Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Episode 2, Part 4

Final part of this Throwing Down the Gauntlet Episode! Sorry for the delay in getting this post up but, unfortunately, my PC got a virus and I was forced to redo A LOT of what I already had written. Let this be a lesson to all my fellow bloggers: always keep a detailed list of all of your sources! Anywho, enough of my personal issues, here you go guys...Part 4!

@ 46:22 – “Now let’s examine a couple of references to Mary during the ministry of Jesus. Mark 3 verse 21 and then we’ll jump down to verses 31-35. Jesus had been working non-stop and His mother and brothers and sisters thought he was at the point of a nervous breakdown…and they’re going to come and take him home…were Mary and His brothers and sisters in tune with the purpose of His ministry, with the purpose of what he was doing? Absolutely not!”

Mr. Bohr would have us depict Mary as being unfaithful to her Son because she thought that he had gone crazy. However, this definitely seems like a stretch when we consider that there is no explicit mention of Mary in Mark 3:21, this verse states the following:

When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

In other words, it was Jesus’ relatives who are taking Him to of gone insane – not Mary. This same manner of thought can actually be crossed-referenced in John 7:5 in which the evangelist basically repeats the same notion in regards to His relatives when he states:

For his brothers did not believe in him.

It is clearly obvious that in Mark 3:21, it was his kinsmen who did not believe. Additionally, if we look at the term that is used in Mark 3:21 for relatives, we see that the Greek uses the phrase οἱ παρ' αὐτοῦ or, hoi par autou, which literally translates as “those with him” to refer to who it was that went to go seize a hold of Jesus. One need only look at several Protestant bible translations to see that even they don’t agree with this phrase meaning relatives:

KJV translates it as “friends”

AMP translates it as “those who belonged to Him”

CEB translates it as “his family”

DARBY translates it as “his relatives”

KNOX translates it as “those who were nearest him”

LEB has a footnote that translates it as those “closest to him”

NASB translates it as “His own people”

NIV has a footnote that translates it as “his associates”

WYC translates it as “his kinsmen”

Therefore, to state that Jesus’ mother along with his brothers and sisters, as Mr. Bohr states, were the ones who went to go seize Jesus is not in line with the original Greek text nor other numerous Protestant bible versions. And, as stated before, this verse NEVER mentions Mary, Mr. Bohr here is simply implying that she was present among those who came to get Him.

Mr. Bohr continues his assault on the Blessed Virgin by suggesting that Mary was unfaithful to Jesus because she did not understand the “purpose of His ministry.” This is without a doubt the most absurd thing that Mr. Bohr has said in this entire video up to this point! He’s basically saying that Mary - who biblically speaking was known to ponder things in her heart (see here @40:47) - forgot that He was the Messiah and, because she forgot that he was the Son of God, she arrived at the wrongful conclusion that the Son of Man had gone insane!

Considering the biblical evidence, this goes against who Mary was: she was a favored young girl endowed with grace that was visited by an angel and told she would bear the Savior of the World. She was told by the angel that her barren cousin was pregnant which she later confirms when she goes to visit her. Her cousin prophesies that her child is the Lord and then, after Jesus’ birth, some wise men from the East come to pay Him homage and adore Him. She then lived with the Word Incarnate for over thirty years in which time she ate with Him, prayed with Him and talked with Him but yet – according to Mr. Bohr – all of this must’ve simply slipped her mind when she lost faith in who her son actually was. Really Mr. Bohr, really?

NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES IT STATE THAT MARY EVER LOST HER FAITH IN HER SON, considering all that she knew about Him, only a daft person bent on showcasing Mary as anything but extraordinary, could come to this proposition. Additionally, if the author of Mark's Gospel had wanted to depict Mary as having lost faith in her Son then he could've very easily of done so. For we see in Mark's Gospel the reoccurring theme of the Apostles being perplexed at the mysteries that Jesus is revealing (Mk. 9:32, 10:32;38) as well as Peter being rebuked by Jesus for not being able to accept the fact that the Messiah must suffer (Mk. 8:33)! Not only that but chapter 14 is chock full of instances in which the faith of his Apostles are clearly shaken to the core: In Mark 14:10-11;43-45 we see Judas' betrayal,  in Mark 14:66-72 we see Peter denying Jesus three times and in Mark 14:50, it is quite obvious that all 11 Apostles have deserted Him. My point is this, if the Holy inspired Gospel writer had wanted to demonstrate that Mary had ever lost faith in her Son, he had ample opportunities to do so. However, there is no explicit demonstration of such an event EVER recorded, therefore, Mary NEVER lost faith in Him.

