A record of the comments I make on Candy Brauer's KeepingtheHome.com Blog - just in case!
"There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church which is, of course, quite a different thing." Fulton Sheen
Ya'll seem to want to talk about whatever it is YOU want to talk about - so have at it!!
Here's a conversation starter - Scott Hahn has been instrumental in helping many convert to Catholicism. He is also a convert to the faith. Here is some of his work on the Papacy - an issue that divides us which seems to be what ya'll want to focus on. Hahn's scholarship was also called into question yesterday by Paul. Enjoy!
Candy's post today deals with her idea of what worship should look like, with some verses pulled from the Bible specifically to support those ideas. Although, she says it more like this:
The Bible says that we Christians are to worship our God - the one, true God.
How are Christians to worship? Does the Bible tell us how? Does the Bible give examples? What does worship in heaven look like? I hope to show you scriptures that answer each of these questions...
Candy feels worship should include the following elements:
As the above scriptures show, worshiping the Lord involves many things. Some are the following:
- The lifting of hands
- Praying
- Blessing the name of the Lord
- Bowing
- The laying on of hands
- Singing praises
- Dancing and leaping
While I think Candy is free to worship as pleases, I am confused as to how she can pull some verses out as proof, while ignoring others. For example, how could she leave out greet each other with a holy kiss (1 Thess 5:26) while putting in David dancing before the altar of the Lord? Do we know that everyone danced before the altar of the Lord, or was that something that only the Lord's anointed king did?
Here are some other elements of Biblical worship:
Incense should be burned perpetually, throughout the generations. Ex 30:8
Candlesticks and candles should be used. Ex 31:8
Vestments should be worn. Ez 3:10
God find repetitious prayer pleasing. Rev 4:8
Includes communion of the body and blood of Christ through the bread and the cup. 1 Cor 10:16.
Wine is used for this communion. 1 Cor 11:20-21
Christians who are with God in Heaven also participate with us in this worship (Heb. 12:1, Rev 6:9-10, 8:3-4)
What about when some churches and Christians "lay hands" on someone for healing, or for agreement in prayer? Is that biblical? Yes it is. At my church (Foursquare) last Sunday, the elders anointed some people with oil, and prayed for healing. Is this in the Bible? YES!
Did you know that the Bible has a built in song and praise book? It's called the book of Psalms.
Exactly! When religious communities chant the Liturgy of the Hours, it is a way of praying, without ceasing, in song.
The custom of reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night goes back to the Jews, from whom Christians have borrowed it. In the Psalms we find expressions like: "I will meditate on thee in the morning"; "I rose at midnight to give praise to thee"; "Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice"; "Seven times a day I have given praise to thee"; etc. (Cf. "Jewish Encyclopedia", X, 164-171, s. v. "Prayer"). The Apostles observed the Jewish custom of praying at midnight, terce, sext, none (Acts 10:3, 9; 16:25; etc.).
You can see a Carthusian monk praying the Psalms in the night in this clip.
Candy also subtly lets us know that she does not consider a Catholic Mass to be Biblical worship:
There is vain/meaningless worship, in which one is following after the traditions or commandments of men, instead of from God:
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." -Matthew 15:9
"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." -Mark 7:7
However, the Bible does distinguish between traditions of men, and traditions which come from God.
2 Thess 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Candy once told us exactly how she felt about a Catholic Mass, which she attended (bold mine):
It was so sad and gut wrenching that it almost brought me to tears. I was the only one attending, that I could see, that brought a Bible, and even bothered looking up scriptures. The Bible ignorance in that crowd was astounding me as well. Most of them don't seem to read their Bible, they just follow what 'the church' teaches them. Everyone there looked to me like they were wearing masks with no eyes. :-( I suspect that there might have been more true reverence (as opposed to ritual) in a black mass (however they'd be worshiping the wrong guy, of course).
Candy concludes her article with verses from Revelation, showing Biblical worship in heaven.
