I'm a devout Catholic, and have always been baffled by the fact that the majority of people think we WORSHIP Mary!! We do NOT. God is the only God. We are Christians just like the rest of Christians. We honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus, and ask for her to intercede for us on our behalf to God, but nothing more. Everyone: Catholics DO NOT worship Mary!!!! Why does everyone have such a hard time understanding that????????????
2007-03-10 02:00:21 · 25 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I am Catholic and thanks for clarifying this with others. We certainly do not worship Mary, we honor her as the mother of Jesus.
As some personal background, I became Catholic after doing a lot of research on my own. Since I already believed in Jesus, I wanted to find the most Christian church. I chose Catholic because it is the original Christian church.
As a little background to this, Jesus created the first Pope when He said to Peter:
"I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." - Matthew 16:18.
Peter was therefore the first Pope, or Holy Father and each successor Pope was chosen until today. There is actually a trace of all the Pope's (Holy Fathers) in the church back to Peter.
I like the church, and since it is the original source, I can trust more in how the Bible is interpreted and what Christ wanted for His church on earth. Also I like that I can go to any country or state and visit a Catholic church and I will get the same mass no matter where I am. But most of all, I like the Eucharist which is eating the bread and drinking the blood (wine) of Christ at every mass.
The Catholic church was also given authority on earth when Jesus said to Peter:
Matthew 16:19
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."
Of course Protestants broke from the church about 500 years ago and now there are literally hundreds of Christian churches. Now, I would be the last one to criticize other Christian churches because the thing that matters the most is a faith in Christ and living a Christian life which is hard to do. But the good news is that Jesus is about peace and love and forgives sinners.
2007-03-10 02:03:06 · answer #1 · answered by ccguy 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Actually, praying to the Virgin Mary for intercession is a form of worship. Mary is allocated a holy place in Catholicism and is said to have been taken to heaven to sit with God. This makes her, mythologically speaking, a goddess. Honor is worship. The reason many say that Catholics "worship: Mary is because of the icons of her in most Catholic Churches. The real confusion is on the part of Catholics themselves. The Catholic Church denies the divinity of Mary while raising her to the status of any other mythology's goddess.
2007-03-10 02:09:37 · answer #2 · answered by fangtaiyang 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You will get the same crap for answers that we always get. Isn't it wonderful that non-Catholics are SO sure that we believe what they say we do? LOL!
Having been part of the 'born again fundamentalist' crowd before choosing Catholicism, I can tell you that anti-Catholicism is rampant and they are just believing what
they are told without doing their own research.
I asked a poster once how many times Mary is mentioned in the Mass, and he said the rosary was part of the Mass - that's how far out their misconceptions go!
Don't worry about it - we know the truth, and and if they want to continue believing what they do, and believing the lies, so be it.
Peace, friend.
2007-03-10 02:13:27 · answer #3 · answered by SpiritRoaming 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I wasraised catholic, and i would not say we "worshipped" Mary. I no longer practic the Catholic religion, but I do understand the difference between the Catholic view as apposed to the Christain view. Catholics saw her a immaculate and they pray to her. Christians view her as a normal person who was chosen by God to be the father of Jesus....she was not immaculate and we do not pray to her.
Alot of Catholics (more older Catholics) have alot of Mary statues and pictures in their house....maybe that is the confusion.
2007-03-10 02:08:45 · answer #4 · answered by Cortney N 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have ran in to some people who claimed to be Catholics who worshiped Mary one of them told me "Jesus did not live a perfect life. Mary did, but through her guidance he eventually attained perfection." Those I have talked to who shared a similar belief also said that they felt that Mary was our advocate with God and it seamed to me that they were elevating Mary to the position that most Christians hold Christ in.
I have also ran in to may people who claimed to be Catholic who seam to share your views.
If I had to take a guess I would say that (if the people were telling the truth about their religious affiliations) the apparent lack of cohesion between the teachings of the various Catholic congregations could be part of it, and when I think about it, I believe that there are several different denominations of Catholic churches, and those who seem to worship Mary might be part of a different denomination.
2007-03-10 02:19:00 · answer #5 · answered by Joseph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mary is dead and depending on your views in heaven, limbo, etc.. and cannot intercede for us. Only Jesus intercedes for us before God. Why do you take one scripture and make it part of your faith?
All saints that have passed are not watching over us and no scripture can back that up.
Rosary is like a Buddhist beads and so much more. It seems that over time the Catholic church has added mysticism and other "pagan" practices to their beliefs.
But, please do not get me wrong. I know you are Christians and have done many great things since your founding at the fall of the Roman Empire. But, you are not the first Church only the oldest surviving intact.
2007-03-10 02:09:51 · answer #6 · answered by crimthann69 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
"A Warm Protestant Welcome for Mary" (Women of the Bible, by USA News):
"... Today more and more Protestants are welcoming Mary back into their spiritual lives. Several new books by Protestant authors have spurred new interest in the Virgin Mother. And a joint Anglican-Catholic commision recently announced a landmak accord on Mary taht could help bridge the gap between the two denominations. Mary's story, says Beverly Gaventa, (A New Testament scholar at Princeton University and the coeditor of the book "Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary), " is a wonderful example of divine grace that Protestants have neglected. It was seen as Catholic territory, but now the lines between denominations are dropping."
Like many Protestants, Norris says she learned next to nothing about Mary from her Methodist and Congregational upbringing, but after spending time in Benedictine monasteries she grew to identify with her. "Like Mary, I am invited each day to bring Christ into the world in my prayers, thoughts, and actions," she says.
2007-03-10 02:14:15 · answer #7 · answered by Giggly Giraffe 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
People think that Catholics worship Mary because they see Catholics kneel and pray in front of a statue of Mary. They see us do these things and they make assumptions about what we are doing based on their own way and understanding of worship.
To many non-Catholics, kneeling and praying are synonymous with worship. To them, if we are kneeling and praying, then we must be worshiping. While kneeling and praying are gestures that can be used in worship, it does not always mean that we are worshiping.
Kneeling is a gesture of submission and acknowledgment that the person who is standing is greater than the person kneeling. Mary and the saints led holy lives of faith and obedience to God and because of the lives they led, they ARE greater than us. They are not greater than God, but they are greater than us.
Prayer is not always about worship. Even in our relationship with God, prayer is not always about worship. When we pray to God, sometimes it is as an act of thanks, petition, or contrition. These actions are not worship. When we pray to Mary and the saints, it is to ask them to pray on our behalf. This is the same as asking friends and family to pray on our behalf. Catholics consider those in Heaven to be part of our friends and family.
2007-03-10 02:35:13 · answer #8 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The problem is deeper down in your theology. Catholics literally believe that Mary was the "Mother of God" and "Mother of salvation." That she literally was sinless, a perpetual virgin, and gave birth to not only Jesus' human body, but his deity and I find that nothing short of blasphemy. Mary did not impart Jesus' deity nor is she one with God, she was just a good Jewish girl and still a sinner just like the rest of us. She is not necessary to intercede in prayer, the Bible teaches nothing like that. In fact the Bible says that praying to the dead is forbidden!
2007-03-10 04:01:26 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
i dont think Catholics worship Mary, but dont understand that you "ask for her to intercede for us on our behalf to God"
isnt this communicating with the dead? isnt this forbidden? Do we ask dead relatives to interced for us?
The Bible tells us that Christ is our Advocate. Says nothing about Mary being our advocate or intercessor.
1John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
No disrespect to Mary as the human mother of our Divine Savior, but she is not a Diety and believe that she must be like any other soul in heaven.
2007-03-10 02:07:51 · answer #10 · answered by Dr. Linder 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