Another serious question for Christians?

Question

Firstly I must say I am not a Christian or any other organised religion but I do respect others faiths. My questions, and I have a few, are
1. If there is only one god why do some Christians worship the Virgin Mary?
2. If there is only one god who do Christians worship Jesus, he was the son of God not God himself.
3. If there is only one god why does the bible say 'thou shalt worship no other gods before me', surely that is saying there is more than one god.
As I said these are serious questions, I'm not getting at anybody or disrespecting their beliefs I'm just interested.

Too much, could you explain Holy Trinity please.

I hate to go on but I have another one, not as serious but still interesting. If St Nick is the devil why is he also Santa Claus? Plus, I think this one has been asked before, if the devil loves a sinner why does he make them suffer for all eternity?
I have tried asking a priest these questions but he got rather annoyed and refused to discuss them.

Thank you everyone, it is getting clearer. Fr Joseph, you say you don't worship St Mary and I accept that but, on visits to churches of all denominations I have only seen statues of St Mary in catholic churches and, from what I've seen, catholics bow and make the sign of the cross in front of those statues. Surely that's a sign of worship?

Answer 1

I'm probably gonna open a hornet's nest here, but here goes.

1. Worship of the "Virgin" Mary (or the so-called "saints") is necromancy, also known as communication with the dead and is strictly forbidden by God in the Old Testament. Mary and others may be alive to God, but they are dead to us. They cannot see or hear us, neither can they respond to us.

Also, Catholic doctrine has elevated Mary in some cases above Jesus, which is blasphemy as this makes her not only equal with God, but in some cases, greater than God.

2. Jesus is indeed the Son of God, but was with God the Father before all things began. God the Father has elevated Jesus to be equal with Himself, and has given Jesus all power in Heaven and Earth, and has appointed Him as Judge of the living and the dead.

3. God was referring to the many gods that Man creates to worship, such as Odin, Thor, Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Loki, Pele, Bel, Milcom, Molech, Ba'al, Osiris, and so on. Man has the need to worship someone greater than himself built into him, so Man creates gods out of nature, or out of his own imagination. God revealed Himself to Man and God seeks to have Man worship Him, as He created Man and has blessed him with life and what was once a magnificent planet on which to live.

As far as other gods, Satan and his demons try to portray themselves as gods who are equal with God, which is what got Satan thrown out of his position of authority in Heaven in the first place.

Satan hates Mankind, because God has made Man His highest creation, putting Man above Satan himself, which galls him no end. He knows that he is to be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity, so he does his best to get mankind to rebel against God just as he did, knowing that those who do will follow into his eternal punishment.

The expression that "Satan loves a sinner" comes about from the fact that he hates those who worship God, as he cannot control them and he knows that God protects them.

As for "Santa Clause" being called "St Nick", "Nick" is short for Nicholas. As for Satan being known as "Nick", he is known by many names, like "ol' Scratch", "the Devil", "The Adversary", etc.

These are the answers to your questions in a nutshell, as full answer would take up far too much room here. If you have further questions, or seek more complete explanations to your questions, please feel free to write me, and I'll answer as best and as honestly as I can.

Answer 2

Worshiping Mary is a Catholic thing. The rest know that bowing down to anything other than the Lord is wrong.

Jesus Christ is Lord. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus is GOD IN THE FLESH. If you have a Bible read the book of John chapter 1.

There is only one true living god. Anything can be made into a god. Something that anyone will worship.

I don't know of St. Nick other than the Catholic refer to some of the dead. Santa Clause is a fictitious chariter that also comes from Catholism.

The devil loves for a person to sin, he hates everyone. He knows God loves everyone and this is the only way he can get at God is to steal them away through deception and temptations. Hell was made for the devil and his angels not for humans. People must deny Jesus Christ (denying Jesus is following the devil) in order to go to hell. Because no sin will enter into Heaven.

