Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among 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 death.

Amen.

Mother of God? Can someone please be so kind as to show me where in the Tanakh that Yhwh had a mother? I'm confused.

Why were the Hebrew never told by their God or their prophets, that their own god had a mother?

The author of Isaiah did not think so ...

1. "‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me." Isaiah 44:6
2. "Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none." Isaiah 44:8
3. "I am Yhwh, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God." Isaiah 45:5
4. "Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God." Isaiah 45:14
5. "I am Yahweh, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:18

Though there is one mentioned in the Tanakh which seems to be similar to this mother of god - melekheth ha'shamayim - "Queen of Heaven" [Jeremiah 7:17-18; 44:17-25]. History and archeology tells us that this was most likely Astarte/Ashtoreth/Ishtar - in Akkad, Canaan, Phoenicia, and so on [mentioned in Judges 2:11; 1 Samuel 7:3; 1 Samuel 12:6].

The Encyclopedia Britannica once printed, "Through her identification with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, Inanna-Ishtar, the queen of heaven, still survives in Roman Catholic iconography - e.g., as the Virgin Mary standing on the moon."

Some turn of the century scholars once proposed that Nimrod became both the husband and son of Semiramis, and was worshiped as both god the father and god the incarnate son - this would make Semiramis a "Mother of God" - often associated in form and substance with Ishtar, Isis, Ashtoreth, Cybele, Venus, and so on.

Certainly nothing wrong if one believes that their god has a mother - mothers are nice - I know I liked my own. But I am wondering why it is so obviously absent from the basic Scriptures that Christianity so often claims to have descended.

Have a great week everyone.

The Astronauts were asked if they saw g_d when they were out in space. One responded "Hell Yes, She's pissed and She's Black!"

Well, two things...

1. Perfect JV-12 bait.....haha

2. If you say three Hail Marys while you're fishing, you'll catch a fish while your brothers won't. Fredo Corleone taught me that. Just don't go with Rocco and turn your back on him.

1. I am the first "me" and I am the last "me", And there is no "me" besides me.
2. Is there any "me" besides me, Or is there any other "me"? I know of none.
3. I am me, and there is no other; Besides me there is no "me"
4. Surely, I am with you, and there is none else, No other me.
5. I am me, and there is none else."

That is an accurate and true declaration, but it doesn't in any way indicate that I don't have a mother...;) As a matter of fact, I could spend my whole life never once mentioning that I have a mother, but that doesn't mean that I don't have one, just that I choose not to speak of her.

It seems to me that god never told anyone about airplanes and automobiles, reinforced concrete and steel, naugahyde and nylon, electricity and nuclear energy, DNA and vitamin B-12, designer drugs and blood marrow tranfusions, and yet all of these things exist, despite the fact that any information about them is completely absent from the bible.

Which would suggest that everything there is to know and everything we need to know simply isn't addressed by the bible...so, along with why he never mentioned his mother, you'd have to ask why he never mentioned any of the other stuff he didn't mention either.

A good weekend to you too, my dear. ;)

If it cannot be credited to the Hebrew Scriptures, then where does it come from? For some people, that can be important.

Nevertheless blonde-goddess, you have established a very good and valid point. I will find you a better and more definitive declaration :-) It was a simple post, I wasn't planning on you stepping in - that's a whole different ball game!

Oops, sorry about that, darlin'. Didn't mean to spoil your fun! I'm a bit cranky and you know how nit-picky I get when I'm cranky...

But, really, you said there is a mention of the "Queen of Heaven" in the scriptures, so I would suggest that, since god is the asexual sort, most people would assume that the only female besides a lover/wife who could/would/should be granted such a title would be a mother...ya know, just to keep it all on the family values up and up.

G-d, Yahweh, bestowed that title upon her, amongst her hundred of other titles. Why the big hang up on this anyway? What is important is one’s relationship to G-d, a.k.a. Jesus Christ. Mary is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God. Jesus preceded Mary since he was begotten not made, but God is honoring Mary as giving birth to the Divine Son. Is this really what troubles you about the Christian faith?

