Can any catholics please explain the whole praying to Mary thing?

Question

Really how do you justify this? Not only does the bible itself say that it is wrong, and a sin to pray to anybody other then God. But she is only mentioned a handful of times by name. Whats the deal?

And really, if you are only going to bash religion in general why bother even answering? This question is not for you, and you will only make yourself look foolish to try and prove a point, where there is no point to be made!

Non belivers, if you feel the need to answer a question and share you opinion go here....
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Am_xqpvL33qEcXj3ArjbSJXsy6IX?qid=20060717010645AAdFTUe

Answer 1

It's so pointless lol...they can't justify it. On the one hand, if they're praying to her then that suggests that they don't believe Christ to be the only way to God and on the other, if they're praying with her(or asking her to pray for them or whatever) then it is spiritism because they're talking to a dead chick!

Answer 2

Catholics are taught not to read the Bible but obey the church. The Church sets up various entities they call "Saints" Mary is just one of them.
It is only a minor point of how the Catholic Church ignores Old Testament and New Testament teachings and spins it so their followers are really not worshipping God or Jesus but instead the Catholic Church. This is going to rile a few Catholics but the fact remains they "pray" to a lot of people other than God and worship many icons. The Bible's teachings, in particular the Ten Commandments would tend to hold said practices are not in accordance with God's Law and as far as I have read not endorsed by Jesus nor his teachings at all!
ADDENDA FOR THE ADMIRAL
I just love how the "Church" is able to make its followers abide the Church's teachings while ignoring the teachings of the Bible. I wasn't going to be so poinient but the ten commandments are rather specific about what and whom one is worship. As for the need of interveners I suggest the concept of an all knowing and powerful God does away with ANY preceived notion that anyone need "pray" to anyone but God himself. I further suggest that praying to anyone but God is in effect holding that entity to some "God like" status, than includes all the "Sainted folks" and the Pope himself. MY point is not to argue religion but to answer the question in accordance with my beliefs.

Pull in the fangs and turn off the flames, cupcake! If you want to cram Catholicism by all means do so, just try not being insulting of others who happen to think you are wrong!

Answer 3

I do not know how Catholics justify praying to Mary, but I can give on explanation that scholars believe why it came about. It is also the same reason for St. Brigit. The early Christians we converts from Goddess worship. It was hard for some of the women to give up their belief in a goddess to follow a male god figure. During the Crusades women became upset that their sons and husbands were going off to die for a God they did not understand. So the priests began to elevate Mary who had to give her son up for humanity. It made the women's sacrifices of their sons and husbands more bearable.

Answer 4

The bible actually says no such thing about any such sort of sin, anywhere in the entire text. The word "pray" means "to ask." Until the last fifty years or so, it was very common to say, "I pray you, sir" when prefacing a request of someone.

Prayer is not necessarily worship, and particularly if you look at the Lord's prayer, only a small part of it is worship - most of it is asking.

In the case of Mary, we're doing nothing any different than you'd do with your neighbour or aunt - we don't pray so much "to" Mary as that we ask her to pray FOR us.

Intercessory prayer of that kind is explicitly permitted in the Bible - Paul commands this of Timothy in fact in 1 Timothy 2:1, and Paul explicitly refers to the help given by intercessory prayer in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11; 1 Thessolonians 5:23-25; Philemon 22.

By this point, the only objection left that protestants can raise is, "well, yeah, but... the difference is that Mary is dead!"

Protestants may believe that. God certainly doesn't.

"And he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." (Luke 20:38)

So in asking Mary, who we believe to be in heaven with her Son, really, we're doing nothing more than asking someone to pray for us who happens to be with the one whose help we need. And no, you can't find anything in the bible that bans this, let alone says it is "wrong" or a "sin."

And anyone who says "catholics are taught not to read the bible" has likely never seen a catholic church or likely ever even met an actual catholic.

Answer 5

The idea of a Trinity and the Mary Worship Cult happened over time. The Hail Mary started around 1300AD. Any doubt about the Trinity was handed the death penalty up the 1800s in Europe.

I'm not a RC. I just have historical interests in things European and Roman. For the exact years of what you seek consult "The Oxford Dictionary of the Popes".

Answer 6

Hi!

It is amazing that Catholics still try to justify their ritual of praying through Mary into being biblically acceptable.

I will show you biblically why Mary should not be prayed through:

1.As a Christian, you are not to talk or worship A DEAD HUMAN BEING or spirit:

Isaiah 8:19

And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

In this chapter, God was warning the Israelites not to ask the dead for anything!

2. THERE IS NO OTHER MEDIATOR BUT JESUS CHRIST:

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and there is ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD and MEN, the man CHRIST JESUS,

Mary should not mediate in any way.

3. MARY WAS A SINNER LIKE ALL OF US:

A sinner cannot intercede for other sinners! Mary is a sinner because she was born of man, and all men are born in sin(Psalm 51:5).She also needed the Blood of Jesus to be cleansed of sins.

Mary called God her "Savior" in Luke 1:47 meaning that she ALSO NEEDED SALVATION LIKE ALL OF US!

4.JESUS ACTUALLY PUT MARY DOWN TO HER HUMANITY:

Jesus here says:
(Matthew 12:48) "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"

Answer 7

Have you said the wrong thing? Catholics do not pray to Mary. She is not God. So she is not worshipped. She is only honoured like any other saint. Catholics have a special devotion to Mary because she is the mother of Jesus. Catholics ask her to intercede for them.

Answer 8

Do you ask your mother for food when you are hungry? No matter your father may earn and get but, she does all the cooking.

It was only on Mother Mary's request that Jesus turned the Water in to Wine. So do it is today. We pray to Mary and She prays for us to God and God grant us.

Pls read Luke's Gospel ones again and Remember the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to John.

Answer 9

I am Catholic and I will try to explain as clearly as possible. And I trust you are seeking and open to the truth.

Catholics believe that we are one family, one community. We pray for one another i.e we intercede to God for one another. God is our Father, we His children. All power comes from God.

And when we die and go to heaven, we can continue and will continue to intercede to God for those who are still struggling against the devil on earth.

When we pray to Mary or the Saints who are in heaven we are asking them to plea to God on our behalf like when we ask our friends to pray for us when we are in need.

As Bible says " The prayer of a righteous man is more powerful" And we believe Mary and the Saints are persons who had led righteous lives and now enjoy eternal life with God.

When we honour Mary and the Saints, as when we honour our parents, we are actually honouring the Creator, our God and Father.

Peace and Blessings.

Answer 10

Typical religious nut....you can go to strangers houses at 6am all weekend long and expect them to listen to your crap about being saved and accepting jesus as a saviour and all that other jazz. But you don't want to hear what the non believers have to say. If you don't want to hear all sides of the story and all points of view, then don't ask the questions and "turn the other cheek"....like your instruction manual tells you to do, and I'm referring to your man-written bible. How do you explain believing in something you can't see?