Why the Immaculate Conception is a false teaching

To make it simple the Immaculate Conception is a teaching of the Catholic Church that Mary the mother of Jesus was born outside of original sin and to go with it  lived a sinless life. This is a teaching that was rejected by most of the Catholic Church until the 16^th century went against official Catholic church teaching until it  become an official teaching until 1854.

The problem with the Immaculate Conception is that it has no backing from the Bible and in fact contradicts Jesus own teachings as well as the rest of the New Testament.

Both Catholics and non Catholics believe that any major doctrine must be clearly backed up by scripture. The article in the Catholic Encyclopedia about the Immaculate Conception says. "No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture."  The real problem is that it is not even hinted at in the Scripture.

Catholics also look at support from the early church. Edward O'Connor, compiling a massive defense of the Immaculate Conception, acknowledged that the idea was not even a tradition of the early church and that the first signs of this teach began in the 12^th century.

A Handbook of the Catholic Faith a book has the Imprimatur (official endorsement) of the Roman Church states “This point of doctrine [the immaculate conception] is not expressly dealt with anywhere in the Bible, nor was it preached by the Apostles, and for many centuries it was not mentioned at all by the Church.” (Many centuries is over 12 centuries that was not mentioned once.)

To sum it up

The Bible teaches that every person except Jesus sinned. The official position of the church for 18 centuries was that every person except Jesus sinned.

To believe that the Immaculate Conception is true you have to believe

• God lied
• The Bible lies every where it says all  men are sinners
• The apostles lied
• The Church lied
• The hundreds of popes lied

I choose to believe

• The Bible tells the truth
• The apostles told the truth
• The church told the truth
• And on this issue even the popes told the truth.

What does the Bible have to say about the Immaculate Conception?

Actually the Bible is not silent on this teaching. In fact it teaches the exact opposite. The Bible teaches that the only sinless person was Jesus. In many places it says that every person is a sinner and the only exception it provides for is Jesus.

Here are some of the passages from the Bible that say every person has sinned. (I do not mention the many Old Testament verses that say that all men have sinned, I am only sharing the places in the Bible that come after Mary was born.)

Romans 3:9-12 - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already

charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin,  as it is

written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one."

Romans 5:12 - Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned

Romans 11:32 - For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.

Mark 10:18/Luke 18:19 - And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.

Ephesians 2:3 - Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1Jn 1:8  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1Jn 1:10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2 Corinthians 5:21  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Heb 4:15  For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1Jn 3:5  You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

What did the early church have to say?

The fact that Jesus was sinless is one of the most talked about subjects in the writings of the early church. I only mention here some of the places where they say that Jesus was the only one who was sinless. Another major topic of the early church writers is that all men have sinned. In fact several talk about it being impossible for man to not sin. I found nearly a hundred places were the early church said that all men sinned. And this was just in the first 3 hundred years of the church. There are hundreds more over the next 900 years.

Justin Martyr Dialogue of Justin   Chap CX  “that, together with the most righteous, and only spotless and sinless Christ, we are taken away out of the earth.”

Clement of Alexandria The Instructor

Book 1 chap 2   “He is wholly free from human passions; wherefore also He alone is judge, because He alone is sinless.”

Book 3 Chap XII “For this Word of whom we speak alone is sinless”

Hippolytus  Fragment 2     “The God of all things therefore became truly, according to the Scriptures, without conversion, sinless man, and that in a manner known to Himself alone, as He is the natural Artificer of things which are above our comprehension.”

The Divine Liturgy of James, the Holy Apostle and Brother of the Lord.  XXXVI  Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ: for All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one."

Tertullian A Treatise on the Soul Chap. XLI “For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ”. A few lines later he says “for no soul is with out sin.

All of this documentation proves

To believe that the Immaculate Conception is true you have to believe

• God lied
• The Bible lies every where it says all  men are sinners
• The apostles lied
• The Church lied (for 1800 years)
• Hundreds of popes lied

I choose to believe

• The Bible tells the truth
• The apostles told the truth
• The church told the truth
• And on this issue even the popes told the truth.

