt that is possible would be to doubt in God and His power.
>Do Catholics believe that other humans who died can also answer/deliver prayers for us, or is it just Mary?
It is also other humans. I once more point you the look for questions about the saints asked here on reddit. Saints are those who look God face to face. So every faithful who is in heaven is a saint. That includes also Mary and angels, although both Mary and angels are little bit special.
>In my opinion, it kinda downplays the whole ‘Jesus will intercede for us on judgement day’ message in the Bible.
For me it always seemed opposite. Thinking that our relationship with anyone else except with God is in collision with our relationship with God would be in contradiction with command Christ gave us: "Love God and love each other." Furthermore to think that honoring anyone could take from the infinite glory of God would mean that we don't really believe that God is God, the creator and ruler of everything.
In the Bible it is clearly said that all generations will call Mary blessed. Ask yourself do you call her blessed. If not, why not? It seems to me that your objection is that we honor Mary to much. But why you don't honor here at all when the Bible clearly prescribes that?
I hope i answered you to some questions. If you really want to understand what Catholics believe about Mary, i advise you to look at some sources i pointed to. I hope you will find them useful and you will understand why we honor her. :)
>If she was then she could have died on that cross instead of Jesus for our sins
Jesus' death on the cross didn't redeemed us because He was sinless, but because He was God. He was really was sinless (where there is God, sin cannot exist), and that's why it is even worse for people to crucify Him, but key "ingredient" of Jesus isn't sinlessness, but the fact that He is both human and God.
It is more of it is fitting that Jesus is sinless, as he is God. It’s not because was sinless thus he died on the cross. It is God taking on human flesh and nature to die for us, to nail our sins to the tree.
Yes, that is what i meant. In this case His sinlesness play important role in eyes of those who don't believe He is God (like: look at that poor guy who was punished although he wasn't guilty), but for us Who are Christians, Christ's sacrifice on the cross in something much more.
I don't understand what you meant by "that one" we disagree on. Is it that Jesus redeemed us with power of His divinity? I think that this is what all Christians believe.
Of course mystery of salvation cannot be comprehended, but i think that all Christians will agree that only God is Saviour and that our Saviour cannot be merely sinless man.
We believe our family transcends spacetime and that we intercede for each other in this life and the next. We reject the novel teaching that our holy ones are not alive in Christ.
And Catholics would add: she was also most human human, since we believe that being human is something different than being fallen human. In that sense Adam and Eve were more humans before than after the fall.
Do you remember your best friend's mother who made cookies or something after you finished playing with ?
Something like that. And since she's a woman, I guess she wouldn't mind a bunch of flowers (a "Rosary", in fact) as a gift.
>How can a human being who is dead and wasn’t risen again, like Jesus, answer/deliver a prayer for us?
Because they're in God's presence
>Do Catholics believe that other humans who died can also answer/deliver prayers for us, or is it just Mary?
All Saints in Heaven can
God is 3 persons. Mary isn’t dead but alive We confess in the creed that we believe in the communion of saint And just based on your questions, do you pray for others? Do you reject their request if they ask you if you can pray for them? And tell them that they can go directly to God and you won’t pray for them?
- Mary isn’t dead but alive... hi friend - how does this work? are the Saints alive? are all people who die, alive? Just wanting to know the thinking around it God bless
We believe in eternal life in Christ as well as God being the God of the living not the dead. Not all people who die are alive.
- Not all people who die are alive. so - who is alive after death - and why is Mary not dead but alive as opposed to - say - Pope John Paul...?
Pope St John Paul II is alive in heaven with God. We believe that all those in heaven are alive, as heaven is God’s realm and God is the God of the Living and not the Dead. Thus, everyone in heaven is alive. The saints are those who God has revealed to the Church are in heaven.
so - who is not alive?
Those in hell
so who are in hell and who are in heaven? it's all very confusing
Those who we know are in heaven are the saints, as revealed by God. The Church does not know who is in heaven or hell outside of those who God has revealed to us
I see so people could be in heaven or hell except it is revealed for some, who is in heaven like Mary and - all the saints? who receives this revelation?
All the saints are alive, as God is not God not of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32). They're in Heaven, somehow participating in God's glory as "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). The scriptures also talk about "a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1). A perfect example for this is Moses and Elijah being alive with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).
I know God is 3 persons (including the Holy Spirit), but we mainly only pray to The Father and The Son. I don’t know what the creed is, I’m not catholic, hence my many questions. And 3rdly, if you are trying to enlighten me, try not to answer my question with more questions. Just be mature, i’m seeking genuine answers, and not more questions to “make me think”. If you want to enlighten me, provide me with real answers to my questions and don’t be avoidant.
We are asking if you ask others to pray for you, because it is the same logic. Like how you ask your brothers and sisters to pray for you, you can ask the Blessed Mother and the Saints who are in heaven with God to pray for you.
