Why do some Protestants have a problem with God giving the Blessed Virgin Mary special honor and grace?

Question

As far as God being her saviour, God saved her at her conception by not allowing sin to ever touch her from time of her conception. This was so that she could be the mother of the Word of God made flesh. God would not be in the womb of a woman who was stained by sin, so He made it so that the Blessed Virgin Mary would be conceived without the stain of original sin. This is consistant with the ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament, only Mary is the ark of the New Convenant.

The angel Gabriel calls Mary by the title of "full of grace" of literally translated "one who has been made full of grace and always will be full of grace".

Mary says in the Bible that her SOUL magnifies God. No one else anywhere in the Bible ever makes such a bold statement about what God has done for them. She also says that God has done great THINGS for her. This is saying that God did more for her than just use her for giving birth to Jesus. In the Bible, Mary said all generations shall call her blessed.

Answer 1

The best explanation I have heard is that they truly believe that is dishonoring Christ. That is ridiculous, of course; what kind of guy would be pleased to have his mom 'dissed', ignored, called "a mere vessel", etc.?

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Mary IS the mother of God. Jesus is God, and she is His mother. This is very scriptural. When Mary visits Elizabeth, Elizabeth calls Mary "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43).

Answer 2

I want to know where you get your information from. I've never read anywhere in the Bible, a passage that says Mary should be given special honor. Yes, she found favor with God, but so did a lot of other people, like Moses, Abraham and David.
When Gabriel said she was full of grace, to me this doesn't sound like He's bestowing a title on her, It sounds more like he's giving her a compliment. And the word translated "full of grace" was also used by Paul, in Eph 1:6 where he's talking about being grateful for God's grace that makes us acceptable. In this verse, the word translated, (G5487), isn't "grace"; its "accepted".
In addition, in Luke 2:22, when they bring Jesus to present Him to God, neither Simeon nor Anna give any indication that Mary was special. They were only focused on Jesus and God.
In that section, and a little further down, in verse 48, Mary was as surprised as everyone else when she heard and saw what Jesus did and what people said about Him.
In Acts 1, Mary kept company with the disciples, yet, you hear nothing mentioned about her. I would think that if she was special among men, that she would be elevated above the Apostles.

In your first sentence, what are you implying when you said God "saved" her at her conception? Were you saying that she received salvation when she conceived? In that case, it was too late because everybody, after Adam and Eve, was born into sin. Was she being saved from sex? Sex, within marriage, is definitely not a sin.
Was it the sin in man that she was being saved from? If so, it wouldn't transfer to Mary because she had already come from her father's seed. Only her baby would escape being affected by sin, which indeed, is the case.
Or, were you saying that God caused Mary to be born without sin? If this is so, PLEASE tell me where you read this.

All generations call her blessed because she did something that was unique, just like Moses is blessed to have received and delivered the Law, and Peter is blessed because he recognized that Jesus was the Christ.

Finally, I completely don't understand the reference you made comparing Mary with the Ark of the Covenant. Would you be able to explain it or give me some scripture that does?

Answer 3

Well, I didn't read all the details of this question, because I think I can answer it without doing so.

I'm a Protestant, and I have no problem with giving Mary her due respect as the Mother of Christ.

However, IMO, Catholics giving Mary too much honor. Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith, not Mary. Why should we pray to Mary, or even ask her intercession? The Bible states that Christ and the Holy Spirit are our intercessors; and also that the curtain between the Holy of Holies and the congregational area in the temple was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died. Since this means that we can now come directly to God, why would you invoke the help of another? The emphasis must be on Christ, and not the virgin Mary.

Answer 4

Mary does deserve more honor than most Christians give her. I think the problem is that we try too hard to keep from deifying her. She was in no way deity.

I do believe she sinned and needed a deliverer as the rest of us do. That she was a sinner would not prevent her from giving birth to Jesus. Why would you think otherwise? Also Mary was not a perpetual virgin. Jesus had half brothers and sisters. There is no evidence that Joseph was previously married and brought children into the marriage, nor were they only cousins.

Also, While Jesus is God, and Mary was his mother, Mary was not the mother of God. She was the mother of his humanness, but by the scriptures we can read that he quickly became independent and full of wisdom at an early age.

Also, Mary should not be called the Queen of Heaven. That comes from an old religious cult spoken of in Jeremiah 44. They called it idolatry.

So Mary does deserve more recognition, but she was a mere human, who did sin, as you and I do.