All scripture quotations are from the RSV a version accepted by the Catholic Church. 

Was Peter married

Was Peter Married
By Rusty Ford

Why is this important in a blog that is about developing intimacy with the Father? The importance has to do with your relationship to the church. If you assume everything your church teaches you is true, you tend to develop a relationship with the church instead of your heavenly Father. Churches are made up of men who are fallible. Our trust is to be with Jesus and our Father not the church. When the apostle Paul went to Beroea he found that the Jews they were more noble than in Thessalonica because they studied the scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them was true. 

We develop a greater intimacy with our Father when we trust in Him and the teachings he gave us from the apostles.

I have never been able to understand why the Catholic Church has made such a big deal about Peter not being married. I assume it is to try and validate there position on celibacy in the ministry. Most Catholic leaders believe that Peter was married but his wife died before he met Jesus and that he never remarried. The Bible teaches just the opposite of that as does the early church.

Bible references to Peter being married.

Matthew 8:14- 5; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-41 each talk about Peter’s mother in law.

I Corinthians 9:5 states that Peter had a wife. It also says that Jesus had brothers. 1Co 9:5  “Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” (Cephas is Peters given name and the one Paul almost always uses when referring to Peter.

Early Church history references to Peter being married.

The most important references to Peter being married in early church history comes from Clement of Rome. It is important because he writes of this shortly after it happens. His writings about Peter’s wife are written around 80A.D. He writes that Peter watched his wife being martyred. He also says that Peter had children.

Augustine refers to the Peter’s crippled daughter. Here he is referring to the apocryphal book “The Acts of Peter” This book contains a long section about Peter’s daughter.

Eusebius writes of Peter’s seeing his wife martyred just before he was. “They say, accordingly, that when the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, ‘Oh thou, remember the Lord.’ Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them.”

Tertullian refers to Peter’s wife's mother, in another place he refers to Peter’s mother in law.

Was Peter the first pope.

Was the Church built on Peter or was he the first pope.

This subject is of extreme importance because it foundation that the Catholic Church uses to hold people captive. They use this argument to try and prove they are the only true church.

Mat 16:18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” Is the rock Peter or the confession that Jesus was the Christ the rock to which Jesus was referring in this Mat. 16. The problem with the Catholic interpretation is that Jesus uses two different words here "you are Peter (the word used here is petros meaning small rock or pebble) and on this rock (the word used here is petra meaning large rock or bolder). Also the word used for Peter is in the masculine tense and the word petra is in the feminine tense. It is very unlikely that Jesus would use a noun in the feminine tense to refer to Peter. Because of these things it is much more likely that  Peter is the little rock and the confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God is the big rock that the church is built on.

The other thing that the Catholic Church uses is in Mat 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  The claim that this promise was made to Peter, The problem is that the same promise is made to all the disciples in Mat 18:18 "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Jesus also tells all the disciples in Mat 13:11  "And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven"

The rest of the New Testament says that the church was not built on Peter

Eph_2:20 says the church was “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,” not on Peter.

1 Corinthians 3:11 “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. Again it does not say the church is built on Peter.

Act 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Notice they did not devote them selves to Peter’s teachings.

If Peter was pope he would have been the apostle to everyone. Galatians 2:8 says “For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.” Galatians was written around 50 AD. So the Bible tells us that Peter was not the pope at this time.

In acts 15 at the council of Jerusalem, Peter did not preside over the meeting. James presided over the meeting. If Peter had been pope then he would have provided over the meeting. Also if Peter had been pope the meeting would not have been needed. Catholics like to say the James presided over the meeting because he was the Bishop of Jerusalem and the pope could not usurp his authority. That is simple not true for several reasons. First in the Catholic Church the pope supersedes any bishop where ever he is. Second and most important is in the Catholic Church a local bishop can not make decisions for the entire church. This council meeting was for gentile church outside of Jerusalem. If there were a pope only he could make the decision that effects the entire church. Especially when you see the decision was made by James alone and not the entire council. 

In Peters own writings he refers to himself as an apostle and fellow elder. He never refers to himself as one who has a special position above others.

