Monday, June 04, 2018
Cult of Mary
In my debates with Ehrman, when he has raised the topic of Marian apparitions, I have responded that I do not doubt that the percipients saw something. What they saw is what I question. Elliot Miller and Kenneth Samples coauthored the book The Cult of the Virgin: Catholic Mariology and the Apparitions of Mary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992). In this book, they discuss the three major accounts of Marian apparitions: Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal; and Medjugorje, Croatia. I know Samples personally. He has interviewed several of the seers to whom Mary has appeared in Medjugorje. Although Samples is a Christian whose Protestant theology does not incline him to believe that Mary has appeared to others, he is convinced that these seers have seen a spirit being. In fact, I had an opportunity to inquire further of Samples on the matter. He told me that several of the seers in Medjugorje continued to have visions of Mary. In fact, he was with one of the seers while he was experiencing such a vision, although no one else in the room saw her. Samples told me he asked the seer if Mary had ever spoken to him. The seer said she had, recommending a specific book which the seer was to read. When Samples looked up the title of the book, it was occultic. This led him to believe that a demonic spirit is what is appearing to the seers.
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"He told me that several of the seers in Medjugorje continued to have visions of Mary. In fact, he was with one of the seers while he was experiencing such a vision, although no one else in the room saw her. Samples told me he asked the seer if Mary had ever spoken to him. The seer said she had, recommending a specific book which the seer was to read. When Samples looked up the title of the book, it was occultic."
ReplyDeleteI think I'm missing a pronoun here. Why did Samples ask the seer if the Virgin Mary had ever spoken to him? Of course the seer would say that *all* of these visions and messages are the Virgin Mary speaking to him, right? Why did the seer emphasize the book recommendation? Or is the idea that most of the time she appears without speaking, and the book recommendation was one of the only times she actually spoke to him?
I don't doubt they saw something. If i remember correctly the description of Fatima vision one of the children thought it was a demon. But one of the others said how could a demon be so beautiful? Most of what the apparition said was blasphemous. It was a demon.
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