Luke 1:46 Mary proclaims “My soul magnifies the Lord.” I like that word magnifies, it implies something greater.

Luke 1:48 “From this day forward all generations shall call me blessed.” That’s a unique reference in Scripture as well which I consider to be profound.

.

I do not just look to Scripture for G-d’s revelation to His people. I consider Fatima, Lourdes, and Zeitoun to be astounding messages from God. And if He chooses to honor Mary far above all the rest of His creation, I accept it and welcome it.

In 1858 when the illiterate 14 year old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, who never left the foothills of the Pyrenees in Southern France claimed to keep being visited by a beautiful lady, the villagers all mocked her. When they accompanied her to the grotto where she claimed to have seen her they saw Bernadette engage in strange behavior such as clawing at the grass and mud and chewing the grass. She did it again the following visit and a wonderful spring sprouted from under the rocks which we all know about today. When the people demanded Bernadette inquire as to who this beautiful lady was she claimed to see, Bernadette responded to the people --- “She said I am the Immaculate Conception.”

What astounded the bishop, church officials, even Rome, was that only 4 years prior the pope invoked the doctrine of infallibility in proclaiming Mary to be the Immaculate Conception, born without sin and never to have sinned, unique in all of God’s creation in that way. Controversial with the Protestants no doubt, but consider the amazing way in which God (I submit) validated His Church’s ruling. He used an illiterate peasant girl who would have no way of knowing anything about this, nor would anyone else in such a remote village as Lourdes know or care. He performed miracles of water springing from rocks and other signs including divine healings to gain the world’s interest. It was only after that he had this girl tell the world “the lady said I am the Immaculate Conception.”

An undeniable revelation that I enthusiastically revel in, while most of the world seeks to discredit or ignore it.

"Oops, sorry about that, darlin'. Didn't mean to spoil your fun! I'm a bit cranky and you know how nit-picky I get when I'm cranky..."

You're always more then welcome to step on my posts wherever you see fit, you know that. What could you possibly be so cranky about? It is Friday! Today, I have off - but I am so far behind at work, I will be working anyway. But even still - it is Friday ... so I cannot be cranky.

Now that I have your attention - a question for you. What kind of soap would you recommend to end an annoying battle of the itches?

I just awoke after a late night, and have not yet had any coffee, so perhaps I am missing something.......

....but I am fairly certain that I am also a "me." I certainly feel like a "me" this morning, and if memory serves, I have felt that way for a large portion of my life.

Perhaps there are at least two of us? And if two, could there not possibly be more?

My comment to Hap applies here (re early morning, late night and no coffee), but a couple of observations....

G_ds having mothers (and fathers) would seen to be fairly common in mythology (including ones with a human mother and a deity for a father -- in which case, they would be demi-g_ds)

But doesn't the usual Christian view of G_d having no beginning or no end preclude having had a mother? What am I missing here?

Yes, you need coffee.

You aren't "me", you're "you"..."the only one of you, incredible you, I thank god for you"...Urban Verbs...I bet no-one around here ever even heard of that band! ;)

sample here:

<link>

A man, what else are women ever cranky about??? ;)

But I wasn't trying to step on your post, just pointing out certain discrepencies that didn't necessarily lead to the conclusion you offered. ;)

Hmmm...that sort of depends on why you're itching, darlin'. Is this just dry skin, or exzema, or poison ivy, or bug bites or scabies (hey, those things itch and there ain't no soap that'll get rid of that itch!).

Th Paine:

My comment to Hap applies here (re early morning, late night and no coffee), but a couple of observations....

G_ds having mothers (and fathers) would seen to be fairly common in mythology (including ones with a human mother and a deity for a father -- in which case, they would be demi-g_ds)

But doesn't the usual Christian view of G_d having no beginning or no end preclude having had a mother? What am I missing here?