As for the latter verses that Mr. Bohr jumps to, Jesus Christ is simply stating that the familial bond is no match for the true spiritual bond that comes through Christ Himself. In other words, the “true family” of Jesus are those who accept Him; this same passage is repeated in Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 8:19-21, of particular note is that in Luke 8:21 Christ says the following:

“And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”

Basically, only the ones who hear the word of God and act upon it can truly be called members of Christ’s family. Nothing in the synoptic passages of these readings ever suggest that Jesus is somehow negating or disowning His mother nor that Mary somehow “lost her faith” in Jesus.

@  48:02-49:03 -  “Jesus once encountered a lady who really felt that it was a great privilege for Mary to give birth to Jesus. Notice Luke 11 and verses 27 and 28…”

The oft used passage favored by Protestant to refute any veneration of Mary. In this passage – much like the ones mentioned above - Jesus is not distancing Himself from His Mother or slighting her as some would suggest. Rather, He is telling us (again) that blood relations are not what is important and that it doesn't matter if you are a relative of Jesus - as if that were something to boast about. What is important is to hear the Word of God and obey.

Moreover Luke details Jesus’ journey through Jerusalem from Lk. 9:51 to Lk. 19:27, in which we see Jesus constantly tell those who want to be his disciples that they must give up familial ties and personal material possessions. In Luke 9:57-62, Jesus tells some men who want to follow him that to be a true Christian disciple family bonds and obligations cannot distract you from proclaiming the kingdom of God.*  In Luke 12:29-34, Christ says that one is to give up their belongings and give them to the poor, basically a true follower of Jesus must deny himself worldly goods in favor of the love of God.  In Luke 14:25-27, Jesus tells the large crowd that in order to follow Him, they must,“…hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters…” Is Jesus here telling His believers to have disdain and animosity against their family? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! He’s simply stating that His followers can never put anything above God especially family and, it is in this context, that Luke 11:27-28 must be understood.

Mr. Bohr dares not to venture into this explicit view of Scripture because, once taken as a whole, his personally contrived view of Luke 11:27-28 completely falls apart. Luke 11:27 simply reiterates Luke 8:21 in that Jesus wants us to hear the word of God and do His will, this is the teaching that Scripture is attempting to lay out and not, as Mr. Bohr would have us believe, a teaching against praising the Blessed Virgin!

Furthermore if praising Mary is a bad thing, then why did God let Gabriel praise her at the annunciation with his greeting? Doesn’t this also mean that Mary’s cousin Elizabeth sinned when she exalted Mary during her visitation to Elizabeth’s home? Wouldn’t of St. John, in Elizabeth’s womb, have blasphemed by leaping for joy when he heard Mary’s voice? Without a doubt, Mr. Bohr makes a very obtuse and inconsistent interpretation of this passage in light of the context in which it is framed. 

@ 50:12-51:55 – “Now we need to examine the one reference to Mary after the Resurrection of Jesus. It’s found in the Book of Acts, it is the final reference to Mary in the New Testament. After Acts 1 verses 13 and 14 there are no more references to Mary. It says there in Acts 1 verses 13 and 14…[quotes passage]…you know it’s really exciting  to notice that His brothers came around, His brothers actually were in the upper room and they accepted Jesus as the Messiah...there is no special emphasis here placed upon Mary, they’re not praying to Mary, they’re not exalting Mary. In fact the central figure on the day of Pentecost is…Peter.” 

