Lev 26:
[1] Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
Yes, some Catholics bow before statues. That has never been in dispute. What is in dispute is whether bowing before a statue is necessarily wrong or necessarily an act of worship.
You cite Leviticus 26:1, but if that passage prohibited all religious images, then God would be contradicting Himself when He later commands the making of images of cherubim for the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:18-20), images woven into the Tabernacle veil (Exodus 26:1), and numerous sacred images in the Temple (1 Kings 6). Therefore, the issue cannot simply be the existence of an image or even bowing in its presence. The issue is whether the image is being treated as an idol or a god.
You keep saying, "Nothing about worship was in question." But then what exactly is the significance of asking whether someone bows before a statue? If your point is that bowing before a statue is inherently sinful, then you'll need to explain why God commanded sacred images to be made in the first place. If your point is that bowing before a statue is idolatry, then we're right back to the question of worship, because idolatry is a form of worship.
So merely establishing that some Catholics bow before statues does not establish your conclusion. You still have to demonstrate why that act, in and of itself, constitutes idol worship.
Mary’s Body IS Dead.
It is her saved spiritual soul in Heaven.
Deut. 18:
[10] There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
[11] Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
[12] For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Prayers For the Living BY the Living.
Yes.
Prayers to familiar spirits …
No…
Because that can cause Evil Spirits to answer and fool the person.
FREEWILL … acknowledge warnings or not.
We already agree that Mary is alive in Christ. You yourself said She is a saved soul in Heaven.
The passages in Deuteronomy 18 condemn necromancy, divination, mediums, spiritists, and attempts to obtain hidden knowledge through the dead. Catholics reject those practices completely. But asking Mary to pray for us is not consulting a medium, summoning spirits, seeking secret knowledge, foretelling the future, or practicing divination. The question is: where does Scripture equate asking a glorified saint to pray for us with consulting a necromancer? Deuteronomy 18 forbids:
- divination
- witchcraft
- mediums
- familiar spirits
- necromancy
Catholics do none of those things when they ask for Mary's intercession. In fact, you've already acknowledged that those in Christ are alive with Him. So if Mary is alive in Christ, then you still need to demonstrate why asking for Her prayers is equivalent to Saul seeking forbidden revelation through the witch of Endor. Those are fundamentally different acts.
Saul sought a medium because God would not answer him and he wanted supernatural information. Catholics are not seeking hidden knowledge from Mary. They are asking a fellow member of Christ's body to pray to God on their behalf. So the issue remains unchanged: where does Scripture teach that asking the saints in Heaven to pray for us is the same thing as the necromancy condemned in Deuteronomy 18?
Heb 12:
[1] Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
I think the ones who are witnessing men on earth being saved are holy Angels, not departed Souls.
The question isn't whether our earthly bodies die. Christians agree that they do. The question is whether the righteous are alive with God after bodily death.
Hebrews 12:1 comes immediately after Hebrews 11, where the author lists Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many other faithful people. When he says, "Therefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," the most natural reading is that he's referring to those believers he just mentioned, not suddenly switching to angels.
Also, if the saints are completely unconscious after death, how do we explain Moses and Elijah conversing with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3)? Or the souls under the altar crying out to God in heaven (Revelation 6:9-10)? Or Jesus saying that God "is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Luke 20:38)?
So while our bodies return to dust and await the resurrection, Scripture repeatedly depicts the faithful as alive in God's presence before the resurrection. That's the point being made. The issue is not whether the body dies, but whether the person continues to live in Christ after death.
Jesus IS A Spirit….with a Body….and Soul.
Living Humans Are a Body…with a spirit and soul.
Angels ARE spirits.
Numerous SPIRITS have appeared to Living Humans, in the Likeness AS a man since ancient History…to this day.
When A Spirit appears to a Human (in the likeness AS a man)… they appear as Person!
Before His incarnation, God the Word existed eternally with God the Father (John 1:1-2) and was not flesh and blood. But when '"the Word became flesh" (John 1:14), He did not merely appear as a man or temporarily wear a body. He became truly human.
After His resurrection, Jesus did not say, "I am a spirit appearing as a man." Instead, He said, "A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39). He invited His disciples to touch Him and even ate food before them (Luke 24:42-43).
Angels may appear in human form, but Jesus distinguished Himself from a spirit by pointing to His resurrected body. Therefore, while the eternal Word existed before His incarnation, the risen Christ is not merely a spirit appearing in the likeness of a man. He is the incarnate Word with a real, glorified human body, possessing flesh and bones exactly as He said.
The Son of man…who was the son of…
(Abraham, Issac, king David, Joseph of the House Of David)..
About Age 30, That Son of man was Revealed Declared…By God…
The Son of God…
Many Human men…
Begin life from the Seed of a man.
They can choose to Take upon themselves…
Gods “seed”
Thus they are also …
Abraham’s “seed”…
And as well become … Declared…
The son of God…
The son of Abraham…
God Prepared a Body For His Word and Sent IT to Mary’s Womb.
Mary delivered forth, her First child, a male, called The Son of Man, given the Name JESUS.
Glory to God,
Taken
The problem with this argument is that it seems to separate the human Jesus from the divine Son in a way Scripture does not. The Bible does not present Jesus as a human person who later became God's Son. Rather, the eternal Word became flesh (John 1:14). The one born of Mary is the same Person who existed before Abraham (John 8:58) and who is called God (John 1:1; John 20:28).
When Scripture traces Jesus' genealogy through Abraham, David, and Mary, it is explaining where His human nature came from. It is not identifying a separate human person distinct from the eternal Son. Romans 1:3-4 likewise distinguishes Christ's humanity ("according to the flesh") from His divine sonship, but speaks of the same Person throughout.
Saying that God "prepared a body" for the Word does not mean a separate human son existed alongside the divine Son. Hebrews 10:5 says, "a body hast thou prepared me," not "a body hast thou prepared for another person." The subject remains the same Person.
Therefore, the question remains: Who was Mary's child? If the answer is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the eternal Son who became flesh, then Mary is the mother of that Person according to His humanity. She is not the origin of His divinity, nor did She create God, but neither did She give birth to a mere human person. The one She bore is the incarnate Son of God.
The title "Mother of God" does not mean "source of God's divine nature." It means that the One born of Her is God the Son in the flesh.