What I think you are missing is that this is a special tribute G-d has placed upon Mary. It is a directive to humanity that Mary is above all others and to take note. It is G-d’s prerogative to give Mary a special place in all creation for all time. It is G-d’s way of elevating woman equal to or even greater to man, since no man is as great as Mary.

Jesus is G-d, simple as that. If Mary gave birth to Jesus in terms of his humanity, then she gave birth to G-d in those terms. It is a blessing, an honor, not a necessity. What is necessary is for the world to recognize Mary’s special place in G-d’s eyes and in their own lives. That is what the world has fouled up despite the repeated reminders and revelations.

And as long as we can agree that the Christian G-d and Christian faith has no relationship whatsoever to mythological characters, those fictional gods and stories are of no consequence.

Still no coffee, but I am more awake now, and since my late night involved driving (and long ferry rides) rather than drinking, I think I am reasonably coherent this morning. Just rechecked, and yeah, I am still quite certain that I am "me."

"Hail Mary. G-d, Yahweh, bestowed that title upon her, amongst her hundred of other titles."

Chairō [hail] is a common salutation, not a title. And was it not an aggelos who utter that salutation in Luke rather than God? I am unaware of any biblical application of Yhwh having a mother.

If I recall correctly, the title "Mother of God" was never applied to Mary for the first 400 years following Jesus' death. It developed from a political battle for control over a growing institution first giving her the title of theotokos as a way of teaching something which the bible never teaches.

Teaching something which the bible never teaches ...

Did not Paul warn many times that teaching something which the bible never teaches was secondary in harm only to believing such instruction?

It seems to me that an apostasy among Christians was accurately predicted [or foretold if you will] by Paul at 2 Thessalonians 2:3. He even specifically mentions a few in 1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:16-19 does he not? And he and many of the other apostles identify the causes of apostasy - such as lack of faith, lack of endurance in the face of persecution, abandonment of right moral standards, and the "heeding of counterfeit words" of false teachers and "misleading inspired utterances" [2 Peter 2:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 2:16-19; Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 10:32-39; 2 Peter 2:15-22].

They are depcited in the biblical texts as those who, while still making profession of faith in God's Word, forsake his specified service by treating lightly the preachinga nd teaching work that he assigned to followers of Jesus Christ [as in Luke 6:46; Matthew 24:14; and Matthew 28:19-20]. And they are identified in the bibilical texts as those who would publically claim to all the world that the "serve" God yet at the same time outright reject his representatives and his organization, and even turn to "beating" their former associates to specifically hinder that work [Jude 8; Jude 11; Nu 16:19-21; Matthew 24:45-51].

I wonder if the thought of these verses ever ran through the mind of any Arian as they were being politically persecuted and having their teachings that God had no mother according to the bible systematically eliminated from history for favor of traditional teaching which did not come from the bible?

The bible goes as far to proclaim that those who were to "bring in" false teachings [that is, teachings which did not come from the bible, or "word of god"] from the outside as having become part of those the apostles called the "anti-christ" and "man of lawlessness" [1 John 2:18-19; 2 Thessalonians 2].

The texts seem to make a distinction between a "falling" due to weakness, and the "falling away" that constitutes apostasy. In the latter case, it is stated to be a definite and willfull withdrawal from the "path of righteousness" [1 John 3:4-8; 1 John 5:16-17]. Whatever the apparent basis, whether intellectual, moral, or spiritual, the bible states that constitutes a rebellion against Yhwh and a very clear rejection of his "Word of Truth" - 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

Should one be so easily persuaded by every utterance of "inspiration" whether it came from the political assertions of the Council of Ephesus or anywhere one looks outside of what God's Word teaches - and perhaps even more important, what it does not teach?

Look wherever you wish for answers and directions that please your heart JV - I have no confrontation for that ...

My only question was simple - where in the Hebrew texts does it teach that Yhwh has a mother?

If the answer is truly "It doesn't" then why not just say so?