For non Catholics?

Question

We Catholics do not pray to Mary, we ask her to pray for us as shown in the Hail Mary, which is biblical. Luke1:28 &42

The Hail Mary
"Hail Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among 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. Amen."

All of our worship and prayers are to Jesus Christ God Almighty


We say "our" Father in the Lord's Prayer. By saying "our" we indicate that prayer is not a solitary act. We pray with others.

With whom do we pray? We pray with Jesus Christ. Not only does Jesus teach us to pray, but he prays with us and joins our prayer to his own.Because we pray with him, our public prayers often end with the words like these: " through Jesus Christ, your only Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, forever and ever." We pray with Jesus Christ.

But "our" Father means we pray with others too; for example, with all those baptized in Christ.

The Lord's Prayer should always remind Christians of their unity with one another, even though unfortunate differences still separate Christian churches. We Catholics believe that our prayer is shared; we can pray with and for one another. Prayer is a common life-blood linking us together.

For spike.

If they are in heaven they are not dead. Mary is in heaven

God chose Mary to give birth to Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh. Mary is the Mother of God

When we ask Mary to pray for us, it is no different then you asking a family member or friend to pray for you

Answer 1

They don't understand.

The intercession of fellow Christians—which is what the saints in heaven are—also clearly does not interfere with Christ’s unique mediatorship because in the four verses immediately preceding 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul says that Christians should interceed: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something "good and pleasing to God," not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

. James declares: "The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit" (Jas. 5:16–18). Yet those Christians in heaven are more righteous, since they have been made perfect to stand in God’s presence (Heb. 12:22-23), than anyone on earth, meaning their prayers would be even more efficacious.

Having others praying for us thus is a good thing, not something to be despised or set aside. Of course, we should pray directly to Christ with every pressing need we have (cf. John 14:13–14). That’s something the Catholic Church strongly encourages. In fact, the prayers of the Mass, the central act of Catholic worship, are directed to God and Jesus, not the saints. But this does not mean that we should not also ask our fellow Christians, including those in heaven, to pray with us.

In addition to our prayers directly to God and Jesus (which are absolutely essential to the Christian life), there are abundant reasons to ask our fellow Christians in heaven to pray for us. The Bible indicates that they are aware of our prayers, that they intercede for us, and that their prayers are effective (else they would not be offered). It is only narrow-mindedness that suggests we should refrain from asking our fellow Christians in heaven to do what we already know them to be anxious and capable of doing.

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2).

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, we read: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).

And those in heaven who offer to God our prayers aren’t just angels, but humans as well. John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). The simple fact is, as this passage shows: The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

Answer 2

In the 16th century, Luther removed those books from the canon that lent support to orthodox doctrine, relegating them to an appendix.

Removed in this way were books that supported such things as prayers for the dead (Tobit 12:12; 2 Maccabees 12:39-45), Purgatory (Wisdom 3:1-7), intercession of dead saints (2 Maccabees 15:14), and intercession of angels as intermediaries (Tobit 12:12-15).



Since they are Sola Scriptura , and if these books would not have been removed...........then maybe they would understand.



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.

I guess the question we should have is why is the Bible an idol to them

Answer 3

Marry is not the mother of God! God placed the seed there and that is it. She was only a willing vessel. She no more special than us. Jesus denies his own Mother in Mathews 12: 46 - 50, because she did not do the will of God!
John 2: 4 (Jesus said to his mother this is not his time)
Luke 2: 41 – 52 (marry and Joseph did not know about Jesus as the son of God)
Mary does not Pray for us.

I only pray to God and do his will

DO THE WILL OF GOD

You need to find a home church, be obedient, follow his word, be baptized with the holy spirit, show your self approved and do the will of God (Mark 16: 15 - 18)

Answer 4

nowhere in the bible is Mary called the mother of God.
The "holy Mary...death.amen".isn't found in the bible.
Mary and Joseph had a flesh mothers and fathers and an ancestry.
Matthew chapter 1 (Joseph)
Read Luke 1-2 nowhere is the focus on Mary (only Jesus).
Nowhere does it say to pray to anyone but Jesus.
OT and NT only teach of the Messiah Jesus to bow to:
Matt 24-25
Rev 18-22
John 3:15-21
Isaiah 9:6
Job 19

Please try to find anywhere it says to have statues of men or women to pray to.