Mr. Bohr states that it’s exciting to see that the brothers of Jesus finally came around to accepting Jesus as Messiah. Here Mr. Bohr, again, incorrectly asserts that Jesus had some form of biological siblings. However, if we are to believe that verse 14 states that Jesus’ biological brothers were there in the upper room, then verse 15 would’ve made Mary a very “busy” woman:

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said…

Basically, if verse 14 was talking about Jesus’ biological brothers, then surely, the very next verse – which mentions His brothers - has them numbered at around 120!  And, lest some of you think that I’ve deliberately misinterpreted this passage, the Greek word used here is ἀδελφός or, adelphon, which  means brother.** So, if we are to follow Mr. Bohr’s rationale, then not only was Mary not a perpetual virgin but, she would’ve had to have been remarried as well as birthed 2 children every year until the year 60 A.D. in order to reconcile Scripture with the notion that Jesus had 120 or so brothers via His mother Mary! Sounds rather ridiculous, doesn’t it?

One thing that is exciting though, is the fact that Mr. Bohr acknowledges the primacy of St. Peter in Acts, indeed it is in the Book of Acts that we see the Prince of the Apostles shine with all of the authority that Jesus bestowed upon him as he was to create Christ’s one and only church. It is through the Book of Acts that we see who Peter is; indeed in Acts 1:15-22, Peter - with the rest of the Apostles and disciples of Jesus - stand up and declare that it is only lawful that the office of Judas be occupied by one of the brethren. Notice that he isn’t stating a suggestion, St. Peter – with the authority given to him by Jesus – infallibly states that succession is necessary per Scripture & per his authority in Jesus’ new church. They then they draw lots and Matthias is chosen; nobody states any disapproval nor comments to the contrary. Peter has spoken.

In Acts 2:14, we see the supremacy of St. Peter again as he delivers the very first sermon at Pentecost. In chapter 3, verses 1-8, we see him heal a crippled man much to the amazement of the Israelites present. In chapter 4, Peter and the Apostles are put before the Sanhedrin and accused of blasphemy and in verses 8-13, Peter stands up and proudly proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah; so bold are his actions that the Jewish elders decide to let him go! Why, because the Vicar of Christ has spoken!

In Acts 5 we see that Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, attempt to trick Peter out of money that he had given to the Church, Peter confronts him and, when Ananias denies retaining the money, he promptly drops dead. An hour later, Sapphira arrives and Peter asks her if it is true that they sold the land for a certain amount. She then lies to Peter and dies right there on the spot! Why did this happen? Because, as Peter told Ananias in verse3 and 4, they did not lie to a man but to the Holy Spirt – that is, to God Himself. In chapter 10, St. Peter is the first one to baptize a gentile; think about that, Peter receives the very first non-Jewish convert and there is not so much as a peep from the community nor any of the other Apostles & disciples! This situation gets to a head in chapter 11 when the circumcised Jewish believers confront Peter in Jerusalem, he basically tells them that God spoke to him in visions (see verses 5-10 which depict the gentiles as “unclean animals”) and that they were to allow the gentiles into the Church. Is there any further bickering from this confrontation? No, want to know why? Because the Head of the Apostles, the Primus inter pares, that is, the first among equals, has declared it to be so by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, in Acts chapter 15 we see the biggest of all of the scandals that rocked the early church. In Acts 15:1, we are told that some members of the early church were going around saying that unless you were circumcised, in accordance to Mosaic Law, you cannot be saved. This matter was so serious that St. Paul & St. Barnabas go to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with the Apostles. At this meeting in Jerusalem, known as the Council of Jerusalem, some of the Pharisees whom had become believers in Christ decried that circumcision was necessary, after all, God said that circumcision was to be an “everlasting covenant” (see Gen. 17:9-14) and therefore could not be undone.

As the debate is raging on, we see the pre-eminence in Peter yet again. Acts 15:7-11 states:

After much debate had taken place, Peter got up and said to them, "My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they."

Can you imagine the riot that broke out? It’s one thing to be the leader of a church but, to say that the everlasting covenant which the Lord God gave unto the Jews as a sign that they were His people is now null and void? Without a doubt there had to of been so much in-fighting that the early Church began to divide, right? Acts chapter 15 verse 12:

The whole assembly fell silent, and they listened while Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles through them.

