Why are there so many false teachings about Mary in the Catholic Church?

Question

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION -- Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin from the first instant of her conception. ("Catechism" 490-492).

In Luke 1:46-47, Mary said: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour". Mary knew that she needed a savior.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was first introduced by a heretic (a man whose teachings were officially declared to be contrary to Church doctrine). For centuries this doctrine was unanimously rejected by popes, Fathers and theologians of the Catholic Church. (Note 13)

ALL-HOLY -- Mary, "the All-Holy," lived a perfectly sinless life. ("Catechism" 411, 493)

Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". Revelation 15:4 says, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy". Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one".

Jesus is the only person who is referred to in Scripture as sinless. Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 1 Peter 2:22 says, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth".

In contrast, Mary said that God is her Savior. (Luke 1:47) If God was her Savior, then Mary was not sinless. Sinless people do not need a Savior.

PERPETUAL VIRGINITY -- Mary was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. ("Catechism" 496-511)

Matthew 1:24-25 says, "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." "Till" (until) means that after that point, Joseph did "know" (have sexual relations with) Mary. (See Genesis 4:1 where Adam "knew" Eve and she conceived and had a son.)

Jesus had brothers and sisters. The Bible even tells us their names. Matthew 13:54-56

CO-MEDIATOR -- Mary is the Co-Mediator to whom we can entrust all our cares and petitions. ("Catechism" 968-970, 2677)

There is only one mediator and that is Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." Hebrews 7:25 says,Wherefore he [Jesus] is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Ephesians 3:12 says, "In whom [Jesus} we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him."

If Jesus is constantly interceding for us and He is able to save us "to the uttermost," (utterly, completely) then He doesn't need Mary's help. If we can approach God with "boldness" and "confidence" because of our faith in Jesus, then we don't need Mary's help either.

Father K:
Other Scripture verses which specifically refer to Jesus’ brothers are: Matthew 12:46; John 2:12; John 7:3; Acts 1:14; and Galatians 1:19.

I was always taught that "brothers" and "sisters" were general terms that really could refer to any kind of kinsman, including cousins. This is true in the Hebrew language. However, the New Testament is written in Greek, which is an extremely precise language. It makes a clear distinction between the words used to describe family relationships. There is a Greek word which refers to people who are relatives but not of the immediate family, such as aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins. There are other Greek words which refer specifically to a person’s brother or sister within a family

Is the Bible lying about Jesus having brothers and sisters?

http://www.catholicconcerns.com/

Answer 1

Catholic belief is that all of us, Mary included, need a Redeemer because of our fallen nature and that no one can attain Heaven without His Blood. We are saved from our fallen nature by His grace alone through faith that worketh in charity. Mary, though, because God knew how she would use the free will He gave to her, was saved, by His grace, from having a fallen nature at the moment of her conception. She was redeemed from her mother's womb, an act planned from Genesis 3 so that she could act as the New Eve and so that Christ could be born of vessel even more pure than the Ark of the Covenant. Christ would not have been born from that which is impure! God knew of Mary's will to serve even before she was conceived. He knew she would say yes to Him, and He saved her at her first moment.

The word "brother" or "brethren" is often used in Scripture for relationships other than that of those born of the same parents.

Matthew 1:25 reads, "And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son..." But, once again, language clouds the issue. "Until" is used to mean "up to that point, and with no intimations that things changed after that point." Example, 2 Samuel 6:23 reads, "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death." Would Protestants say she had children after the day of her death because the use of the word "unto" proves it?

Gospel According to Saint Luke
Chapter 1

46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49 Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

"Shall call me blessed"... These words are a prediction of that honour which the church in all ages should pay to the Blessed Virgin. Let Protestants examine whether they are any way concerned in this prophecy.

Well, P I T, you go ahead and pick and choose from your Bible.
Don't forget Luther removed 7 books.............knowledge that some do not have because they have not read the words of the Bible.
Also, since you are Bible-only (sola scripta), it's amazing how little you know of different interpratations based on translating words from Hebrew, Greek and Araimic.


The idea that all revealed truth is to be found in "66 books" is not only not in Scripture, it is contradicted by Scripture (1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 1 Timothy 3:15, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Peter 3:16). It is a concept unheard of in the Old Testament, where the authority of those who sat on the Chair of Moses (Matthew 23:2-3) existed. In addition to this, for 400 years, there was no defined canon of "Sacred Scripture" aside from the Old Testament; there was no "New Testament"; there was only Tradition and non-canonical books and letters.

And given the level of bickering back and forth about what Scripture means, do you believe that God expects each of us to be a scholar of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Chaldean to understand His word and the message of salvation? No! This is why He, in His wisdom, started a Church with teaching authority through Peter, the earthly father of the New Covenant and whose successors sit on the Chair of Peter, just as Abraham was the earthly father of the Old Covenant and his successors sat on the Chair of Moses.

Answer 2

"The Catholic Church also teaches that Mary is the queen of heaven. In scripture nothing can be found about this doctrine." Mary being the queen of Heaven comes from the Book of 2 Kings in imitation of the Davidic Kings. They had a tradition of making their mothers trusted advisers and placing them on a throne beside themselves. "Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah; the king got up to meet her and bowed before her; he then sat down on his throne; a seat was brought for the king's mother, and she sat down on his right." ---1 Kings 2:19 In addition, I would like to say that the Christian Faith was never meant to be based solely on the Bible else Jesus Christ would have written it, not founded the Church. But he founded the Church to keep his truth. The Church is the Body of Christ and the Pillar of Truth. The Bible, though certainly important, is neither. I will leave you with one thing to think about. Which Church do you think is more legitimate, one of the 30,000 Protestant denominations that started up just a few hundred years ago, or the Catholic Church that is 2000 years old?

