If praying to anyone other then God is idolatry, then isn't?

Question

praying to Jesus idoltry? Read this first. I just read a question about praying to Mary. People tell this person the Mary had Jesus not God. So praying to her is idoltry because for some reason that's putting her ahead God. Well if she had Jesus and not God then isn't praying to Jesus idoltry? Shouldn't you go straight to God? Or are we going to back track to the fact that Jesus IS God. So if Jesus IS God then Mary is the Mother of God?? Make up your mind??

Answer 1

Actually, when you cut through all the dogma, Mary is the mother of the Son of God (caps put in to show christian thinking, not my own). So, basically, they do (or don't, depending on their preference) pray to God's baby momma. Also, when reading through that portion of the Bible and taking it literally, it is one of God's Angels that impregnates Mary, so if you suspend disbelief to that degree, God isn't even the sperm donor, he's the step daddy. Imagine, 2000 years with what breaks down to "who's your daddy, really?"

Reading back over this post, I realized that this makes things More confusing, not Less. That, I believe, is why so many Christian arguments (especially Catholic) eventually degenerate to "because that is what the Bible says, so that is what I believe."

Answer 2

It is WORSHIPING that makes idolatry not prayer. Prayer can be an act of Worship but they are not one in the same. The word Idolatry actually only appears in it's greek form in the Bible in Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation and then it is referring to acts of foreign worship. Christianity melded it with the Jewish concept of Idols because the pagan religions used worshipped physical idols (works of art).

AND finally NOBODY prays to Mary or the Saints as a form of Worship if you listen to the words we are asking them to pray for us, just as a fundie might get on a prayer chain and ask everyone they know, or as I have seen here on Yahoo answers as everyone on here to pray for them, no different.

Definition of prayer: A prayer is an action or practice of communicating, commonly with a sequence of words, to a deity or spirit for the purpose of 1. worshiping, 2. requesting guidance, 3. confessing sins, or 4. to express one's thoughts and emotions.

so again Prayer is many things, not necessarily Worship.

ALL Christianity accepts Mary is the Mother of God (because while Jesus was fully human there was never a time when he wasn't fully divine as well, that is basic Christian definition of Jesus), the Theokotos (God Bearer), the argument is just how special does it make a person to be free from sin, chosen of God to deliver and raise the Savior of all humankind, sacrifice your son, be the first Christian before Christ is born, and sacrifice your entire life.

Until the reformation EVERYBODY thought that that had to be the most special of human beings, no one dissed Jesus' mom until after that. Rememebr Jesus had to follow honor they mother and father so Mary, yeah pretty special to him.

Answer 3

Ah... I agree with the one above. Mary "is" the mother of Jesus but not in flesh. He is the son of God and Mary is just a virgin, a way to let Jesus being give birth as man. There's the difference. Mary is an ordinary woman but Jesus is God's son.

Answer 4

Actually no. Because Jesus is God. Mary was just a person, like you and me. If someone were to pray to Mary, it would be idolatry, but praying to Jesus isn't. Just because Mary is the mother of Jesus, doesn't make her the one to pray to. If you pray to Jesus, it is not idolatry. There's this verse in the Bible that says "No man cometh to the Father, but by me". That was a quote by Jesus Christ. To get to the Father, you have to pray. It doesn't matter if you pray to Jesus, or God, or even the Holy Ghost for that matter. Because they are the Almighty three in one. So no, praying to Jesus is not idolatry!

Hope this helps!!

Answer 5

We are supposed to pray TO God in Jesus' name.

I don't know anyone who prays to Jesus.

Praying to Mary or asking Mary to pray for us is out of the question. We are separated from her by the grave. She can't hear us or petition God for us, as the dead just can't do that. To say that they can would make them divine and eternal beings.

Answer 6

Mary was a person, albeit a holy person, she was still a human.

Jesus was and is God. [John 10:30] Fully God and fully man while He was here on Earth. He sits at God's right hand, ever making intercession for us. We ask things of God in the name of Jesus.

Answer 7

To love Mary takes nothing at all from Christ, but honors our Blessed Lord by Whose grace she is who she is: His greatest creation, the greatest of Saints, the Queen of Heaven, the Immaculate Conception, the spotless Virgin, the Ark of the Covenant, the New Eve, the mother of God, and the mother of Israel -- our mother who wants nothing more for us than to pray for us and show us her Son.

She is our spiritual Mother and she wants to pray for us.


The Hail Mary Prayer
Hail, Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.

Answer 8

Jesus is God clothed in flesh. Jesus is the Son in the Trinity- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Answer 9

In the name of Allah the most Gracious the most merciful.

Praying to any other ,But God almighty who is our creator and
sustainer is an act of associating partners with almighty God.
Prayer is an act of worship and God has forbidden us to worship or call upon any one but Him .Praying to Jesus,mary,[pbut ] saints, idols etc is a form of idolatry and is a sin which God almighty will never forgive. here we show how ungrateful we our towards our creator who created us in the first place ,by calling upon others who have not even created a fly.Allah the almighty God tells us in the Quran that
he is closer to us by his knowledge than our Jugular veins.He
answers all our supplications as he is the most gracious,the
most generous full of Bounty and kindness towards us, his
slaves.Whom did jesus [pbuh] pray to in his hour of need ?if
he was a God was he praying to himself to remove this trail
from him ,yet he would submit to the will of God almighty.
Did jesus [pbuh ] ever ask you to pray to him or to his mother?
Instead he taught us to pray '' Our father who art in heaven,
hellowed be THY name THY kingdome come.........Amen..

Jesus is not a God but a prophet and messenger of Almighty
God and the son of a righteous woman mary [pbuh ].Mary is
not the mother of God as God has always existed and mary is
his creation .how can The Creator be born of his own Creation.
Christians should study this ,God son ,spirit ,Mother concept
and use logic, reason and understanding to search for the
truth.
As muslims we only worship the one almighty God and we
ask only of him.We never ask or pray to our prophet Muhammad [pbuh ] .

Answer 10

we are told to pray TO God THROUGH Jesus. He in the intecessor for our prayers