There was no melee, disagreement, discussion nor argument. Why? Peter, the first Pope, had spoken. I must note at this point that this study has to do specifically with Mary and, to go about Christian history and prove that Peter was the first leader of the Catholic Church, would be rather demeaning to my argument. As such, let us continue with Mr. Bohr’s and the SDA’s view of who Mary is.

@ 52:06-52:33  – “…some people might assume that because her death is not mentioned, maybe she was assumed into heaven after she died…it is not so significant that the death of Mary was not mentioned because, most of the deaths of the disciples are not mentioned either. We simply don’t know about the deaths of most of the Apostles and we don’t know about the death of Mary.”

For a more detailed analysis of the Assumption of Mary, see here at 19:58. As for the deaths of the Apostles, the only reason Mr. Bohr can say that he doesn’t know anything about their deaths is because his Church history only extends to the latter half of the 19^th century. Mr. Bohr implores this tactic in order to repudiate any claims that might be had in determining what happened to the Apostles via extra-biblical resources. Like most Protestants, Mr. Bohr has ignorantly refused to look at any historical evidence, from within Christian history, that my shed light on knowing more about the deaths of the Apostles; ironically enough, he chooses to take the word of Ellen G. White - a prophetess who’s predictions are extremely questionable – instead of the word of Catholic presbyters and historians that lived during Christianity’s early era. Let’s quickly see what happened to the Apostles per Christian history and Church Tradition, click here for an interactive map of showing where the Apostles died at.

PETER

Martyred in Rome, crucified upside down - Verified by Roman historian Josephus as well as St. Clement of Rome who wrote, around 90 A.D., in his Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 5.

ANDREW

Martyred in Patras via crucifixion – the apocryphal work Acts of Andrew, written around  260 A.D., states that he was bound to a cross in the shape of an "X". Historian Eusebius mentions this work in Book III of his Church History (see chapter 25) and St. Epiphanius in his Panarion also makes mention this work.

JAMES (son of Zebedee)

Martyred in Jerusalem, beheaded with a sword – Acts 12:1-2, state that it was Herod Agrippa I who killed James. Additionally Eusebius, in Book II of his Church History (see chapter 9) makes mention of this fact.

JOHN

Died at Ephesus of old age.

PHILLIP

Martyred in Hierapolis – according to the non-canonical work Acts of Philip, which was written in the mid 300’s, St. Philip converts the wife of a high ranking city official, which in turn enrages the official, and he has St. Philip, his brother and sister crucified.

THOMAS

Killed in Mylapor – the Gnostic work, Acts of Thomas, states that he was killed by a band of soliders who were sent by an idolatrous priest (see paragraphs 159-168).

MATTHEW

Died of old age – Gnostic writer Heracleon, writing in the first half of the second century, states that St. Matthew was never martyred. In St. Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata Book 4 chapter 9 (circa 200 A.D.), he too makes mention of this fact.

JAMES (son of Alphaeus)

Martyred via crucifixion in Egypt – Roman Historian Josephus makes mention of him in the 20^th Book of his Antiquities of the Jews chapter 9. Eusibius mentions him in his Church History Book II chapter 23, St. Jerome also mentions his death in his De Viris Illustribus (see chapter 2) which was written around the late 4^th century and St.

JUDE (Thaddaeus)

Martyred via clubbing and beheading in Persia.

SIMON (the Zealot)

Martyred by being sawed in half. He was a traveling companion of Jude, tradition holds they were martyred together.

MATTHIAS

Martyred in Ethiopia – Tradition states that St. Matthias was stoned and beheaded by non-believing Jews.

PAUL

Martyred by beheading in Rome - Eusibius states in Church History, Book II chapter 25, that Paul was martyred during the persecution of Nero. St. Jerome also states this in De Viris Illustribus chapter 5.

This is but a very limited view of all of the different early Church documents that can be used to determine just what happened to the Apostles. Mr. Bohr cannot make any type of claim for any particular form of historical astuteness because his church lacks the pedigree to do so. The Catholic Church, however, stands above all other Christian churches due to her derivation and, it is because of her origin that we, as Catholics, have so many of the answers that Protestants don’t have or don't want to know about. 

