How do I explain Mary to a group of protestants

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mindy:
I am in a protestant (baptist!!) bible study on Tuesday mornings and the other day the leader suggested we do a study on Mary. All eyes turned to me, and I could see that everyone was worried that if we did it, I might try to “convert” them.

How can I explain to them the truth about our Blessed Mother, but remain respectful to the women in this study that have welcomed me into their group?
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My question is why are you in a Baptist bible study if you are a Catholic?
:confused:
 
My question is why are you in a Baptist bible study if you are a Catholic?
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Wow.
I never thought I’d say this.
Rom323…I AGREE WITH YOU!! 😃
 
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dano:
Mindy,

I regret that I have to say it sounds like a set-up. This is the classic lead to getting you into a discussion that is not easy to explain in a Bible Study setting. Discussing Mary to Baptists before issues such as Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, or discussing the history of the Bible or the cannon of Scripture is like trying to teach Calculus before learning Algebra or even basic Math.
How many Cathoilcs are in your study…my guess is a very low percentage. They are not worried about you converting them, they are working on you!
Non-Catholic or even so-called “ecumenical” studies are okay/advised if you are very strong in the biblical defense of Catholism.

Good luck and God Bless
Dano
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This post by Dano may sound a little cynical, but what he states is often the case. As a Catholic you are not “saved” and they often are hungry to lead you to salvation.On the other hand I would never say never. Are there no Catholic groups in your area to study with? Think about starting one. There are lots of good materials available to meet most levels of endeavor.There is an interesting article in Time Magazine about Mary and how some other Christan groups are starting to rethink what they believe about her. It is not a teaching about her, but more a story of what is happening with the whole concept in these other protestant arena. A Picture of Mary is on the cover.
 
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Mickey:
How awesome it is that a human person has been brought so close to the divine Essence; the very God himself has dwelt in her womb and has become her Son. Because her flesh and blood became God’s flesh and blood, we sing to her the most sublime hymns…

“Mary is Theotokos” means that Mary is Bearer of God, in a real sense, as concretely as any human mother is bearer of her child. Mary’s motherhood is of a very special kind. With her, no human father shared the conception of her son. It was the Holy Spirit of God, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity who overshadowed her and animated the seed in her womb, fashioning a perfect human nature which the divine person of the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity assumed and united to Himself, and thus became the Lord Jesus Christ, real God and real man.
Archbishop Joseph Raya
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Hi Mickey,
I see the Son of Man ,Jesus Christ being born into every Christian, sowed into us by the Holy Spirit. So you see, you and I are the same, giving birth to Christ, born of the Holy Spirit. Do you think the spirit is less than the flesh?
Walk in love,
edwinG
 
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mindy:
I am in a protestant (baptist!!) bible study on Tuesday mornings and the other day the leader suggested we do a study on Mary. All eyes turned to me, and I could see that everyone was worried that if we did it, I might try to “convert” them.

How can I explain to them the truth about our Blessed Mother, but remain respectful to the women in this study that have welcomed me into their group?
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To explain to them the truth about the mother of Jesus, you need to look to the Scriptures to see how she is portrayed.

Luke 1:26-56 records Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel and her visit with her relative Elizabeth. In chapter 2, we see her pondering everything that has happened in connection with her son’s birth. In the same chapter, Mary gently rebuked 12-year-old Jesus for causing Joseph and her much concern by remaining behind in the Jerusalem temple instead of joining the caravan back to Nazareth (Luke 2:41-49).

Mary is mentioned again at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee when Jesus performed His first public miracle (John 2:1-12). She appears a few times after this in connection with our Lord’s brothers and sisters(Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 3:31-35; 6:1-6). When Jesus hung on the cross, He looked down and tenderly said, “Dear woman, here is your son!” (John 19:26), assigning her to the care of the apostle John. The last mention of her is found in Acts 1:14, where she is referred to as “Mary the mother of Jesus.”

Mary was a remarkable person. The angel who came to Mary with the announcement that she would bear the Son of God said that she had “found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). God honored her above all other women by choosing her to become the virgin mother of the Messiah. However, the biblical accounts do not emphasize her role as the mother of Jesus. In fact, nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus even call her “mother.”

Although the Gospels portray her motherly concern, they clearly show her subordination to her son. In John 2:4, Jesus called her “woman” (which wasn’t as harsh an expression in Greek as it would be in modern English), apparently to gently show her that His relationship to her as Savior must take precedence over that of son.

The Bible nowhere refers to her as the mother of God or implies in any way that she was born without sin. In fact, she herself recognized her need of a Savior (Luke 1:47). She was qualified to give birth to the sinless Son of God because God chose her and miraculously caused her to conceive by the “overshadowing” of the Holy Spirit(Luke 1:35). While it is right to honor her as the mother of Jesus Christ, there are no biblical grounds for placing her in a position of mediation between ourselves and our Lord. The Scriptures declare:

There is one God and one Mediator between God and men,the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

I hope this helps.
🙂
 
If being in a Protestant bible study is a danger to your faith then you should leave it ASAP 🙂
 
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