Trinity is not in the Bible. This is another deception started by the Catholics. There is not three seperate indiviuals. In the Bible it tells us of this in many places.

1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The book of John also tells us that Jesus is God and the Holy Ghost is Jesus. John 1:1-14 & John 14:16-26
The Bible will at different times refer to God as either the Father, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost. But these three titles are the same person. It takes a revelation from God to see this.

Answer 3

1. The Virgin Mary has been exalted in Catholicism. I won't speak for them because I'm not Catholic and don't know their rituals.
2. Jesus is the Son of God and part of the Trinity, the Godhead. He is also God, just a different personality of the Trinity. The best example I can give is an egg. You have the yolk, the white, and the shell-three parts that make up an egg. It has three elements but it's still one egg.
3. The verse you're referring to is in the book of Exodus. God was talking about anything, ei, a false god or idol, a person, a thing, etc. People can worship many different things. It doesn't have to be in the shape of a god but it can become a god just the same.
Example: I used to have this Celica that I had tricked out and it was my baby. I obsessed over that car and was constantly shining it or washing it or buying something for it. It had become a god to me. I finally sold the thing and felt so much freer when I did. It had taken the place of my time with God.

Answer 4

1. What group worships St. Mary? I am Catholic and we are forbidden from worshipping anyone but God. Read our book the Bible.

2.Jesus is God according to our book the Bible and Sacred Traditions.

3.You are correct in saying tht Our book the Bible says to worship no other Gods and that is why we do not.

I pray this helps with your understanding.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph


Shelagn.medic,

Some Catholic Churches do have statues of St. Mary. There is not one at my Church but at the Cathedral at Imus, Cavite there is a statue.

Bowing is a sign of respect and not necessarily a sign of worship. Here in the Philippines for example a young child will bow and take an adults hand and bring it to their forehead as a sign of respect for their elders. This shows respect and not worship. A Catholic would never worship St. Mary.

The sign of the cross is a devout and conscience acknowledgement of the Holy Trinity the fudamental dogma of Christianity. It is also a sign of our salvation and in making the sign we remember that through Christ God became true man and offered the only possible perfect sacrifice for our redemption from sin on the divine altar of the cross as an act of divine love providing everlasting life. When we sign we say, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This act has Nothing to do with worshipping St. Mary but is a clear sign to anyone knowledgable, of the worship of the one God in the Trinity.

Answer 5

1. If they worship the Virgin Mary they are wrong to do so according to the Bible.

2. The Son of God must therefore also be God. The Bible prophesied of God coming in the flesh, Christ declared Himself as God in the flesh, He said He would be killed and rise the third day which came to pass, and our salvation could not be accomplished unless He were God.

3. According to the Bible there is only one true God yet man has made and does make false gods to worship. The Bible simply refers to these false gods as gods.


Since you will notice the common authority here is the Bible and since the Bible is the original authority for faith in Christ then I strongly urge you to consult the Bible and not to take too much notice of the conflicting answers here. In other words, don't be swayed by men's opinions but find out the truth for yourself. The Bible is easily obtainable.

It is the Bible that will give you the proper answers that you seek. Many would suggest that you start with the gospel of John as being a simple and informative introduction.

The Bible claims to be God's word. Jesus Christ cited it as such and inspired His Apostles to write what we know as the New Testament. There are some pretty impressive facts to support that claim and many have found it to be so, despite many denying it.

With such a reputation it really demands your examination, everybody's examination, for as God's word it is vital and supremely authoritative.

Your questions are respected and it is good to have serious questions.

