How Dare They?

The Roman Catholic Church claims to be the true church of Jesus Christ. She claims to hold the deposit of Christian faith and to be the fullness of God's salvation. Not satisfied with that, she claims to be the pillar and ground of truth, a description the apostle Paul gave of the true body of Christ Jesus.

I am offended by those claims. I am also offended by the many teachings concerning Catholic Mary; teachings that the RCC claims are true. In this study I will examine some of those Marian teachings.

“…nothing is imparted to us except through Mary, since God so wills, so that just as no one can come to the Father except through the Son, so in general, no one can come to Christ except through His Mother.” {Leo XIII, Encyclical Octobri mense adventante}

“…that she who had been the minister of the mystery of human redemption, was equally the minister of the grace to be given from it for all time, practically immesurable power being given to her.” {Leo XIII, Encyclical Adiutricem populi}

“So may the most powerful Virgin Mother, who once 'cooperated in love that the faithful might be born in the Church' be even now the means and mediatrix of our salvation. {Leo XIII, Citing St. Augustine, De sancta Virginitate}

“Now from this common sharing of will and suffering between Christ and Mary, she 'merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world' De Excellentia Virginis Mariae, 9]…” {St. Pius X, Encyclical Ad diem illum}

“…the fact that she was with Him crucified and dying, was in accord with the divine plan. For with her suffering and dying Son, Mary endured suffering and almost death. She gave up her Mother's rights over her Son to procure the salvation of mankind, and to appease the divine justice, she, as much as she could, immolated her Son, so that one can truly affirm that together with Christ she has redeemed the human race.” {Benedict XV, Litterae Apostolicae, Inter Sodalicia

“And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion.” {Pius XII, Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seia}

“Did not the Lord will that we have everything through Mary?” {John XXIII, Epistle to Cardinal Agaganian, Legate to Marian Congress in Saigon}

Note: The above from a much larger compilation by Fr. William Most, Church Teaching on Mary as Mediatrix of (All) Graces, Electronic text (c) Copyright EWTN 1996 [I provided the links to source documents]

Let me say here and now that the above teachings are not only ungodly, I believe that they surely would have been considered insulting and offensive by the real Mary, who long ago went to her eternal reward . Certainly, that humble Jewish handmaiden was blessed by God to bear the Christ in childbirth, but she was human. Though she surely understood that her pregnancy was miraculous and that her firstborn child was special, there may have been a time when she had doubts concerning her son.

46 While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.
47 Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."
48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"
49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!
50 "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother." {Matthew 12:46-50 NASB}

Jesus said that those who do the will of God are His mother and brothers, and he stretched out his hand to indicate His disciples, not Mary and His brothers.

21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses." {Mark 3:21 NASB}

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. {Isaiah 53:4 NASB}

The verse from Isaiah seems prophetic of how Jesus was treated by His earthly mother and brothers, as they thought him afflicted (“He has lost his senses”), though they were not the only ones who thought that.

In making Mary into a fourth member of the Godhead, a co-redeemer of mankind, the Roman Church has insulted God and done a horrid disservice to the true Mary. The offense is in the comparison of Mary to Jesus, and the majestic titles and positions given her by the Roman Church. Was Mary's role in God's plan, and specifically in the atoning sacrifice, comparable to that of Jesus?

Chuck Swindoll once gave a sermon on what Jesus endured prior to and during His death. He also spoke of a church that had commissioned the making of a statue that depicted the Lord in the condition He would have been in after His death. Those who attended that Church were appalled by that statue; some even became physically ill. I suspect that we remain blissfully ignorant of all that our Savior endured on our behalf.

We are told in the Bible that after he was arrested, Jesus was struck, mocked, taunted and humiliated. A crown of thorns was forced upon His head in the process. The event can be summed up in the prophet's words:

6 I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. {Isaiah 50:6 NASB}

From Isaiah's prophetic words we know that in addition to the above torments, Jesus was spit upon and His beard was yanked out from the skin on His cheeks. He endured the mocking, taunting, spitting and beating. He endured the pulling out of His beard from His face, and the humiliation that was directed at Him. He stood resolute and did nothing to defend Himself, not even rebuking by word those who tormented Him.

As if this were not enough for God to endure at the hands of His own creations, Jesus was scourged. Swindoll stated that customarily, a Roman scourging involved the victim being fastened to a large, upright wooden beam, while seated on the floor. The instrument of the scourging had a handle long enough for the one administering the scourging to hold and swing it with both hands, as if a baseball bat. At the other end of the device were several lengths of leather, typically embedded with pieces of sharp metal, rocks, etc. These objects more brutally sliced open the skin of the one being scourged. The leather strips were long enough that they not only covered the width of the back but wrapped around the rib cage, able to reach the abdomen. A scourging most commonly would involve the victim passing out from pain. The victim would be revived by having a bucket of salt water thrown upon him. Imagine that—pain so great it brought about unconsciousness, and then being revived by the implementation of even more pain! And this is what our Lord endured.

Following the scourging Jesus was made to carry the cross beam of the instrument of His death. Think of how much pain He would have been suffering following the beating and scourging, how weak He would have been, yet He was made to carry the cross of our shame. Once reaching the site of the crucifixion He would have been lain upon the cross and nails that were nothing like what we know today (more like railroad spikes) were driven through His hands and feet, forcibly pinning him to the man-made tree. Crucifixion was a horrible death; often hours, even days, passed before death occurred. If death did not come after a time the victim's legs were broken to hasten it. When death did come it came in the form of suffocation, the victim being unable to support his slumping body upright so he could continue breathing. This did Jesus Christ endure.

And along come the Roman Church and her pontiffs, to proclaim of Mary, as quoted above:

“…that she who had been the minister of the mystery of human redemption”

“Now from this common sharing of will and suffering between Christ and Mary, she 'merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world'”

"For with her suffering and dying Son, Mary endured suffering and almost death. She gave up her Mother's rights over her Son to procure the salvation of mankind…so that one can truly affirm that together with Christ she has redeemed the human race.”

“Did not the Lord will that we have everything through Mary?”

How dare They? How dare the Church of Rome compare its virgin goddess to the true and living God? How dare she claim that a deity of her own making merited the redemption and salvation of mankind that God alone was able to accomplish? Rome has made her goddess sinless; she has made the Mary of her own creation to be without the stain of sin and utterly perfect. Rome has stated that the Mary she fantasized gave up rights over God Incarnate and immolated the Christ to the cross.

I ask you, who was without sin? Jesus, not Mary. Who endured being taunted, humiliated, spat upon, had His beard pulled from his skin, and was beaten with rods? Jesus, not Mary. Who was scourged so brutally? Jesus, not Mary. Who was made to carry the very instrument of His own death? Jesus, not Mary. Who was fastened to a cross with spikes and suffered upon it until He could no longer breathe? Jesus, not Mary. And who endured these unimaginable things so that we might be redeemed to Almighty God? Only Jesus.

Salvation is possible only through Jesus Christ, and it comes to us only by faith in Jesus Christ.