If Peter were pope Paul would not have rebuked him publicly. Galatians 2:11-15 " When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

Gal_2:9  “and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised” If Peter was the first pope and the church was built on him then it would Paul would not have said that these 3 were reputed to be pillars. If Peter were the Pope why did address James first and why are James and John mentioned at all. If Peter was the pope it would be crystal clear he was the leader of the church and not just reputed to be a pillar. 

If Peter was the first pope why is he not mentioned as being pope in the first 3 hundred years of early church writings?  (There is not one mention of anyone being pope or universal leader of the church during this time.)

Praying to Mary harms your relationship with the Father

Reasons Not to Pray to Mary

There are many reasons not to pray to Mary or anyone else who has died. The main reason is it is a sin to do so. The official position of the Catholic Church is that you do not pray to Mary or saints. You ask them to pray for you. If we can ask others to pray for us then why can why can we not ask dead people to pray for us? Yet the Church makes a big argument that Mary and saints can hear our prayers. All Catholics that I have ever known believe they are praying to Mary and to saints. The make requests from them. They do not ask them to pray on their behalf.

1. It is a sin to pray to Mary because the first commandment of the Ten Commandments is You shall not have any other gods but Me. Only God can hear you pray. To be able to hear prayers you have to be omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (existing everywhere). These are qualities that only God has.To try and pray to or ask a dead  person to pray for you is to elevate them to being equal with God.
2. It is a sin because we are to worship only one god. The meaning of the word prayer is “a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship”. Catholics claim not to worship Mary. That can not be true because prayer is an act of worship.
3. It is a sin because the Bible teaches that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. 1Timothy 2:5 says “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.  The Bible is clear that there is only one mediator between God and man. That mediator is not Mary or a saint. The early Church Fathers teach in many places that Jesus is the only mediator because he is the only one qualified. They say that the only way to be qualified as a mediator between God and man is to be both God and man. Jesus was the only person ever to be both God and man. The Catholic Church may claim that  Mary is not a mediator between God and man but the Official catechism of the church says "Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." CCC 969 The Bible teaches us that Jesus is our advocate, helper, benefactor and mediator. To give Mary these titles is to elevate her to Gods level and thus an act of worship.
4. It is a sin to pay to Mary because it denies Jesus role as our only High Priest. Almost half of the book of Hebrews is committed to proving that Jesus is the only one qualified to be our High Priest. It makes it clear that only the high priest can inter the presence of God and petition for man.
5. It is a sin to pray to Mary or saints because it denies the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If you are a true believer and are born again God Himself comes to live inside of you in the form of the Holy Spirit. If God himself lives in side of you then why would you pray to a dead human when God is right there.
6. Praying to Mary or saints wrong because the entire concept is based on the notion that God does not really love you as an individual. If you are catholic you are familiar with the concept of Mary going before you to soften the heart of God. I have seen hundreds of these posts. God however does l love you and has come to live inside of you.
7. Praying to Mary or saints is based on the false concept that you are not holy enough to pray directly to God. This denies the Bibles teaching that the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin. If you are holy enough for God to come and live inside of you then you are holy enough to pray to Him.
8. Mary and Saints can not hear us pray. How can a human being hear millions of people pray to them? Only God is all knowing.
9.  There is not one verse in the Bible that suggest that we can pray to or ask someone who is dead to pray for us. There is also not one example in the church writings of the first three centuries of the church. The earliest examples of this teaching developing is in the late 4^th century. Is it not better to follow the examples the apostles gave us.

The Main Reason Not to Pray to Mary or Saints

The main reason is that God loves you. He loves you with an everlasting love. His love for you is greater than you can imagine. If you personally receive Jesus as you savior you have the God of the Universe living inside of you. You can commune with Him all day. When you pray to Him you know He can hear your prayers because he is living inside of you.

I Cor 2:10-12 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.’

There is no limit to how much intimacy we can have with our Heavenly Father. The passage above says. God’s spirit knows everything about him, our spirits know everything about us and God has given us his spirit.  Since we have God living inside of us should we not spend our time praying and communing with him instead of Mary or a saint that can not hear our prayers?