@52:35-53:38 - “The last group that resurrected were those who came forth from the grave when Jesus resurrected in Matthew chapter 27, verses 51 to 53. The next group which will resurrect, according to the New Testament, are those who will come forth from the tomb when Jesus descends from heaven with the shout, the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. We find this very interesting reference in ‘Manuscript Releases Vol. 5’…notice this comment: Mary, the mother of our Lord has not been raised….All the prayers offered to Mary fall to the ground. Mary’s ears have not yet been pierced by the sound of the trump of God.”

In terms of the Church’s interpretation of Matthew 27:51-53 - a resurrection occurrence that only happens in the Gospel of Matthew - one need only look to St. Thomas Aquinas’ mid 14^th century work Catena Aurea. In chapter 27 of his commentary on Matthew, Aquinas details what the early Church Fathers believed this passage to mean:

St. Jerome: As Lazarus rose from the dead, so also did many bodies of the Saints rise again to shew forth the Lord’s resurrection; yet notwithstanding that the graves were opened, they did not rise again before the Lord rose, that He might be the first-born of the resurrection from the dead.

“The holy city” in which they were seen after they had risen may be understood to mean either the heavenly Jerusalem, or this earthly, which once had been holy. For the city of Jerusalem was called Holy on account of the Temple and the Holy of Holies, and to distinguish it from other cities in which idols were worshipped.

When it is said, “And appeared unto many,” it is signified that this was not a general resurrection which all should see, but special, seen only by such as were worthy to see it.

St. Remigius: But someone will ask, what became of those who rose again when the Lord rose. We must believe that they rose again to be witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection. Some have said that they died again, and were turned to dust, as Lazarus and the rest whom the Lord raised. But we must by no means give credit to these men’s sayings, since if they were to die again, it would be greater torment to them, than if they had not risen again. We ought therefore to believe without hesitation that they who rose from the dead at the Lord’s resurrection, ascended also into heaven together with Him.

Origen: These same mighty works are still done every day; the veil of the temple is rent for the Saints, in order to reveal the things that are contained within. The earthquakes, that is, all flesh because of the new word and new things of the New Testament. The rocks are rent, i.e. the mystery of the Prophets, that we may see the spiritual mysteries bid in their depths. The graves are the bodies of sinful souls, that is, souls dead to God; but when by God’s grace these souls have been raised, their bodies which before were graves, become bodies of Saints, and appear to go out of themselves, and follow Him who rose again, and walk with Him in newness of life; and such as are worthy to have their conversation in heaven enter into the Holy City at divers times, and appear unto many who see their good works.

These similar interpretations all derive from the fact that, as the Apostle’s Creed states, Jesus - like all men – experienced death and, according to CCC #632, “His soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.” St. Peter also mentions this occurrence, in 1Peter 3:18-20 we read:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — to those who were disobedient long ago…

So, what we have here is the fact that Jesus, after his bodily death, went into the depths of sheol and delivered, from captivity, the souls that had been held captive there (see Psalm 86:13) and, in doing so, Jesus freed from slavery those who were dead and raised them up into eternal glory. So manifested was the power of the resurrection that, those whom were raised in Christ, began to appear here on Earth! As Matthew 27 verses 52 & 53 states:

…and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

This was the power that Jesus wrought at the resurrection, the power to give life to the dead. However, we are now forced to take note of what Mr. Bohr stated at the 52:52 mark when he quoted 1Thessalonians 4:16. Mr. Bohr mentions that “the next group” that resurrects will be those who await the mighty shout of God which is proclaimed with the sound of a trumpet. He further goes on to mention that Mary too is awaiting this sound to “pierce her ears” so that she may also be resurrected. Now, you might say this is an odd way of looking at the resurrection after all, according to CCC #1022, upon death the soul:

…either enters into the blessedness of heaven - through a purification or immediately, - or immediate and everlasting damnation.

Well to the vast majority of Christians, this is the view of what happens to us when we die, you either go up or, you either go down. Unfortunately, the SDA church, doesn’t share this view, because they believe in the wholly Millerite belief of “soul sleep.” This concept basically states that when you die, your soul “goes to sleep” and it remains “asleep” until Jesus’ coming, at which point, your soul will be awaken and judged. This is why Mr. Bohr, in quoting Manuscript Releases Vol. 5, has the audacity to state that it is of no use to ask the Blessed Mother for prayers since they fall on deaf ears.

