Additional Notes on What Does it Mean to Go
Directly to God ?
1. Since many Protestants have a different
definition for what it means to “pray” the Catholic is usually better
off substituting the phrase “asking for her intercession” or
“giving her honor.”
2. If the subject is the Sacrament of Confession
the Catholic will often begin with a discussion on John 20, however that
defense is also usually ignored unless the mental road block of what it
means to go directly to God is first clarified. These arguments do not
address his position of why go to Mary when one can go directly to God.
The Protestant's Position is often : Even if going to Mary (or the
priest in the sacraments) is acceptable why be that concerned about it
when one can do the “better” thing and “go directly to God?”
3. Understanding the Protestant’s perspective
and his motives are essential for a fruitful discussion. Often he is
looking to justify his own position by giving a series of arguments to
disprove Catholicism, or he is looking for a Catholic who is easy to
convert to his version of Christianity. Therefore, he is inclined to
dismiss the Catholic argument and go onto his next anti-Catholic
argument or onto his next potential convert. (Read victim.) Both of
these choices have very bad consequences and the Catholic needs to help
the Protestant to avoid them. In the first case no real dialogue happens
and the discussion degenerates into a fruitless argument. Each issue
must be discussed thoroughly. In the second case the Protestant limits
himself to only discussing the Catholic faith with those “who are easy
for him to save” or more correctly with only those who do not know their
Catholic faith very well and are unable to defend it. Sadly this happens
a lot.
4. It should not be expected that this argument
alone will convert the Protestant. It however is often fundamental in
helping him get past the mental road block so that he can consider the
other arguments for Marian devotion. Until it is pointed out to the
Protestant that he is making assumptions on what it means to go directly
to God he will probably not even realize that he is making assumptions
and therefore he will have little possibility of re-evaluating them.
5. Because we lack perfection in the virtues of
humility, obedience, and love, we therefore lack perfection in our
direction.
6. It is not that a person goes to Mary first
and then goes to God. Rather, a person needs to accept Jesus and his
importance. He shows us how much he loves us and therefore obviously her
because of her faithfulness. Luke 1:41-45. And
he introduces us to her. “Behold, your mother!” John 19:27. He wishes
to work through her. And then by getting closer to Mary we are enabled
to get even closer to Jesus, to know Him better, and love and follow Him
more devotedly and therefore go to Him more directly. See diagrams at
website.
7. God is the One who initiates our salvation.
John 3:16.
So, we obliged to discover the paths he has
made, the superhighways that He has built, for our return to him. God is
a Family, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are called to be adopted
into the family of Jesus Christ, the First Born Son. He saves us through
his family, the Church. No one baptizes himself. No one gets his Bible
handed to him from heaven. It is not that God needs others, but surely
he does choose to work through others.
8. It is very important that we help the
Protestant win this argument. That is, it is important that we help them
to see the fullness of the Truth God has revealed through His Catholic
Church.
9. A High Speed
Connection to God
We have to choose
between going to God with Mary’s assistance and going it alone. Going
to God with a devotion to the Saints and saying yes to the help God
wants to give to us through Mary is like meeting all your family and
friends at a popular outdoor café that offers a high-speed broadband
WiFi connection, whereas ignoring the Saints is like being stuck at home
alone with Dial-Up.
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Going Directly to God -
What does it mean ?
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