Isahel Alfonso slips on the word Vessel

It's been a while since we wrote a comment on the articles written in the blog Catholic Eternal Truth by Mr. Isahel Alfonso. Mr. Alfonso has recently wrote three installments on an attempt to refute the book titled, Important Questions and Answers which is written by an Evangelical Pastor named, Jun A. Ballesteros. I have the said book but it is the Tagalog version.

For each of the three articles Mr. Alfonso has written so far, he places the title "Evangelical Pastor’s Lies and Deceptions". It's a very catchy title. However, enough is enough. In his third installment, Mr. Alfonso has written something quite awful (or funny depending on how you go about it) that we just simply can't say no to write a rebuttal.

The issue which Mr. Alfonso wages war against the book of Pastor Ballesteros is about calling Mary a vessel. Mr. Alfonso cited the Merriam-Webster dictionary on the definition of the word vessel (a container for holding something) where he reinforced his complaint:

Therefore for Pastor Ballesteros Mary is just a container for holding Jesus Christ for 9 months and worst of all he made it appear that as if God is the one who made Mary a mere vessel for Christ but in fact it was him who made Mary a mere vessel. Nowhere in Scripture ever stated implicitly nor explicitly that Mary is a vessel for Christ.

Mr. Alfonso cited Hebrews 2:14 to prove that Mary is not a vessel for Christ:

Basing on the facts of this passage Mary is not a vessel because Mary is the one who gave Christ is very own flesh and blood! A vessel does not share its nature with the thing that it holds, like a jar it does not share its nature with the water that it holds. But Mary gave Christ his flesh and blood, the very flesh and blood that he sacrificed on the cross to save us. Not just an ordinary sacrifice but a perfect and unblemished sacrifice (Heb.9:14). Another anti-Mary bushing of Pastor Ballesteros is by reducing Mary as a mere decoration in the history of Christianity.

Some of you may already have concluded that Mr. Alfonso here commits the fallacy of equivocation, not to mention adding malice to how Pastor Ballesteros used the word vessel in his book. The section of the said book, Pastor Ballesteros no where intended for degrade Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. Mr. Alfonso simply is overreacting here.

While there is nothing wrong with referring to the dictionary, we wish that Mr. Alfonso had considered that the same Merriam Webster which he quoted from also gave this definition:

1b: a person into whom some quality (as grace) is infused vessel of the Lord — H. J. Laski

Mr. Alfsonso did not use that definition. Why did Mr. Alfonso just concentrated on the definition 1a? Simple, his goal is obviously not just to refute the book but to detract Pastor Ballesteros himself. In addition, the Tagalog version of Important Questions and Answers, Pastor Ballesteros used the word "kasangkapan" (page 24). This already blows in the face of Mr. Alfonso because he maliciously presented that Pastor Ballesteros intended a meaning of "container" (or lalagyanan in Tagalog) for the word vessel. But in reality, after reading the Tagalog version of the book, Pastor Ballesteros intended the meaning "instrument" which is synonymous to the word "vessel".

Furthermore, it has also become obvious that Mr. Alfonso does not read his Bible well. The Bible is has made use of the word vessel to pertain to people. Here is a good sample:

If anyone cleanses himself of these things, he will be a vessel for lofty use, dedicated, beneficial to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2nd Timothy 2:21 New American Bible Revised Edition (a Roman Catholic version)

2nd Timothy 2:21 made use of the word vessel or skeuos in Greek. It can also be translated as instrument. Ironically, Mr. Alfonso's comment on the use of the word vessel should be an insult to his beliefs about Mary's immaculate conception. In the immaculate conception, Mary is absolutely "cleansed". Since the above verse tells that in order for a person to be vessel of God a person should be cleansed. Now Mr. Alfonso is telling us that Mary is not a vessel, is he implying that Mary is not cleansed?

Finally, how does Mr. Alfonso react to a fellow Roman Catholic apologist, Atty. Marwil LLasos, using the word vessel:

Since Mary would be the Mother of God, she must herself be holy and spotlessly pure. Since Jesus, as God, can make His own Mother, He made her all-holy to be a fitting vessel for Him.

Mr. Alfonso should accuse Atty. Llasos, an experienced Mariologist, of insulting Mary for calling her a vessel!

We all want to serve God by being a worthy vessel. If Mr. Alfonso does not want to be a vessel of God, well that's his problem.