Do you think some Protestants are just plain jealous of Catholics because we have The Blessed Virgin?

Question

for our Mother too? Do you think the other Apostles made fun of John and told him he was a fool for caring for her because she was nothing to Jesus but a regular woman? Why do you people do this to us? I can only think it is jealousy. The only other thing is when God told Satan that he would put emnity between him and the woman. Is this the emnity we are seeing?

Answer 1

I've always figured that it was because some Protestants believe that we place more emphasis on the Blessed Virgin than we do on Jesus -- which just isn't true. Worship (latria) is reserved for God Alone, and we certainly don't worship one of His creatures, no matter how wonderful and honorable that person may be.

However, the Blessed Virgin does deserve our honor and respect for her acceptance of God's will, which brought our Savior Jesus Christ into the world. That's the difference between latria and hyperdulia (worship versus great respect.)

And given some of the out-and-out hatred that I've seen here towards Catholics and the Virgin Mary, we may very well be looking at emnity between the woman and Satan. Hatred comes from one souce, and that's the devil.

Considering that God says anyone who hates his brother in Christ is a murderer and Satan has been a murderer from the beginning, those who hate their Catholic brothers and sisters are clearly motivated by the Evil One. That would include hatred of the most loving and caring first believer in Christ -- the Blessed Virgin.

Answer 2

Oh, but they have her too, Midge. They just don't accept her.

I know what you mean, dear, but I don't think it's jealousy. Consider that many sincere folks of various Protestant beliefs have had aversion to statues/images, Mary, and the saints drilled into them from Day One from the pulpit, depending upon the personal biases of their preachers. Unless they are deliberately confrontational and ugly about it, we should try to be patient. The best we can hope for is that some will at least listen to the truth, if not embrace it.

Answer 3

Jesus said that His mother, brother & sisters, etc. are those who do the will of His Father in Heaven.

So, to be part of the family of God, is through confession & faith in Jesus Christ.

All Christians confess Mary to be very blessed & the virgin to give birth to Jesus (Seed of the Women Genesis 3:15). And Jesus was victorious over sin, while the 1st Adam failed & we all die because of the 1st Adam. But Jesus being the last Adam, all can receive everlasting life, because Jesus didn't sin againt Father God.

I don't consider non-Catholics Protestant. If Protestant is in their denominatinal name, then I will consider them a Protestant. As a Christian, I will not pray to Mary or worship her. But I love Mother Mary very much. She must have done something right in raising Jesus. Jesus didn't fail. He could have. He could have failed like the 1st Adam.

Answer 4

After the Reformation, Martin Luther became an recommend of the perpetual virginity of Mary (i've got self belief that he additionally endorsed the stainless concept.) it is interior the Lutheran e book of unity. His perspective has been overturned, yet you likely can locate it interior the footnotes of "The e book of unity."

Answer 5

A) We Catholics are NOT the only ones who "have" the Blessed Virgin Mary for our mother. EVERYONE does.

B) We're just smart enough to recognize it and stick close to Mom. After all, her Son is a nice, Jewish boy and if you know anything about Jewish boys you know that they'll do anything for Mom. Get Mary on your side, and Jesus will, as it were, personally carry your books home from school if Mother asks Him to.

C) And no, it's probably not jealousy. It's mostly just ignorance. Shows what happens if you only ever read one book, even if that book is the Bible. They should read more about it.

Answer 6

No. Mary was " blessed " not because she was more special than you are or I am. She was " blessed " because she was chosen by the Lord for one of the most important acts of obedience He has ever demanded of anyone.. She could have flubbed it up. But her act of obedience/submission, even in the midst of not fully understanding, led to our salvation. As a Christian, I am thankful for Mary...but I don't worship her. I worship Jesus, alone. Mary was a sinner, just as anyone else. Remember her, yes...but do not praise her. The Lord deserves better and if you listen to Mary's words in scripture she, too, realizes that Jesus is the reason. The enmity is referring to the coming of the Messiah. That was the first gospel message recorded in Scripture.

Answer 7

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Gen 3:15 (RSV)

Ever since the first century, Christians have recognized this passage as a prophecy of the Messiah, who would crush the head of Satan, as He himself, was stricken by the devil on the cross. There is much more to this passage than the prophecy of the Messiah and his death. Like peeling an onion layer by layer, we see much more foretold here as we go deeper and deeper. First of all, Christ is described as the seed of the woman. this is very unusual in Bibilcal language. Normally, the 'seed' refers to the man, but here it is the seed of the 'woman'. This would seem to indicate the "Virgin birth", i.e. no human father. Otherwise we would see the 'seed of the man'. Now since all of Eves' children were born by natural birth, the woman spoken of here is not Eve, though she is the only 'woman' present in this scene. The 'woman' must be the Mary, whose seed is Christ! Here is one parallel of Mary and Eve.