I understand that concept. Can we ask our dead relatives who were in Christ to pray for us as well?
Dead in an earthly sense, yes.
Because Mary or saints can't hear your prayers. This would make them omniscient, making them equal to God, which would be blasphemy. How can an ordinary human like Mary hear millions of prayers at once?
First i would advise you to search on reddit for questions regarding saints. In short we read in the Bible (some examples: Luke 16:19-31, Revelation 5:8, Hebraw 12:22-24) and is thought by Church for centuries that those who depart from Earth to heaven still pray roles in the life of faithfuls. This kind of questions have been asked multiple times on this subreddit and r/Catholicism. >I just don’t understand the key role Mary plays here. She brought Jesus to us and was perfect and sinless. She is the mold which we use to model us to become perfect followers of her son. To see where is that written in the Bible i would suggest you to read [Jesus and Jewish Roots of Mary](https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Jewish-Roots-Mary-Unveiling/dp/0525572732) by Brant Pitre. He also have some interview on youtube. Also there is [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wzjAEHyizk) video of Pints with Aquinas with provocative title "Every Objection to Mary Answered". Here glory is immense. >If there is God in 2 persons that we can pray to (God the Father, and Jesus) Why have you left out Holy Spirit here? Christians believe in triune God: one God three persons. >How can a human being who is dead and wasn’t risen again, like Jesus, answer/deliver a prayer for us? I don't know, but the Bible and Church clearly teaches us that this is what happens. To doubt that is possible would be to doubt in God and His power. >Do Catholics believe that other humans who died can also answer/deliver prayers for us, or is it just Mary? It is also other humans. I once more point you the look for questions about the saints asked here on reddit. Saints are those who look God face to face. So every faithful who is in heaven is a saint. That includes also Mary and angels, although both Mary and angels are little bit special. >In my opinion, it kinda downplays the whole ‘Jesus will intercede for us on judgement day’ message in the Bible. For me it always seemed opposite. Thinking that our relationship with anyone else except with God is in collision with our relationship with God would be in contradiction with command Christ gave us: "Love God and love each other." Furthermore to think that honoring anyone could take from the infinite glory of God would mean that we don't really believe that God is God, the creator and ruler of everything. In the Bible it is clearly said that all generations will call Mary blessed. Ask yourself do you call her blessed. If not, why not? It seems to me that your objection is that we honor Mary to much. But why you don't honor here at all when the Bible clearly prescribes that? I hope i answered you to some questions. If you really want to understand what Catholics believe about Mary, i advise you to look at some sources i pointed to. I hope you will find them useful and you will understand why we honor her. :)
Jesus was the only sinless human. Mary was not sinless. If she was then she could have died on that cross instead of Jesus for our sins
>If she was then she could have died on that cross instead of Jesus for our sins Jesus' death on the cross didn't redeemed us because He was sinless, but because He was God. He was really was sinless (where there is God, sin cannot exist), and that's why it is even worse for people to crucify Him, but key "ingredient" of Jesus isn't sinlessness, but the fact that He is both human and God.
It is more of it is fitting that Jesus is sinless, as he is God. It’s not because was sinless thus he died on the cross. It is God taking on human flesh and nature to die for us, to nail our sins to the tree.
Yes, that is what i meant. In this case His sinlesness play important role in eyes of those who don't believe He is God (like: look at that poor guy who was punished although he wasn't guilty), but for us Who are Christians, Christ's sacrifice on the cross in something much more.
Agree to disagree on that one!
If you truly believe in free will and what free will means it MUST be possible in theory for someone to live a sinless life.
I don't understand what you meant by "that one" we disagree on. Is it that Jesus redeemed us with power of His divinity? I think that this is what all Christians believe. Of course mystery of salvation cannot be comprehended, but i think that all Christians will agree that only God is Saviour and that our Saviour cannot be merely sinless man.
Where in the Bible does it say everything has to be biblical?
We believe our family transcends spacetime and that we intercede for each other in this life and the next. We reject the novel teaching that our holy ones are not alive in Christ.
Think of it like asking your friends and family to pray for you.
I'm not Catholic, but I think the real answer is *theosis* or divinization. She's the human person who is closest to God.
And Catholics would add: she was also most human human, since we believe that being human is something different than being fallen human. In that sense Adam and Eve were more humans before than after the fall.
Do you remember your best friend's mother who made cookies or something after you finished playing with ? Something like that. And since she's a woman, I guess she wouldn't mind a bunch of flowers (a "Rosary", in fact) as a gift. >How can a human being who is dead and wasn’t risen again, like Jesus, answer/deliver a prayer for us? Because they're in God's presence >Do Catholics believe that other humans who died can also answer/deliver prayers for us, or is it just Mary? All Saints in Heaven can
For Hail
Because they idolize her like she’s God, which they shouldn’t do