Need to Know
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Protestants get confused. On the one hand they think that the mother creates the baby, so if Mary is the mother of God, then they suppose she created God, which would make her greater than God and that’s idolatry. Thus, I explain to them that even a mother of a person like you and me doesn’t create us; God does by creating our soul, infusing it into the embryo at conception inside a mother’s body, and making all the biochemistry to work (after all, He wrote the DNA software code to make this happen). They get that, especially Young Earth Creationists who believe in Intelligent Design. Then I tell them that that’s how Mary is God’s Mother. Same thing. God became incarnate inside Mary, made all that DNA biochemistry to work, and She bore Him as the Ark of the New Covenant, so she’s the Mother of God. But they promptly say idolatry. Even when I tell them that Protestant Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther recognized Mary as the Mother of God. But they can’t accept that, even the great late Dr. John MacArthur. It’s astounding. To them, being a mother makes her greater than her son. But was Bathsheba greater than Solomon? No. Equally, Mary isn’t greater than Jesus, but Jesus is still God and She’s still His Mother. Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism have stupidified Protestantism.
The root of the problem, both with ancient Nestorians and with modern Protestants, is that they really don’t believe that Jesus is God.
Yup, Lepanto is correct. The new Nestorians – Evangelicals, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc. – don’t really believe Jesus is God, yet they say that because they worship only Him as God, they cannot accept Mary as God’s Mother and reverence Her accordingly as one would the Queen Mother (which She is). Oh the irony!
The other problem is feminism.
Feminism is powerful enough to change a fetus into a baby if the fetus is wanted and a baby into a mere collection of cells, if those cells are an inconvenience.
That sort of power over reality is reserved only to God. As such, Mary cannot be God’s mother since that would include the right to determine if He were a person or just cells, if she had changed her mind after the Annunciation.
Which is why, Bruised Optimist, I think Protestant Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism has enabled and empowered godless feminism (no matter how much they say they hate it) whereas liberal mainstream pusillanimous denominations merely acquiesced.
As a former Protestant who came to repent of my sin & trust in Jesus for salvation in a Protestant church—I have no idea what my Catholic brothers & sisters are even referencing. I know of no Protestant who believes or teaches what you say they do.
Christians Teacher-
I believe what you say.
However, I have seen many so called Christians express a lack of belief in Our Lord’s divinity through indirect comment.
A common example is when the up to date thinkers suppose that if Christ had known about the modern world, he would not have said such and such.
They’re telling you they do not believe that He is omniscient without saying it. (Indeed, they may not even be acknowledging the idea to themselves.)
A common example is when the up to date thinkers suppose that if Christ had known about the modern world, he would not have said such and such.
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I have a friend who is an atheist currently & a former Baptist who says things that indicates his unbelief that Christ is God. And I know a lot of professing Protestant & Catholics whose lives show that they do not understand fully that Christ is God. Being under the teaching of the Catholic Church has very much strengthened my belief & understanding that Christ is God & faith in the Trinity.