This belief of “soul sleep” is so at odds with historic Christianity and Scriptures, that I find it necessary to elaborate more on this subject. To begin with, where does the SDA get this idea? They get it from Scripture, in particular, Ecclesiastes 9:5 which says:

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward for the memory of them is forgotten.

From this one passage, taken entirely out of context, the SDA deduce that, since the dead know nothing and yet they are awaiting resurrection, they must be – for lack of a better theological term - “asleep”. Hence, the Seventh Day Adventist believes that at death the individual goes into some sort of a spiritual sleep state, in other words, when Christ returns, He will awaken the faithful SDA member and take him/her to their eternal reward.  However, it is the latter half of Ecclesiastes 9:5 that is the ultimate undoing of the concept of “soul sleep;” notice that the second part of this verse states that there is no reward nor memory for the dead and, when we cross-reference this SDA belief against Scripture, we find that the concept of “soul sleep” becomes very questionable if not entirely anti-biblical.

If we are to take the SDA’s word at face value then there are several times in the Bible that demonstrate, quite succinctly, that the dead are not necessarily “asleep.” Case in point, 1Samuel 28 in which me see that Saul, being afraid of the advancing Philistine army, goes to the witch of Endor to conjure up the spirit of Samuel the prophet who was already dead. Through God’s merciful and divine ordinance, He allows the ghost of Samuel to appear and speak to Saul, in which Samuel tells Saul that he has continued to be an enemy of God and that both he and his sons will be dead by the next day as well the fact that the Israelites will be overtaken by the Philistines (verses 18 & 19). Clearly then, it is noted that Samuel – although dead – was not “asleep,” the author of 1 Samuel mentions that the witch was able to describe who she saw and that, almost immediately, Saul recognized that she was in fact describing Samuel (verse 14).

In Luke chapter 16 verses 19-31, we hear about the story of Lazarus and the rich man. In this parable, Jesus tells his listeners that both the rich man and Lazarus die and that Lazarus is taken into the bossom of Abraham and the rich man is sent into torment. This is a very hard parable to reconcile with the concept of “soul sleep” because by the SDA’s very definition, the rich man – who is dead – should’ve been “asleep” but, he is not. The rich man is asking Abraham – who is dead and should also be “asleep” – to send Lazarus – who is dead and should also be “asleep” – to his family and warn them of eternal damnation. Abraham – who obviously isn’t “asleep” – speaks to the rich man and tells him that his time has come and that there is no way to warn his family. 

The interesting thing here is that, once again, the dead are alive and communicating which explicitly demonstrates that they are not “asleep.” The SDA may make mention that this is simply a parable that Jesus is imploring in order to teach a bigger theological truth, to which an unanswerable question can be posed to the Seventh Day Adventist: name one parable that is not based in real life? Time and time again, Jesus always uses real life situations, based in reality, in all of His parables so that his listeners would understand them. The SDA would thus have us believe that Jesus made up the story of Lazarus and the rich man without ever basing it on something that was real! That Jesus totally fabricated this parable is indeed a preposterous assumption in order to justify the Seventh Day Adventist’s doctrinal view.

This is but two examples of there being a consciousness even in death, some others include:

-Matthew 22:32-33 - Jesus states that God is not “the God of the dead” but, the God of the living.

-Philipians 1:23 – St. Paul states he looks forward to dying in order to be with Jesus, he does not state he looks forward to some form of spiritual slumber. St. Paul reiterates this again in 2Corinthians 5:6-9.

-1Peter 4:6 - Much like 1 Peter 3:19, St. Peter makes mention that the gospel was preached to the dead.

-Revelation 6:9-11 – St. John mentions that he saw the martyrs and heard their cry for justice.

The thing we must understand is that the belief in “soul sleep” is – much like the Seventh Day Adventist Church - a relatively new invention and historical Christianity begs to differ on this concept that is so central to the SDA belief system. 

