Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Luke 11 [SUP]27 [/SUP]While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” [SUP]28 [/SUP]But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Mark 3[SUP]31 [/SUP]Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. [SUP]32 [/SUP]A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” [SUP]33 [/SUP]Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”[SUP]34 [/SUP]Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! [SUP]35 [/SUP]For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
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Have you read the Old Testament? How many times did the Israelites turn away from God? How many times did they alter or abandon the commands of God? The Catholic Church has done the same thing, but then again, so have "Protestants" (as the Catholic Church likes to call Christians that realize the fallacies of the Catholic Church. But I want to be clear - Those that I meet with teach doctrine incorrectly as well. I am not aware of any religious group that is 100% accurate in all their teachings. I am listening to Catholic radio right now. They teach a lot of things accurately, but they teach just as many things that are complete nonsense.
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Matt 16 [SUP]13 [/SUP]Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” [SUP]14 [/SUP]And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” [SUP]15 [/SUP]He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”[SUP]16 [/SUP]Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[SUP]17 [/SUP]And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. [SUP]18 [/SUP]I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. [SUP]19 [/SUP]I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” [SUP]20 [/SUP]Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
Jesus gives the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven:
[SUP]21 [/SUP]From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. [SUP]22 [/SUP]Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” [SUP]23 [/SUP]But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
[SUP]24 [/SUP]Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. [SUP]25 [/SUP]For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [SUP]26 [/SUP]For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [SUP]27 [/SUP]For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.
Catholics argue that the keys have something to do with establishing the pope-hood. Some non-Catholics say that the keys are a reference to Peter's sermon at Pentecost. But Jesus explains the "keys" immediately: From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day -His death and resurrection
Ironically most religions teach that Jesus' death and resurrection is the key to our salvation, but we seem to completely forget that when we read these verses.