You want find me defending the author. But, if I were to put myself into his shoes, I don’t see him insulting Mary as much as being insulted by what he considers Catholic idolatry.
He views what Catholics and Lutherans do as idolatry. He views it as Mary worship, which is not really worship of the real Mary at all. It’s worship of demonic spirits posing as Mary, just as demonic spirits pose as other deities. So, “Hail Mary” as he sees it is essentially “Hail Satan.”
As a Catholic you see this as an affront to Mary, the real Mary.
The author sees what Catholics do as an affront to Christ. The author would also probably think that the real Mary would be horrified and grieved that Catholics venerated her at all.
So, in reality, both of you are coming from the same perspective. Each of you considers the other party to be insulting/grieving both Christ and Mary.
And therefore accusations that Protestants are “creeped out” by Mary serve no purpose. What Catholics perceive as being “creeped out” is really Protestants feeling that Mary’s name is being malevolently used for evil purposes.
Yes and that is the deception many Catholics fall for.
But in Catholic terms Satan hates Mary, the demons hate
Mary primarily as she is the woman in Revelation. And
they use people to further hatred, mistrust, and rejection
against her. Which is why, as I said earlier, exorcism
is on the increase.
So when confronted by Protestants who tell me
Mary is no more than an incubator, I have to ask
myself what’s at play here? Occult or simple misunderstanding?
When a former Catholic turned A of G entered my home
and taking one look at the Virgin of Vladimir
icon becomes violent and vomits- I can’t rightly say
it is because he “misunderstands.” he was an adult
when he left the Church.
When the priest arrived he made to attack the priest
as well. Don’t know what the priest said to him but
the guy left meekly enough after the priest stepped
on his foot.
We can’t always know what’s at play but I do know
Mary is a subject that can swiftly sort a room full of
people.