Bonus point of truth: An interesting parallel can be made from Saul’s meeting with the witch at Endor in 1 Samuel 28 and the Annunciation in Luke 1. In 1Sam 28:21, after the appearance of the ghost of Samuel, the witch of Endor tells Saul the following: “…your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life in my hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me.” This is almost identical to what Mary says at the appearance of another supernatural entity, the angel Gabriel, in Luke1:38 in which Mary states: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” This is an excellent set of passages that can easily do away with the SDA’s view of Mary and “soul sleep” in one fell swoop!

@53:37 – “…so this leads us to ask a very important question and that is, ‘who then is this Mary who is appearing at different parts of planet Earth at present?’ If Mary died, and was buried, and she is awaiting the resurrection, who are these entities that appear all over the world claiming to be the Virgin Mary?”

Here we have Mr. Bohr attempting to cast some form of fantasmagorical and insidious curtain over the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin. While I won’t go into a robust defense of such appearances of Mary in this post, what I will say is this: as stated earlier, when Jesus died, he went and preached to the souls who were imprisoned - Scripture tells us this much. At which point these souls were freed from the bondages of death (see Heb. 2:14-15) and, according to scripture itself, these released souls WERE SEEN by many (see Matt. 27:53). Clearly then, by God’s own grace and mercy, He allowed these newly resurrected souls to appear to people, so then, why wouldn’t He also allow the Mother of God to do so as well in our present time? Surely, if these souls that Jesus HAD TO preach to were allowed to materialize back on Earth, to proclaim the gospel to others, then, without a doubt, Mary too can also be used by God in this same way as well.

The issue here is that the Seventh Day Adventist cannot get over the totally fallacious and erroneous notion of “soul sleep.” Without being able to jump over that hurdle, Mr. Bohr has to leap to the assumption that, since Mary is still waiting to be resurrected, all of these apparitions must be demonic or otherworldly. However, as Catholics we know that Mary is already resurrected, she is in full communion with God the Father, her Son, the Holy Spirit, all of the angels and all of the saints and by virtue of Jesus’ sacrifice, we too are in communion with the heavenly court; therefore to the Catholic, it is not an impossibility that Mary could in fact appear here on Earth if God so willed it.

@54:13 – “Now I would like to deal with one final reference and that is the reference to the woman who is ‘clothed with the Sun’ and who is standing on the moon. I have visited, for example, many Roman Catholic Cathedrals and I’ve discovered that many times Mary is depicted as standing on the moon, clothed with the Sun, having a crown of twelve stars on her head, with the baby Jesus in her arms and also trampling upon the serpent…Now is this woman of Revelation chapter 12 actually Mary? If you look carefully at the text, you will find that it is not Mary.

While Mr. Bohr correctly states that the woman of Revelation chapter 12 CAN BE the church represented symbolically, it has also historically (I wonder why a church that’s only been around for 150 years has such an issue with Christian history?) been view as representing Mary. To begin with, let’s do what Mr. Bohr says we ought to do, let’s look “carefully at the text” and see if this can be a symbolic representation of Mary. Let’s begin by reading some of Revelation chapter 11 and into Revelation chapter 12 without any breaks, the reason we need to do this is because this is the way the original text was written, verses and chapters were put in during the medieval era (by a Catholic Cardinal!), so let’s see if there is some form of continuation between these two chapters starting off at Revelation 11:19 and ending at Revelation 12:6 we read:

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman  clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.

In his vision John sees the temple, a very significant thing for any Jewish convert to Christianity because the temple at Jerusalem had already been destroyed by the time John penned his apocalypse. Think about that for a second, the most holiest of buildings for the Jews, which God commissioned and dwelt in, is seen by John in heaven and in the temple but, even more interesting, is that immediately after seeing the ark of His covenant, who does John see? A woman! Upon close examination, there seems to be a definitive connection between the ark of His covenant and a woman and, why wouldn’t there be?