In 155 a.d., Justin Martyr wrote: " that he became man by the virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginnig through the agency of the serpent, might be also the very course by which it would be put down. For Eve, a virgin and undefiled, concieved the word of the serpent, and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy one being born to her would be called the Son of God. And she replied: "Be it done unto me according to thy word."

Likewise in 210 a.d. Tertullian wrote :"...it was while Eve was still a virgin that the word of the devil crept in to erect an ediface of death. Likewise, trhrough a virgin, the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus, what had been laid waste in ruin by this sex, was by the same sex reestablished in salvation. Eve had believed the serpent, Mary believed Gabriel. That which one destroyed by believing, the other, by believing, set straight."

So you can see how the early Church saw this passage and the relationship of Eve and Mary. Mary setting aright what Eve set afoul. In both cases it is the Adams who do the actual work. St. Paul says For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor 15:22 (RSV). Thus it was the first Adam who gave us original sin and death, and the second Adam(Christ), who restores us and gives us life! The early Church Fathers had a saying "Death through Eve, life through Mary". Even though Eve and Mary were not the ultimate causes of our death and redemption, it was through them, and their actions that death and life entered into world!

In summary then of Mary as the new Eve, we read in Scripture of Christ being compared to Adam: 45 Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.46 But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual.47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 1 Cor 15:45-47 . And in another place :"14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. " Romans 5:14 . We see the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 speak of a woman other than Eve, a woman that scholars say is Mary, the mother of the 'seed'. And we see early Christian witness that through Mary, the sin of Eve was set straight. What does this all mean for us today? If Mary is the new Eve, and she is, then read Gen 3:20 " The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. " If Eve was the "Mother of all the living", how much more so Mary?? This dovetails nicely with John19:26-27 "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home." And finally, as Fr. Ken Roberts likes to ask:"How can you have a second Adam, without a second Eve??

Since, as we have seen, Mary is the "New Eve". reason tells us that she must have been "Immaculately Conceived"!! Why? well if the first Adam, the first Eve, and the second Adam were immaculately conceived, what should that tell you about the second Eve?? We can also show Marys' sinless life from this. How? The first Eve was sinless till her 'yes' to the bad angel, the second Eve remained sinless because of her 'yes' to the good angel!

So it is plain to see that Protestants deny this scripture and do nothing to honor thier Mother and yet She cares for them regardless of this.

Answer 8

Well Protestants are at the mercy of their unbiblical tradition, attempting to find truth by personal interpretation of early Catholic writings. Their view of Mary is only one of many issues where they have drifted far away from Christian truth. This is the inevitable result of trying to force the Bible to be the foundation of truth, when the Bible itself clearly states that the Church Christ founded is the foundation of truth. Take away the foundation from a structure and it wil immediately warp and weaken, and eventually collapse. This is precisely what has happened to the truth in Protestantism. And the rubble from that collapse of truth is denominationalism, an obvious violation of the stated will of God, "that they all may be ONE". Doctrinal chaos is not what Christ intended for His people.

Some of those false beliefs are obvious in the post above. "The Bible says to pray to God alone". Of course the Bible says no such thing. It says to WORSHIP God alone, but Protestants don't see such a simple and clear distinction. "Pray" simply means "ask". In older Bible translations like the King James there are many examples of the phrase "I pray thee", where one person asks another for something. "I pray thee come to my home this evening". "I pray thee, offer your prayers with mine for my intention". Pretty simple. Christians as other Christians to pray for them.

"Communication with the dead ...". How sad that Protestants misinterpret this passage to forbid praying to the holy saints! But misinterpretation can't be avoided when you have no real authority to guide you. Jesus said that those who follow Him "will never die". So, speaking of the saints as "dead" is calling Jesus a liar. The passage obviously refers to those who are spiritually dead, having suffered the second death.

"There is only one Mediator ...". Well no kidding! If the Catholic Church didn't teach this, it wouldn't be in the Bible, since the Catholic church compiled the Bible! Yes, there is only one Mediator, our lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Which has absolutely nothing to do with intercession. The work of mediation was finished on the cross. The work of intercession is the duty of every living Christisn, on earth and in heaven.

It's all so simple when you have the foundation of truth, and don't have to base your faith on personal guesses about the meaning of scripture passages.

Answer 9

Do you have a complex this morning?

Protestants love Catholics.
Catholics love Protestants.

Jesus said to love one another as Christ loved the church.

Have a great day!

Answer 10

NO way, Mary was no longer a virgin for one, and God does not condone idol worship. Praying to the dead is not highly looked upon by christians. For Christ is the only one who can intercede for us. Christians are not jealous at all. We are merely confused at how catholics can ignore the words of the Bible to uphold their traditions.