"Elevate" in the sense of increasing our capacity for the indwelling of Grace.
No, elevating Mary to the status of a near goddess.
Fine. I believe this position is compatible with Trent and Catholicism.
You believe wrongly.
YEs, Bonnie. But "for salvation" doesn't mean "individual salvation." It means in a general, relative sense.
Sorry, but what Boniface's Bull says is still unbiblical and wrong.
I can agree with Christ alone, and Grace alone. I do not understand why you insist on divorcing works from Faith and works from Grace.
I don't divorce the two. Stop accusing me falsely of that. Good works flow out of a true and living faith, but they do not justify, maje us righteous.
For salvation. Not "to be saved."
Pure semantics on your part. If one is saved, one has salvation.
If you mean "saved" as in "Come to Christ" the Bible says it nowhere. But that isn't what Boniface is maintaining.
Sure it is. He said being subject to the pope was necessary for salvation (paraphrasing). You can attempt to justify what he declared all you want to, but NOWHERE does the Bible state obeying some human leadership in the church is necessary for our salvation.
Sigh...
Documents must be read IN CONTEXT not just with the document but the HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES that gave rise to the document.
and Boniface STILL stated that it is necessary for every human creature to be subject to the pope for salvation (paraphrasing). Deny it all you want to, but it is still perfectly clear, in and outside of context. So....that means we Protestants are DOOMED, eh?
The same reason the early Christians obeyed the Apostles who were mere men. What reason is that you ask? The Apostles were commissioned by Christ to preach the Gospel. They in turn ordained successors to carry on that work. Those successors are the bishops and pope.
The apostles knew Jesus personally and had worked with Him for over 3 years. They witnessed His glorious resurrection.
The popes and bishops your church has had over the centuries have often taught errors and lies--who is the father of lies, romish?
You can't tell the difference between poetry, pious musings, and otherwise over-the-top, exaggerated piety?
Sure I can--but what diLiguori wrote wasn't poetry but blatant heresy and blasphemy! It is incredibly sad that you find it necessary to attempt to justify such a hideous and unbiblical idea, by declaring it "poetry." I read what he wrote about this in context and it wasn't poetry. OR pretty!
I am not a fan of DiLigouri, but, the analogy in modern times might help. What DiLigouri is doing is the spiritual equivalent of "I would swim a thousand oceans for you." "I would climb the highest mountain for you" "Your face would launch a thousand ships" "Every breath you take, every move you make" etc.
Oh, more baloney from the Catholic deli! No fan of diLiguori, yet here you are, attempting to justify the unjustifiable! Declaring that Jesus' blood will not be efficacious to us UNLESS Mary first recommends us to her Son is blasphemy! "IF we confess our sins, God, Who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness".(1 John 1). NO need to go through Mary at all!
Bonnie, how many times, in how many ways does it have to be explained to you that YOU are the Bible Only Christian.
For good reason! NOWHERE does God make human teachings equal to what God actually has written in His holy word! Jesus lambasted teachings of men being taught as doctrines.
YOU are the one who derives the certainty of her Faith from the Scriptures alone.
For good reason! We ONLY need the Scriptures from which to derive the "certainty" of our faith! Why would we need anything other than the holy inerrant word of God?
YOU, Bonnie, YOU are the one who will not accept the testimony of the Church or Tradition as evidence that some doctrine is Apostolic and therefore Biblical. YOU. Got it?
I won't accept it because I can compare what your church teaches on many things--justification, Mariology, purgatory, celibate and unmarried priesthood, etc.--by comparing it with what the Bible actually says, to see that all these things ARE FALSE TEACHINGS. Human traditions do NOT trump what the Bible actually says!
For Catholics, the testimony of the Church is sufficient evidence that a doctrine is Biblical and Apostolic. If the Church teaches it, it is, by definition, Biblical.
Yes--for Catholics. It is arrogant in the extreme for your church to declare that if it teaches something, it is by definition, Biblical. So, in order to be "biblical" then a teaching should be found in the Bible. But some Catholic teachings ARE extra-biblical:
Purgatory, Mariolotry, celibate and unmarried clergy, salvation by grace through faith plus our works AND by being subject to the Pope; praying to saints dead in the Lord....the list goes on.
But that is NOT what Jesus said, quoting Isaiah: "In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the precepts of men." And that was what the religious leaders did in Jesus' day and since Isaiah had written about them. So does this "tradition" continue in the Roman Catholic church.
Stop holding me and other Catholics to YOUR standards of evidence; standards we do not accept.
I am not holding you to MY standards,
but to the standards of Jesus Christ Himself and what His holy word actually says! And it says to "test the spirits" and "do not go beyond what is written" and that it is "better to obey God than man." And that "in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the precepts of men."
Whom should we listen to? YOUR popes and bishops or Jesus Christ and His apostles? And what the Bible actually says?