Praying to the Virgin Mary using Rosary Beads...False Teaching?

Question

Jesus gave us a model prayer in Matt 6:9. We pray to the Father, through Jesus...correct? Now, why do some Catholics use rosary beads to pray when Jesus told his desciples and apostles at Matt 6:7;
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their (A)many words. (New American Standard Bible)

Then at Matthew 4:10; Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

I see people praying using these beads, yet the scriptures contradict this type of praying and worship. Jesus' himself contradicts this, so if you're a Catholic, do you think that you should continue to do this?

Answer 1

Prayer should only be directed to Almighty God.

Incidentally, Mary did not remain a virgin after the birth of Jesus. The Scriptures clearly discuss the siblings of Jesus.

(Matthew 1:25) [Joseph] had no intercourse with [Mary] UNTIL she gave birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus. [caps added]

(Matthew 13:53-56) Jesus had finished these illustrations he went across country from there. 54 And after coming into his home territory he began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these powerful works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us?

(Mark 6:3) This is the carpenter the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon, is it not? And his sisters are here with us, are they not?

(Luke 8:19-21) Now [Jesus'] mother and brothers came toward him, but they were unable to get to him because of the crowd. 20 However, it was reported to him: “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to see you.” 21 In reply he said to them: “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

(John 2:12) After this he [Jesus] and his mother and brothers and his disciples went down to Capernaum, but they did not stay there many days.

(John 7:5) His [Jesus'] brothers were, in fact, not exercising faith in him.

(Acts 1:14) With one accord all these were persisting in prayer, together with some women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

(1 Corinthians 9:5) the rest of the apostles and [Jesus] the Lord’s brothers and Cephas

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20031215/article_01.htm

Answer 2

Ahem! Catholics are not the only religous group that prays the rosary! Many protestants do once they understand what the rosary is. The rosary a meditation on the life of Christ! The prayers: The Our Father, The Hail Mary and the Glory Be to the Father are memorized prayers and they help us to concentrate on the mysteries of the rosary. There are 15 mysteries or thoughts to ponder when praying the rosary. You should know where the prayer, the Our Father comes from. The Hail Mary is also from the bible....the words are found in Luke chapter one and the Glory Be is a beautiful prayer honoring the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).

It is very wrong to have meaningless repitition of words. Everybody knows that and so when a Catholic prayers the Our Father or the Hail Mary more than once they either think about what the words mean or else meditate on something having to do with God. That's not meaningless repitition. And by the way, have you ever said the Our Father more than once in your life? When you say grace before meals do you often say the same thing? It would be profitable to find a Catholic source of information on the subject before bashing it!

Answer 3

There has been a lot of contradictions that the Catholic Religion has endorsed to their faithfuls. The church has emphasized so much on sacrifices and that includes novenas, rosary prayers. All of thess practices are not within the teachings of simple prayers taught in the Bible. Even God himself said make your words few. Offerings and sacrifices was commanded by God to the Jews as an atonement to the eviles they have done against God in their early times. But in the latter period God said He has enough of those burnt offerings and sacrifices and what He needs is Mercy. Rosary prayer was introduced after the miracle at Lourdes where the three visionaries saw the image Mary the Mother of Jesus appearing before them counting the beads through her fingers. This beads chained together has numbers equivalent to prayers recited each time. Muslims also have this kind of beads for reciting the many names of God. I have also seen Hindus doing that as their form of reciting the mantras during their meditation and prayers. It is not included in the teachings of the Bible but most likely just initiated by the religion as form of offeringss and sacrifices.

Answer 4

Learn more before attacking. The scriptures do not contradict this sort of thing. How is it that you, and only you, know this. The beads are used not only by Catholics, but by Muslims and Buddhists. Mary is venerated by many religions.

You fear what you do not understand. And you surely do not understand the ritual.
Where did you get the idea that Catholics are worshiping Mary?
Is that the latest diatribe your Preacher put out Sunday?

Answer 5

We don't pray to the beads, they help us count the prayers since saying 10 Hail Mary's can be daunting when you forget what number you're on. The prayer, the Hail Mary, is mostly found in the bible.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you." Gabriel the Archangel at the Annunciatin.
"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" Mary's sister when she met her after the Annunciation

Answer 6

I believe it is a false teaching. They are not praying to the beads they are using them to count and they do it because that is what they are taught to do. It is never a good idea to attack a persons belief or method of worship. I was raised Catholic but am no longer a member of the Church because of teachings that I believe are false and came from man not God. The truth was revealed to me because I was looking for it and I believe God reveals himself to all who seek him. Each person grows in the knowledge of the Lord at their own pace.

Answer 7

Why on Earth are you asking this?!?! The Catholic people aren't going to change their practices just because YOU think that they're heretical/incorrect/whatever.

Also, Catholics, as much as they love Mary and the saints, DO NOT worship them. They don't put them on the same level as God, Jesus, etc. They just honor and emulate them as great examples of a Spirit-filled life.

And- why are you so witless as to alienate the very people who are most likely to agree and work with you when it comes to anti-abortion, anti-same sex marriage, getting religion back into the government etc.-type work?

Well, I guess your side's loss is my side's gain!

Answer 8

Catholics pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary using Rosary beads while reciting the Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary is an intercessory prayer, we ask Mary to pray for us. Jesus gave Mary to us as our mother while he was hanging on the cross at his crucifixion. Mary is our mother and as our mother she loves all of us. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus is not condemning all repeated prayers, only prayer " in the manner of pagans". Jesus is teaching Christians not to pray in with a pagan attitude that the more you repeat a prayer the more likely you are to be heard. Notice that Jesus repeats the same prayer three times in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:44). The four living creatures in heaven repeat day and night, "Holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who to come" (Rev. 4:8). This shows that prayer repeated with the right attitude is very pleasing to God. The Holy Rosary recited devoutly, fulfills part of the biblical exhortation to "pray without ceasing" ( 1 Thess. 5:17) Furthermore, the entire Rosary is scriptural, "Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee", is said by the Angel Gabriel at the annunciation. "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb", " Mother of my Lord" is said by her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist at the visitation. Since Mary is the Mother of Jesus, she is also the mother of God and so we honor her as our Mother, our intercessor, perfect disciple of Christ and model of a perfect Christian who is closest to Jesus for all time. It does not please our Lord to know that so many Christians treat his mother with such disregard and choose to egnore and belittle her completely. The fourth commandment tells us to "Honor thy father and thy mother". Since the Blessed Virgin is our Mother, as Christians we should obey.

Answer 9

I don't believe Catholics pray TO the beads: I believe they use them to count repetitions of the prayers.

Answer 10

U've done very good research using the Bible. Many religions today do things that r not approved by God's word. Telling people their religion is wrong can make them hate u though. The best thing to do is offer to reason with them but it's up to them to change their minds.