Christians: If Mary was the Mother of God, shouldn't Mary be elevated as in many Catholic Churches?

Question

Yes, I know Mary was human. Giving birth to a god in human form; thats quite an admirable feat, especially playing a part in raising him to become .
I've been to Prsebyterian, Lutheran and Episcopalian churches, and they didn't mention Mary other than Christmastime. Maybe it depends on the pastor and his sermon, I don't know.

I went to Catholic school, but I'm not Christian. I was just thinking about this when I saw a question about Catholicism yesterday.

If Jesus is prayed to, shouldn't the woman who gave birth to him at least be mentioned and shown as an ideal example?

Dr. Sarcasm: Er.. I don't catch onto things very quickly sometimes.... what?

No no no n no...... I meant see her as an iDEAL EXAMPLE NOT A GODDESS

Answer 1

This is a good question that you raise. A conceren that I have is that the non-Catholic doesn't understand by what you mean by "elevated as in many Catholic Churches". Most have never bothered to find out what the Catholic Church actually teaches, and they fall prey to misinformed, sometimes biggoted based understandings. Obviously, you show some understanding that this elevation does not mean to Divine. But rather in the spirit of Scripture where Mary rightly prophesied that all generations would call her blessed.

Answer 2

Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ who is God in human form. I am not Catholic but, I do understand what you are meaning. God Himself was never born. Jesus was always with God but when Jesus became a human being, He was born into this world through the woman, Mary. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and THE WORD WAS GOD. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." --John 1:1-4, 14

Answer 3

Dear Take Me To Your ...

I'm Lutheran.

We remember Mary at various times of the year.

Certainly at Christmas, we remember Mary as the loving mother of Jesus, and as an example to all mothers.

On February 2 we remember "The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord"

On March 25 or July 2 we celebrate "The Visitation"

August 15 is the feast of St. Mary, Mother of our Lord. (I believe this date is the same day that the Roman Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption.

We remember on these dates various aspects of the life of St. Mary. We do NOT pray to her, but rather we look to her as an example to us and all believers. We also have about 2 1/2 pages of various Saints days, and commemorations.

We would all do well to remember "the cloud of witness" as the Bible says.

I feel sorry for the Fundamentalists, and Reformed Churches that don't remember the Saints, they are missing out on the "Fullness of Scripture.

Mark

Answer 4

This was your question: "If Mary was the Mother of God, shouldn't Mary be elevated as in many Catholic Churches?"

Okay, so you know that she's no goddess, and that's good.

Now, Mary is a good example of having faith. She trusted in God, even though she was pregnant and unmarried - under the Law, she could've been considered an adulteress and been stoned.

But what gets me is that in many Catholic churches, they pray to Mary. They sing to her. I think there was even this erroneous teaching at some point that she was the mediatrix between God and man. There are graven images of her. I think it would be unwise to elevate her to that point.

You included this: "Giving birth to a god in human form; thats quite an admirable feat, especially playing a part in raising him to become ."

That wasn't Mary's feat. That was God's work. The axe isn't greater than the man who swings it. God said that Himself in the book of Isaiah, I think. That was Mary's destiny, giving birth to God in the flesh. But the credit for that goes to God, seeing as He planned it and carried it out.

Sure. Mary raised Jesus. But for Jesus to become what He was, God the Father must've played the biggest part in His life.

"If Jesus is prayed to, shouldn't the woman who gave birth to him at least be mentioned and shown as an ideal example?"

Jesus is prayed to because of who He Is. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. He's the King of Kings, Lord of Lords...our Savior, Lamb of God...without Him, no one will get through to the Father and into Heaven.

As for the woman who gave birth to Him, just remember that God Himself picked her out for this.

"And Mary said:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is His name."
- Luke 1:46-49

She truly was a blessed woman. But look - she called herself His servant, and God her Savior. Like all the other humans, she needed one as well. She also said that God had done great things for her - she hadn't done anything. It was all God using her.

Mary is a good example of faith and humility, but far from an ideal one. She was not sinless. She herself needed the Lord Jesus!

This is my own opinion, but I think that if Mary is elevated to the point the Catholic churches do it, we'll lose sight of the Lord, who should be our only focus.

I don't remember all the places in the Bible where He says this, but the Lord has mentioned REPEATEDLY in His beautiful Word that He doesn't share His glory with anyone else.

Basically, while Mary is a good example, she's not ideal. And making her status any higher would probably been unwise. It was the Lord Himself who planned it all and carried it out, from beginning to end. The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is infinitely above all, even Mary. Mary herself was an instrument used by the Lord to bring about the atonement for humankind.

I hope this explains it well to you!

Answer 5

While it is true that Catholics engage in endless praise of Mary. The Bible records an incident when a woman praised Jesus’ mother to his face. Jesus not only did not commend or encourage this woman to continue praising Mary, he rebuked her for doing so...."While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."" Luke 11:27-28
A similar error in the Catholic practices is found in their Rosary..Roman Catholics borrowed the idea of praying with beads from the pagan religions who were already using them hundreds of years before: In 456 AD, Hindus are thought to have introduced the concept of praying with beads to the world. The earliest reference to a rosary (boberkhas) is in their "Jain Canon" (456 AD) These boberkhas had various numbers of beads 6,9,12,18,36 (any sub-multiple of 108) Islam (610 AD) uses a rosary of 99 beads, one for each of the names of God. Buddhists have 108 prayer beads on the string. The Rosary is of pagan origin and no Christian prior to 1000 AD used beads to pray. Jesus forbade repetitive prayer using Rosary Beads "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:7
Catholics pray repetitive words with Rosary Beads that were first invented in 1090 AD, by "Peter the Hermit" and made popular by St. Dominic in 1208 AD. Catholics believe that Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1208 AD, at the church of Prouille and revealed the Rosary Beads to him. From this time, Catholics prayed 15 sets of 10 consecutive "hail Marys" in a row (150 times), in the Rosary. However, in 2003 AD, Pope John Paul added a new set of Mysteries, so now it is 20 sets of 10 "Hail Marys", (200 times in the Rosary, in total.) Catholics will vainly appeal to Psalm 136 that alternates the same phrase 26 times with 26 different blessings God gives us. It is not 26 in a row as with the rosary! This is also a song, not a prayer. Revelation 4:8 has "angels singing" not "men praying".

Answer 6

Mary is a blessed woman but she does not sit at the right hand of God.

the ONLY way to God is through Jesus.

Answer 7

Mary was in no way divine. Joseph was not divine. Peter was not divine. Paul was not divine. David and Moses were not divine. These all may have been great people and may have endured a lot, but we do not pray to non-divine people. The angels are not divine either. They are immortal but not divine.

Answer 8

The ten commandments says we should not worship any idols - and that would include the statue of the virgin Mary. I think we could also put images of Mary found in mud puddles, french toast, rust and water stains, and raisins on that list of items NOT to worship.

Answer 9

Jesus did not refer to her as the mother of God. God Always Was.

Answer 10

The problem is with understanding what mothering means. Traditionally, to mother is to "bear", and to father is to "originate".
Mary is the God-Bearer (theotokos) because Jesus is fully God and fully man. She bore God in her womb, and is therefore rightly called the mother of God. She did not "originate" God or come before Him, she "bore" Him in her womb.