Answer 3

Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

When the angel Gabriel called Mary, "Full of grace," Mary was already full of grace.

When the angel Gabriel said, "The Lord is with you," the Lord was already with her.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was in a state of grace before she says "yes" to the angel's question and before the Holy Spirit came upon her for a different purpose.

When did Mary's state of grace begin?

Catholics believe this state of grace was with Mary since her Immaculate Conception. This means that Mary was conceived in the normal way (not like Jesus) but that she did not inherit original sin.

God prepared her for her later role as the mother of Jesus.

Catholics celebrate this miracle on December 8 as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Consider these Protestant writers:

The protestant reformers affirmed their belief that Mary, while remaining every-virgin, was truly the Mother of God. Here are only a few examples:

Martin Luther (1483-1546), On the Divine Motherhood of Mary, wrote:

In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things were given her that no one can grasp them. ... Not only was Mary the mother of him who is born [in Bethlehem], but of him who, before the world, was eternally born of the Father, from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 7, p. 572.)

Luther wrote on the Virginity of Mary:

It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a virgin. ... Christ, we believe, came forth from a womb left perfectly intact. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 11, pp. 319-320; v. 6. p. 510.)

The French reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) also held that Mary was the Mother of God.

It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor. ... Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary as at the same time the eternal God. (Calvini Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Braunschweig-Berlin, 1863-1900, v. 45, p. 348, 35.)

Calvin also up held the perpetual virginity of Mary, as did the Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), who wrote:

I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin. (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, p. 424.)

Answer 5

The catechism paras you cited do not use the term or concept of Mary as "Co-Mediator". Mediatrix (feminine)simply means intercessor and go-between in Latin and that is a function of all the members of the Body of Christ in ,with and through Christ as our only Mediator

Paragraph 970 says,quoting Lumen gentium of Vatican II, that this intercessory and maternal prayer and concern activity of Mary does not"obsure ordiminish this unique mediation of Christ,but rather shows its power..from... the merits of Christ,rests on His mediation ,depends entirely onit and draws allits powers from it...No creature can be counted along with the Incarnate Word."

Whenever you or I pray for someone we are doing the same thing as Mary did do and still does.

Answer 6

I don't know if I would call then false teachings, maybe misguided.

Mary was a human, as such, she did sin. She was a righteous, pure woman/girl, but she wasn't without sin. I'm sure she lived her religion, and upheld her commitments she had made with the Lord, that's why she was chosen to be Christ's mother.

But she was also very young at the time. We know from records kept during that time period that she was probably only 13-14 when all this happened. That was normal betrothal age back then. Of course, the betrothal usually lasted a year before marriage, so she would have been a year older at the time of marriage. Of course, we know the marriage was moved up, but that was for the sake of having it loOK ok to others.

I'm sure she didn't remain a virgin after Christ's birth. She was a married woman, and I'm sure that God thought it was OK for her and Joseph to have "relations" while they were married. It would be pretty silly if she kept refusing her husband, and sex is seen as a good thing during marriage.

As far as her being the co-mediator, I don't believe that. She was Christ's mother, and should be held in high regard for that, but Christ said Himself that is only through Him we are able to communicate with God. He is our mediator. Yes, Mary is special, but she was also a mortal, human woman. God chose her for her qualities as a woman, but He didn't choose her to be a second mediator. If that were true, Christ would have said that she was. But, that's what I think about the saints also, so that is just my opinion.

*EDIT*

One more thing, in God's view, if a woman is faithful to her husband, and has only had sex with him, she is considered pure and clean before God. That would mean, that even if Mary did have sex with Joseph, because it was done in the bonds of matrimony, she was still considered pure to God.

Thought of one more thing: If Mary was saved by the blood of Christ, then before the atonement and Crucifixion, she would be as sinful as the rest of us. So how could she be saved by the blood of Christ, and still be sinless her whole life?

Answer 7

Mary, as are all who are saved, was saved by the blood of Christ. She is the greatest of Saints and her prayers for us are efficacious. She is a fully human creature and not in any way a goddess.


She is the Immaculate Conception who was filled with grace from her first moments, she is the Ark of the New Covenant and the New Eve


Mary is the "Theotokos," or the "God-bearer," the Mother of God


Mary remained both sinless and a virgin her entire life


Mary was assumed into Heaven by the power of God, where she was crowned Queen of Heaven

Answer 8

I'm a Catholic and I've never yet seen within the Church a false teaching on Mary.

Answer 9

Constantine found that with the Roman Empire being so vast, expansive, and diverse – not everyone would agree to forsake their religious beliefs and instead embrace Christianity. So, Constantine allowed, and even promoted, the “Christianization” of pagan beliefs. Completely pagan and utterly unbiblical beliefs were given new “Christian” identities. The veneration of Mary is only one example. There are many more.

The Cult of Isis, an Egyptian mother-goddess religion, was absorbed into Christianity by replacing Isis with Mary. Many of the titles that were used for Isis, such as “Queen of Heaven,” “Mother of God,” and “theotokos” (God-bearer) were attached to Mary. Mary was given an exalted role in the Christian faith, far beyond what the Bible ascribes to her, in order to attract Isis worshippers to a faith they would not otherwise embrace. Many temples to Isis were, in fact, converted into temples dedicated to Mary. The first clear hints of Catholic Mariology occur in the writings of Origen, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be the focal point of Isis worship.

Answer 10

The only true teachings in the christian religion are the 10 commandments. They are a simple philosophy of how to live agood life. All the rest is made up by men in order to control the masses. 99% of all christtians ignore and disobey the commandments daily. If there really was a hell then the vast majority of so called christians have already booked their tickets