i believe that in some thread somewhere i brought of the catholic prayer the "Hail Mary" and i mentioned that it was from a verse in the Bible. Someone (again, this was several weeks ago, i dont remember) said i was wrong and that it is most certainly not in the Bible. Finally found that verse again- so heres my proof: Luke 1:42-45 (New Living Translation) "You are blessed by God above all other women , and your child is blessed. What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! When you came in and greeted me, my baby jumped for joy the minute I heard your voice! You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." The Prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art though among women, and blessed is the fruit of the womb. Jesus, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. The Prayer Dissected: "Hail Mary,"- Keep in mind that the word hail does not mean 'to bow down to' or 'worship' but rather, to acclaim enthusiastically as being a specified thing, meaning that the one who says the prayer is acclaiming enthusiastically, and Mary is obviously the specified thing. "Full of grace," She is obviously full of grace from God, because she is giving birth to the Son of Man. "the Lord is with thee," Well, OBVIOUSLY the Lord was with her. That isn't rocket science. "Blessed art though among women," Luke 1:42- 'You are blessed by God above all other women,' "And blessed is the fruit of thy womb," Luke 1:42- 'and your child is blessed'- her child obviously was Jesus, and he was blessed, of course. "Jesus, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." Mary is of course holy, and Jesus and God are One, so God is Jesus and Jesus is God, and she gave birth to Jesus, so she is, in a sense, the Mother of God in the Flesh, but she is not the one who gave birth to God who is not flesh. So, while the prayer isn't the exact verse in the Bible, like the Our Father, it is, as you can see, derived from that Bible verse. So in your face :)

Ah found it. It was in the catholic church accepts evolution thread. SO- in your face Llywen and Negi.

The whole beginning of the prayer is just addressing Mary. All of it (minus the 'mother of God' thing) is in the Bible. The actual meat of the prayer (pray for us sinners now, etc) is completely unbiblical.

Exactly, and where do you get the idea that Mary is holy? Yes, she was blessed. Yes, she was favored. Nowhere in the Bible have I ever read that she was holy.

And, you could argue, nowhere does it say she is unholy. But yes, that is a very controversial statement, but I personally believe that she is holy. If you don't agree, then ok. I have no problem with that.

Actually, the Bible says that there was only one that was perfect. That was Jesus. Mary was the mother of Jesus, but she was not Jesus, so she was not perfect. Holy = perfect. Mary was not perfect, therefore not holy. Unless you can produce evidence otherwise, I will continue to wonder why people insist that she is.

Guys- all I have done is dissect the prayer in the Catholic way. This is how Catholics believe it is. It is also how I think of it. My point was to prove that the prayer really is derived from the Bible. Don't lose sleep over how horribly wrong it evidently is.

I gave the verse it is derived from. I did not say that it is A verse in the bible. I said that it is DERIVED (taken from, or BASED on) a verse in the Bible. No, not every single word in the prayer is biblical. But the idea of the prayer is taken from that verse.

So,Messenger what do you think, now? Is the last part of the prayer biblical or not?

[b]mantor48 wrote:[/b] [quote]So,Messenger what do you think, now? Is the last part of the prayer biblical or not?[/quote] No, the part where it asks Mary to pray for the sinners is not biblical. But, remember, this is what Catholics believe in. To them, it's not "Biblical or Bust", so to speak. When they pray to Mary, I don't think of it as them using another mediator between God and man. They are asking her to also pray to God, like the way you would ask one of your friends to pray for you. The part that's a little bit sketchy and causes the controversy, is the fact that she isn't alive physically, and that you supposedly cant pray to someone who is dead. I think they aren't praying TO them, but asking Mary to pray to God FOR them. I believe, because every person is still alive in the spirit, there's no reason why they can't hear someone's request for help, or in this case, a request for Mary to pray for them. I don't think you quit praying when you go to heaven, and that's why I think it's ok to ask Mary to pray for you. This is a matter of opinion. It's a belief. As for whether it's right or wrong? I can't answer that. And neither can anyone else. You just have to search your heart and pray about it. Everyone has their own prayers. This is a Catholic prayer. And with prayers, it's not for anyone to say whether its right or wrong, because no one except for God can answer that. And I mean no one. Also, just saying, I don't think everything has to be in the bible for it to be "right". What if God Himself gave you a message that you normally think of as "not Biblical". What would you do then? Ignore it because it isn't in the bible? I wouldn't.