The New Eve

The Mary of Roman Catholicism is known by a multitude of names and titles, one of which is a “The New Eve.” I have to wonder whether the Catholic theologians who came up with the New Eve fantasy seriously thought about what they were creating?

Think about it. God created Adam and Eve and He gave them things to do.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. -- Genesis 1:26-30

There it is: God gave man dominion of the earth and everything on it. That's a good-sized load of responsibility. There was another charge given to Adam and Eve: they were to "Be fruitful, and multiply."

In the Genesis account, the Creator was talking about begetting children. The process of human reproduction is a subject that should be familiar to every reader of this forum, either through personal experience or exposure to middle school biology classes. Adam and Eve were to become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)--that one flesh being the product of their coming together: children.

Just in case some may not fully grasp the concept that Adam and Eve were to "be fruitful and multiply" in the reproductive sense, consider these later words of the Lord, when He cursed Eve:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. -- Genesis 3:16 (my emphasis)

It seems clear to me that the Lord here is speaking of a sexual relationship between Adam and Eve, not a mother-child relationship. I wonder whether the fantasizers who came up with the Second Eve whimsy thought about that at all. On the other hand, the principle deities of the Babylonian Mystery Religion, Semiramis and Tammuz are both mother and child as well as wife and husband. Given the many similarities between the ancient religion of Babylon and that of the Catholic Church, it is not a stretch to cast Catholic Mary in the role of Semiramis and Catholic Jesus as Tammuz, her son and husband. Catholics see their Jesus as a cracker, as oil stains on machine shop floors, a burn pattern on tortillas and as a knot on a tree; does it take much more effort to see him as a participant in an incestuous relationship with his mother in the manner of the principal deities of the Babylonian Mystery Religion?

There is a passage in Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth in which he writes of the glorified bodies of the resurrected saints. In this passage the Scriptures refer to Christ as the last Adam:

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.--1 Corinthians 15:42-49 (My emphasis)

The apostle is here discussing the resurrection body of Jesus Christ as the prototype for the glorified bodies the saints will enjoy through all eternity. Adam was created with a natural body which, though not perfect, was indeed good in every way (Genesis 3:1). Adam and Eve were fruitful and did multiply and, from them, we received our natural bodies.

The verses in red highlight the differences between the two Adams. At our resurrection, the saints will receive glorified bodies of which Christ's risen body is the prototype. While living here on earth, our bodies are like those of Adam. Like the first Adam's body, our bodies are made from the dust of the earth, into which God breathed the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). We became living souls. Because of the first Adam's sin, though our souls are alive, we are spiritually dead—thus the Last Adam (the Lord Jesus Christ) is identified as a quickening spirit, for it is through faith in Him that our dead spirits are called to life. Nowhere in Scripture is Mary presented as a quickening spirit.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.-- Romans 8:11

In verse 47, the apostle reminds us that the first Adam's body was of the earth; that it was “earthy.” In this same verse, he tells us that the Second Man, the “Last Adam,” is the Lord from Heaven. Nowhere in Scripture is Mary mentioned as being anything from Heaven, much less a lord (lordette?).

The Catholic Church just loves to assign new titles and powers to Catholic Mary. One of her titles is “The New Eve,” which points to her status in the Catholic cult as “the true Mother of all the living.”

2618. The Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in faith. At Cana,[Cf. Jn 2:1-12 .] the mother of Jesus asks her son for the needs of a wedding feast; this is the sign of another feast - that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride. It is at the hour of the New Covenant, at the foot of the cross,[Cf. Jn 19:25-27 .] that Mary is heard as the Woman, the new Eve, the true 'Mother of all the living. --Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed., © 1994/1997 United States Catholic Conference, Inc. (My emphasis)

One might ask the basis of the Catholic claim that their Mary is the mother of the living. Though Thomas Aquinas and others contributed to this heretical doctrine, the real root is in a marvelously inventive interpretation of this passage in Scripture:

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.--John 19:25-27

Somehow, in some mysterious way, the Catholic Church finds support for a doctrine that identifies Catholic Mary as the "Mother of all the living.” Perhaps it is necessary to breathe in vast quantities of incense smoke before one is able to discover things in the Scriptures that God forgot to mention. Makes me wonder what they put in that incense.

And here we encounter another of that multitude of instances where Catholic doctrine stands in clear opposition to the Scriptures. The Catholic fantasy is that Catholic Mary is the “Mother of all the living.” If this is so, then there is error in the Scriptures, for Moses wrote, under Divine inspiration:

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. --Genesis 3:20

Who do you believe to be the mother of all the living: Eve or Catholic Mary? If you picked Eve, you are in agreement with the Holy Spirit, who inspired Moses to write the words in Genesis 3:20. If you chose Catholic Mary, then you are in disagreement with the written revelation of God and standing in opposition to the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."--2 Timothy 3:16-17