Let’s not forget that it was in John’s gospel, at the Wedding Feast at Cana, that Mary and Jesus are introduced on a proverbial “seventh day” and, just like in the Book of Genesis, Mary is called woman in the same manner that Eve is also called simply woman. As I have already stated in Part 3 of this Episode, Mary is constantly depicted by the Early Church Fathers as the Second Eve, as well as the Ark of the New Covenant; therefore I would suggest to you that, when St. John sees the ark of the covenant and then immediately he sees a “woman,” one could very ardently argue that the woman clothe with the sun is Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant – the same Ark that John sees in Revelation 11:19!

Additionally, this interpretation bares more weight when we read in Revelation 12:5 that the woman,

“…gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne.”

Naturally, this is speaking of Christ so therefore the woman CAN BE thought of to be Mary. Moreover, to have Mary depicted as stepping on the serpent’s head is a very apt depiction of who Mary is in light of the prophecy in Genesis 3:15. Mr. Bohr simply doesn’t realize that while the woman CAN BE interpreted to represent the Church, it can also symbolize Mary as well as the people of Israel. However, the true anti-Catholic cynic, will likely point out that Revelation 12:2 states that the woman “cried out in labor and in pain to give birth,” and then they will say that this cannot be Mary since labor pains are a condition given by God due to the very first sin committed by Adam and Eve. So, if we Catholics believe that Mary was immaculately conceived, that is, she was born without original sin, how is it that the woman in Revelation is having birthing pangs? Very simply put, the “pains” the woman in Revelation is having need not necessarily be those of actual and physical labor pains; St. Paul wrote the following in Galatians 4:19,

“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…”

Are we to therefore assume that St. Paul was having labor pains or, can we conclude that the work that St. Paul is undertaking, to fully convert the Galatians from paganism, is a hard and at times difficult job? St. Paul also uses the same analogy in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 when he states:

“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Again, St. Paul describes the pains of birth as an analogy, this time he uses it to describe the feeling of what awaits those who are not ready for Christ’s eminent return. Hence, the fact that the woman in Revelation 12 is experiencing labor pains need not mean literal birthing pangs. As I mentioned, the woman clothe with the sun CAN BE interpreted to be Mary, the Church, or Israel, for Mr. Bohr to make the assumption that this CAN ONLY be interpreted as a symbolic representation of solely the Church, is to take a very narrow view of scripture. 

This is also one of the greatest pitfalls in all of Protestantism, Protestants tend to think of dogma and biblical interpretation as “either/or,” that is, dogma can be either X or Y but never “both/and.” It is this latter view which the Catholic Church adopts: the woman clothed with the sun can be Mary as well as both the Israelites and the Church; and, when it comes to interpreting Revelation, the reader must take into consideration the symbolism used. In Revelation 17:9-8, we see that:

“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time…”

So, even in this passage, the seven heads are described to be both mountains and kings. It is therefore up to the reader to discern what is being taught lest they incorrectly interpret what Jesus was telling John to write down. Therefore, for Mr. Bohr to eliminate 1 possible, and very applicable, interpretation of who the “woman clothed with the sun” signifies, is to do away with the fullness of Christian history as well as the fullness of Scripture. 

I'll conclude with what our current Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, said in his General Audience on August 23, 2006, in regards to Revelation chapter 12:

“This Woman represents Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, but at the same time she also represents the whole Church, the People of God of all times, the Church which in all ages, with great suffering, brings forth Christ ever anew. And she is always threatened by the dragon's power. She appears defenseless and weak. But while she is threatened, persecuted by the dragon, she is also protected by God’s comfort. And in the end this Woman wins. The dragon does not win.”

Indeed, the dragon will never win. He lost in his battle against Mary, for he was unable to make her waver in her faith. He will lose against the New Heavenly Jerusalem for the celestial court is primed for battle, and so long as we as Christians have faith in God's only Begotten Son, Satan will lose his battle against the Church and Her faithful.

St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us!

* Seems to me that an unmarried priesthood would be the only type of disciple who could fulfill this requirement. Now, which church is it that has only unmarried Christian men as priest…?

**I would really suggest all Protestants to open up their version of the Bible and see if Acts 1:15 has the word brother being used. The fact of the matter is that Protestant translators have replaced the word brother here with other words in order to suit their interpretations. However, the Greek language coupled with simple common sense here lends to the credence that the term brother need not be that of blood descendant.