Any protestant converts struggle with doctrines about Mary?

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Your journey is so similar to my own and many of my friends. We all came out of spiritually abusive situations. Some have left God completely. Others like myself are searching because the ignoring of certain scriptures and traditional protestant beliefs just don’t hold water anymore.
 
Because God saved her in her Immaculate Conception… Rather than Mary having to be washed clean after falling in the proverbial mud puddle of sin, God simply washed her to start off with.
 
God is Mary’s Savior, for He is the one who made her sinless. As the sacrifice of the cross is for all time, including those who died before Christ’s coming, so is His sacrifice applied to her.
 
guanophore said:
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Are infants sinless?
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They are without personal sin. They are born with the inclination to sin (the stain of original sin is analogical sin not personal sin) which is why they need baptism. St. John Chrysostom states in his Baptismal Instructions:

St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instruction 3:6. (Ancient Christian Writers, p. 57)
“You have seen how numerous are the gifts of baptism. Although many men think that the only gift it confers is the remission of sins, we have counted its honors to the number of ten. It is on this account that we baptize even infants, although they are sinless, that they may be given the further gifts of sanctification, justice, filial adoption, and inheritance, that they may be brothers and members of Christ, and become dwelling places of the Spirit.”
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Mentioned in 3:6:
1 remission of sins
2 sanctification
3 justice
4 filial adoption
5 inheritance
6 brothers of Christ
7 members of Christ
8 dwelling places for the Holy Spirit
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Two more mentioned in 12:6:
9 purity of soul
10 kingdom of heaven
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treadingtiber said:
No, everyone is born with original sin.
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I ask that because there is a surprising number of Christians who have rejected this teaching of the Apostles.

But those who have received the Apostolic faith believe that Mary (along with John the Baptist) were born without original sin. The Orthodox call Mary “All Holy”, meaning that when Christ’s flesh was taken from hers, it was untainted from any sin whatsoever.
treadingtiber said:
If one is using pictures as a reminder that does not bother me, but the person in the example I spoke of seemed to speak of the statue as giving him extra power.
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I don’t deny that some Catholics have superstitions about a variety of things, but the Church does not teach that statues give any "extra power’. All that is good and Holy comes from God alone. He may allow it to pass through His saints, or even objects, but it is His power. It is appropriate that you should be bothered by that.
treadingtiber said:
If prayers are answered through Mary, ultimately the glory should go back to God not her.
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Definitely ultimately the glory goes back to God. God has chosen to make HIs glory known through His Church. All authentic saints continually point to Christ, as Mary says “do whatever He tells you”.
treadingtiber said:
Wow, that’s exactly what I’m battling.
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This is tough for all of us, because we are accustomed to evaluating reality through our senses and perceptions, which can be misled when it comes to spiritual matters.
 
treadingtiber said:
In this verse, Mary calls God her Savior. If she were sinless why did she need saving?
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Mary was sinless only BECAUSE she was saved. She was sinless because God saved her from sin.

Mary needed saving from sin just like every other mere human being. But One can be saved from sin either before one falls into sin, or after one has already fallen into sin. Mary was saved by Christ before she ever sinned (she was actually saved at the moment of her conception from contracting original sin). This was all done because she was chosen to be the mother of the Incarnate Son Of God. It was all the Grace of God.

The rest of us who are saved are saved after we have contracted original sin at our conception, and in some cases, after we have committed actual sins. That is also due to God’s Grace.

So when Mary called God her Savior, she was affirming that God had done a really great thing for her - He saved her from sin in the most perfect way possible: before sin ever touched her in any way.
 
treadingtiber said:
What bothers me primarily is the belief that she was sinless. Wouldn’t that contradict Luke 1:46?

Do you have more information on the Judaic background of praying to saints.
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First of all, understand that all good, and all graces, come ultimately from God alone. Mary was saved by special power from original sin, and grew in holiness by God’s power, even holding the Son of God within her womb.
Now, say there’s a hole in the street. You could save someone after they’ve fallen into the hole by dropping down a ladder, or you could save someone from falling down the hole by telling them, “Oh hey, be careful, there’s a hole there” or by building a sign or covering the whole up.

About the saints, the word used in Judaism is tzadik. Various traditions include asking the righteous tzadik to pray for them. Some even believe God only answers prayers put forward by the tzadik.
 
To OP, Yes I converted at 62 and struggle on and off. I felt like I was cheating on Jesus when I prayed to Mary. For me, I have to remind myself that I am asking her to talk to her son on my behalf. I pray to the Lord and ask Mary to pray also. I ask Jesus to teach me to love His mother. I’ve heard it said we can never love Mary more than Jesus loves her. On another note, it is not mandatory to pray to Mary and the saints.
 
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