Answer 5

I wish you could have cited verses, because I don't recall Mary saying that all generations shall call her blessed. That sounds more arrogant than bold. The problem with glorifying Mary is that it takes away from the humanity of it. Mary was an ordinary, albeit strong in faith, woman and she deserves no worship, no glory, no prayers, etc. Mary was just chosen to be the instrument through which Christ comes, but for herself she does not lend anything to our salvation. You do not worship instrumental things - the cross was an instrument through which Christ could offer us salvation. Mary was an instrument through which Christ could come. The Apostles were instruments through which God's word could be conveyed. Moses was an instrument through which the Law could be conveyed. You might respect the instrumental value of things, but you do not worship it in any kind, otherwise it would be an idol.

Answer 6

I don't have a problem with Mary having recieved special grace and honor per se. She did recieve such in her job of being Jesus' birth mother!

I have a problem with saying she was "saved" before birth, and that she never sinned. This is pure conjecture. God is perfectly capable of putting up with our crap: He has done it for millenia! It is not impossible for me to imagine Him "lowering" himself to the status of fetus within a sinner's womb. After all, He lowered Himself to being a child in a sinner's house, and a man in a sinner's temple, and a saviour on a sinner's cross!

You have compared Mary to the original Ark of the Covenant, and I don't have a problem with that. Do you remember what the Ark was made of? Wood, overlaid with gold. The basic material of the box itself was common wood--not gold! After the box was constructed, the gold was hammered into shape and fixed on the inside and outside. Then the articles of rememberance were placed inside the box (Tablets of law, Aaron's staff, manna, any etc). Without the addition of the gold and the articles of rememberance, the box would have been an ordinary box, made of wood. It is the same way with Mary. If she had not carried the living Word of God, and been coated with God's grace, she would have remained an ordinary person. Just as the tree that was turned into the ark had an ordinary existence (before it was cut down and processed), it is not a sin to assume that Mary's life before Jesus was quite ordinary: rooted in dirt and enjoying the grace and mercy of God.

Answer 7

Mary was a vessel. A spotless one, but a vessel nonetheless. She may well be full of grace but she knew her husband and had children after Jesus so she did conceive in original sin. My soul magnifies God as does everyone's soul who cries out to him Holy!Holy! Praise God almighty. That is our purpose...to magnify and glorigy God. God had done many great things for many people before Mary and has done many great things since so you are assuming She meant God did more for her than just as a vessel. She would be called blessed because she gave birth to the spotless lamb.
Where in the bible does it say anything about her being ascended into heaven? Where does it say anything about praying to mary for divine intervention?
It says the way to pray is to say Our father who art in Heaven...in Jesus' name, Amen. Not in Mry's name.

Answer 8

You make some very broad assumptions, based on your religious background. Your church has taught these things for a very long time, however, the actual scripture does not back them up.
There is no evidence that Mary ever met any of these assumptions. She was a chosen vessel, but she was no different from anyone else who chooses to allow God to use them, and work through their life.
The Bible is our guide. The traditions and creations of a church are not good enough to base our lives on.
Old argument - but still valid.

Answer 9

You can't make stuff up like that.She had an earthly father and mother therefore she was born with Adam's sin.She said "My soul doth magnify the Lord ,my Savior"...
Why would she need to be saved unless she was born in sin like everyone?
Of course she was special or God would not have chose her.But she and Joseph had many kids after Jesus was born.James ,Joses,Simeon,and Jude ,plus sisters.Matthew says "Joseph did not "Know ' her until after Jesus was born."They weren't His cousins as some try to say.A few times during Jesus' ministry people would say"Behold ,your mother and brothers are outside"....
He loved them but they really didn't believe on Him until after the resurrection.
Mary died probably in Ephesus and was buried ,she did not ascend.Mohammed's followers tried the same thing.Everyone wants in on Jesus' glory.St. Paul said,"There is ONE mediator between God and man,Christ Jesus".
Grace means" unmerited favor" not sinlessness.She was picked by God at His discretion and she received unearned favor by God,it was His gift .
Since the beginning,man has always wanted a "Mother God",whether it be Semiramis,Isis,Hera,Ishtar,whatever....it just isn't so and won't be.It is Idolatry to raise that wonderful woman to that position.

Answer 10

She is blessed for having the honor of carrying baby Jesus. She is not to be worshipped though, God alone is to be worshipped. She has no special power except what God gave her to carry Jesus at the time of her conception. She was chosen for the very purpose of carrying and raising Jesus along with Joseph, not to be worshipped.