Worship in Heaven also includes:
an altar (Rev 6:9, 8:3, and others)
the prayers of the saints being offered at the altar in the form of incense (Rev 8:3-4)
The Lamb standing as if it had been slain (perpetual sacrifice) (Rev 5:1-7)
You can read verses which tell of the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass in heaven at the Scripture Catholic website.
You can read a talk by Scott Hahn on the same subject here. Hahn wrote an entire book on the subject, titled The Lamb's Supper. He later did a television series on EWTN based on the book, and you can listen to the audio files here.
We know that although the ark was beautiful and majestic what made it important and holy was the fact that it contained the covenant - "The Word of God inscribed by the finger of God."
So if the ark was holy and special for carrying the Old Covenant, Mary was even holier, for she contained within her body "The Word of God enfleshed."
If the first ark contained miraculous bread from heaven, Mary's body contained the very Bread of Life that conquers death forever. If the first ark contained the rod of the long-ago ancestral priest, Mary's body contained the divine person of the eternal priest, Jesus Christ.
What John was in the heavenly temple was far greater than the ark of the old covenant- the ark that had radiated the glory cloud before the menorah at the heart of the temple of ancient Israel. John saw the ark of the new covenant, the vessel chosen to bear God's covenant into the world once and for all.
And that vessel was Mary.
I hope that readers who are unfamiliar with why Catholics venerate the Blessed Mother so much are starting to come to some understanding of how First Century Christians and really all of Christianity up until modern times viewed Mary. Understanding Mary in relationship to the Ark of the Covenant is the first part in understanding Mary's role in the life of the church.
Starting tomorrow we will start to look at Mary's rightful place as Queen Mother.
The early Christians had a lively devotion to the Blessed Virgin. We find evidence of this in their surviving literature and artwork and of course in the New Testament, which was their foundational document. While the Mariology of the first three centures was at the primitive stage of development (compared to that of a later age or even our own), it was perhaps more consciously scriptural than many later expressions, and more consistently presented in the theological context of creation, fall, incarnation and redemption. So it sometimes can speak to us with greater clarity, immediacy, and force. For Mary's role makes on sense apart from its context in salvation history; yet it is not incidental to God's plan. God chose to make His redemptive act inconceivable without her.
A number of times Candy has said that Catholics the veneration of Mary is really some type of ancient Goddess worship. But the historical facts point to the fact that the early Christians loved the Blessed Mother, honored her, were devoted to her and recognized the place God gave her in His Plan. Candy apparently is unaware or doesn't care that this evidence exists. Nonetheless, Mary's place in the early church is well documented.
Want to know more? See the Mary Page from the University of Dayton, one of the most renowned international centers of study and research about Mary, the mother of Christ, the International Marian Research Institute serving researchers and students from around the world who come to study and use the collections of The Marian Library, home of the world's largest collection of printed materials on Mary.
So when we read the Bible, we need to read it on two levels at once. We read the Bible in a literal sense as we read any other human literature. But we read it also in a spiritual sense, searching out what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us through the words. See Catechism 115-119.
We do this in imitation of Jesus, because this is the way He read the scriptures. He referred to Jonah (Mt 12:39) Solomon (Mt 12:42), the temple (Jn 2:19) and the brazne serpent (Jn 3:14) as "signs" that prefigured Him. We see in Luke's gospel, as our Lord comforted the disciples on the road to Emmaus that "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all scriptures" (LK 24:27). After that spiritual reading of the Old Testament, we are told the disciples, hearts burned within them.
What ignited the fire in their hearts? Through the scriptures, Jesus had initiated His disciples into a world that reached beyond their senses. A good teacher, God introduced the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. Indeed, He had created the familiar with this end in mind, fashioning the persons and institutions that would best prepare us for the coming of Christ in the glories of his kingdom.
Professor Hahn is preparing the reader for the imagery and symbols that he is going to use in coming chapters that prefigure Christ, and also His mother Mary. We are going to see why an understanding of the culture and the times of scripture are so imperative to a correct and holistic approach to the scriptures - pretty exciting stuff!
Professor Hahn brings the analogy of Mary and the Ark to its natural conclusion. 