Answer 5

No where in the Bible does Christ Jesus tell us to pray to Saints. This is Idolatry and is offensive to God. Christ "Is" our mediator, He did not claim to be "one of" our mediators, He said He "Is" our mediator. Mary and the saints are all sinners, just like the rest of humanity. They need Christ as their Savior, as we need Christ to be our Savior. Praying to Mary will only hinder Gods answer to prayer. Jesus also tells us in a parable, that there is a great chasm separating the living and the dead, so that no one can communicate or cross over.
Do what Christ Jesus tells you, when it is in opposition to what your church tells you.

Answer 6

Dear Sister in Jesus, (one of my Contact Friends here)

Please read carefully all of the sincere responses given in answer here by others. I will now add just a few concepts to reflect upon and to pray to God and Jesus directly for more wisdom and comprehension in this, or in anything else significant.

Mary can not be the "Mother of God Jesus" because Jesus Christ was always and Eternally One with The Father God of All Reality on Paradise ! In "past" Eternity, God and Jesus agreed that it was "time" to have Jesus go out from Eternal, infinite-sized Paradise and start CREATING Jesus' new space-time universe and countless things and beings and Beings and even nearly countless humans on very many worlds in Jesus' new universe. Yes, Jesus Christ is an Eternal Creator Son of God ! (I'm skipping over 400 billion years of history of Jesus' universe, so far)

Thus you must now perceive in Spirit and in Truth that Jesus Christ made, with God's approval and Divine Power given to Jesus, the potential spirit Mary and her soul and mind and body. Just like He made you and me ! Never was Mary Eternal and a Creator God on Paradise ! She is now saved by Jesus, (I believe) and later up on one of Jesus' higher spheres, we might meet her as another EQUAL Sister in the universe Family of Jesus and thus also in the Infinite Family of the Father-Infinite I AM !

Jesus tells us to call NO man or woman Father or Mother in the spiritual sense ! Come boldly now in Spirit into our Saving GODMAN JESUS directly, just as and just where you now are, and WITH NO INTERMEDIARIES ! Hard for many to perceive now; but Jesus ALWAYS was in Spirit on Paradise our One Perfect GODMAN CREATOR as well as a Coordinate Deity Son of God !. Jesus is now even higher --He is a Master Son of God and is/will be Creating in a much larger and much higher Master Universe, and we will be there helping Him, and thus all doing GOD's perfect Infinite will ! Amen !

Peace and progress,
Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian
http://www.PureChristians.org/
large Good News website

Answer 7

Thank you for clarifying this. I have often wondered as to why it is said that Catholics pray to Mary.
So you DO NOT pray to Mary, but ask her to pray for you? Okay, that makes more sense to me now.
The question I now have is, why do you need Mary to pray for you at all?
In all seriousness, I just pray to God myself. Never thought I needed the help of anyone else.
Again, thanks for making this a bit more clear to me.
Oh, and God Bless you, my fellow believer!!!!!!

Answer 8

two questions...
1: how, exactly, do you ask a dead person anything without praying?

2: how, exactly, did mary become the mother of her own creator?

(edit)
you're still using circular 'reasoning'...mary was a flesh-and-blood human who died, just like the rest us will die...i fail to understand a method of communicating with those who have 'passed on'...

same applies to the 'mother of God' isssue-Mary was chosen to be the birth mother of the Son of God...that does not make mary God's mother-you cannot go back and retroactively be the mother of the One who created you in the first place

Answer 9

Umm...yes we as Catholics do indeed pray to Mary..because to ask her to pray for us we have to pray to her...we also ask for her interession..

Answer 10

For all Catholics, the real source of yhour belief system:

http://philologos.org/__eb-ttb/default.htm

Edit: ALL indications in scripture show that Mary is dead and in the grave and waiting for her ressurec tion. The idea that the dead go to heaven or hell at the time of their death is not Biblical and is adopted from paganism.