Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ta00est@unccvax.edu (elizabeth s tallant) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mary Message-ID: Date: 7 Jun 90 04:56:25 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of NC at Charlotte Lines: 56 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm) writes: > I think prayer can be important in the following way: it may make you > more open to that person's need and ready to share the Good News of > Christ with him when he is ready. Also, God may in response to your prayer > give that person an opportunity to hear the gospel. I think the final > choice is up to the individual, however. > I totally agree that the final choice is up to the individual. If praying for others is a sure-fire way for them to be saved, then everyone on this earth would be saved, as I'm sure that many righteous people have prayed for the salvation of all of mankind. In addition to giving us power to witness, praying to God for the salvation of someone else may cause God to place that person "under conviction," that is, cause that person to have a strong, possibly even overwhelming urge to accept Christ. Some people give in to this urge while others fight it, therefore, not everyone who experiences this urge will be saved. > Question: Do most Protestants believe that Mary had children? > > I suspect many don't know. The Bible does record that Jesus had brothers. > As I posted earlier, the Bible also says that Jesus had a sister. > > Let me point out that even Jesus said "I do not say that I will pray > the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you." The first > Where is this scripture found? I am curious. Please recall that Jesus also said that for those who confess Him before men, He will confess before His father in Heaven. Also recall that when Jesus died, the curtain covering the place where the intercessory priest went annually was broken. This says to me that Jesus is our intercessory. Protestant reflex is to substitute Jesus himself as the mediator > in place of MAry. But this leads, as does the Catholic notion, to > the idea of a God the Father who is unapproachable, and must be > appeased and/or cajoled into loving us. > > Steve We cannot approach God directly because we are sooooo sinful. Please see my above paragraph. Sin creates a barrier between us and God. Don't ever for even a moment think that God must be cajoled into loving us because it is the Father who sent His Son to bear the sins of the entire world and to die for us. That takes an incomprehensible amount of love. It is the Father who sent Jesus to fill in the link between Him and us. Elizabeth