Answer 6

I think people have already kinda answered most of your questions, so I will try and explain the Holy Trinity, as I see it anyway.
God is in three parts, but is one being. This seems quite hard to understand, but seeing as God created humans in his image, it seems natural that we are the same sort of thing. Humans in three parts: Body, Spirit, Soul. God in three parts: Son, Spirit, Father. The difference between a spirit and soul is that a spirit is the bit of you that makes you alive, and the Soul is the bit of you that makes you you. Your personalilty, your thoughts...Now, I don't know if I believe in dualism, where the Soul of a person is separate to the Body, but I do believe that you need these three separate parts to make a human, and if you take anyway then you wont get a living, conscious human. And so with God, you have the 'body' which is Jesus, so Jesus is the way we can see God, you have the 'spirit' which is the Holy Spirit - the bit that makes Christians 'alive in Christ', and the 'soul' bit, which is the God bit in heaven that has the personality of God. Without them all, you couldn't have a perfect God.

Answer 7

1. Catholics began skewing the teaching of the Bible only a few centuries after Jesus left. Although there is no Biblical support for the worship of Mary, Catholics do it based on the instructions of catholic church writings. Unofrtunately they are participating in idolatry. It's important to make the distinction between Catholicism and Christianity.

2. The light bulb over my head has only just switched on about this. The answer lies in the difference between 'begetting' and 'making'. We can 'make' a statue that looks like a human being but of course it isn't. If we want another human being, we 'beget' babies. Pigs beget pigs, humans beget humans. God begets God. Jesus was begotton, not created. Therefore, Jesus being begotten of God, is God himself. He has all God's qualities, power etc. The trinity i think can only be understood once that definition is made. It's one God but in three persons.

3. I believe that the gods that people worship are actually demonic entities. Like if you were to look behind the curtain of those religions, you'd find demons laughing and pulling strings. However, even leaving that aside...people used to make deities for themselves whether they existed or not. For example, the Israelites made a golden calf in the wilderness and started worshipping it. That calf wasn't a god but they decided it was. Hence God saying, you shall have no other gods before me. In a sense, it just means anything that you value above God. Money & fame can be gods.

Edit - For your last question...

Imagine you're in a restaurant and the waiter brings you the bill. Now imagine a guy at the next table leans over and offers to pay that bill on your behalf. You have two options. You pay that bill yourself or you let the stranger pay. One thing is for certain, one of you HAS to pay that bill before you leave. And it doesn't matter whether you've just had a milkshake or a 5 course meal, your debt to the restaurant has to be paid by you or the other guy. The Bible says that the wages or bill for sin is death. All sin must be paid for. Jesus came and paid that bill for us by dying on a cross. He's like the stranger at the next table leaning over. You're faced with a choice. Accept his offer and let him pay it so that you can go free. Or, you pay it and go to hell. Really, God sends no one to hell. You send yourself there based on your decision. Why should sin be punished at all? Well a God that doesn't punish all sin wouldn't be perfect. He'd be immoral. We know that we should punish criminals when they do something wrong and we're imperfect. Because it's the moral thing to do. How much more does a perfect God understand that all sin should be punished?

Answer 8

They worship virgin Mary because they are blind, After Jesus was born Joeseph & Mary had kids of their own, Yet today the catholic system still calls Mary a virgin, it is a Catholic system lie. #2 Jesus is not God, many tries to make him God, God never did die, Jesus Did, Jesus was the only begotten son of God. The bible says that God seeks them that will worship him in Spirit & truth. #3 You can make anything a god, You can worship your automoble as a god, you can make a statue & worship it as a god. Some relions worship the moon & some the sun & some trees, & some an idol, In doing so they over look the one True God.

Answer 9

I dont know if catholics actually worship the virgin mary, but it does appear so to non catholics. Jesus was God in flesh. Worship no other Gods before me, well there are many "Gods", we can worship money, sex, possessions, partners the list goes on and on.

Answer 10

1. Mary is honoured as the mother of Jesus and not worshipped.

2.There are three persons in the one God ( think of a clover or shamrock-three petals-one stem)

3. Only one God, other Gods were the pagan idols or anything we today regard as a god ie money.

Answer 11

Catholics believe in revering the Virgin Mary, I have been assured by a former catholic that they don't actually worship her.
Jesus was God.
God was saying that nobody should worship any false gods.