Really? So Mary is not a co-mediatrix in Catholic teaching? And Catholics are taught that there is no coming to God through the saints? That is news to me...
That's only news to
YOU because you have
pre-judged Catholic teaching
without doing your
homework . . .
There is only
ONE way to the Father - and that is through
Christ (John 14:6). Not only does the
Church teach this - we taught it to the
WORLD.
Jesus is our
ONLY mediator in that only
HIS perfect sacrifice can make peace between us and God. He lives
forever to make
intercession for us before the Father
(Heb. 7:25).
That being said - we are
ALL called to be
intercessors for one another.
- James tells us to
pray for one another
(James 5:16).
- John tells us to
pray for one another
(1 John 5:16).
- Paul asks for
prayers and
INTERCESSIONS (1 Tim. 2:1).
- Rev. 5:8 shows the
Saints in heaven bringing our
prayers before God and
Rev. 8:3-4 speaks of the
Angels in heaven doing the
same thing.
We don't go
through Mary and the Saints to get
TO God.
We
ask them to pray
FOR us.
The definition in the Strong's allows for epignosis to be referring to mental assent.
In your definition this appears to not be a possibility.
You never answered the question that I asked you...
Luke 8:13 declares that there is a person who believes for a while and then falls away...
While John 6:47 declares that the person who believes has everlasting life.
If the person falls away, how do they have everlasting life?
The definition of
Epignosis in
Strong's is
NOT mere mental assent.
If it
were - you
might have a case - but ut
isn't. You are simply
playing games with the definition.
As I showed you
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, along with
Thayer's Greek Concordance and the
scholarly consensus that states emphatically that
"Epignosis" is far different than
"Gnosis" - which
IS mere mental or intellectual assent.
As for
Luke 8:13 and
John 6:47 - this is the
trouble you get into when you start
cherry-picking the Scriptures to formulate
perverted doctrines. You must read ALL of Scripture in its proper
context.
When
John 6:27 says that the one who "
believes" has everlasting life - it is
NOT talking about a person who simply has come to an
mental assent.
James 2:19 states in
NO uncertain terms that even the
DEMONS believe - but that
won't save them. He goes on to
compare that kind of
false faith with
REAL faith, which includes
obedience.
TRUE Faith = Belief + obedience (works).
You
cannot have true faith
without either component
(James 2:14-26). This is the kind of faith that
only comes from having an
EPIGNOSIS of Christ - and not a simple
Gnosis or
Oida (mental assent).