How do non-Catholics see Mary?

[Nelka]

Do all the other Christians see her as St. Mary?

I have seen her with this title in an Anglican church before so would they pray through her like the other saints or do they just ignore all the saints?

What about the Orthodox, JW’s and others?

 

[Zeldarocks]

She’s the mother of Jesus, the first Christian, and worthy of our emulation, nothing more AFAIK

 

[ESMDHokie77]

Eastern Orthodox venerate her pretty much just like Catholics do.
Protestants have a lot of issues with Mary, many seem to be intent on being the antitheses to…
[BIBLEDRB]Luke 1:48[/BIBLEDRB]

I recently tried to get a presbyterian to agree to the title Theotokos… no such luck.

 

[followingtheway]

Well for Eastern Orthodox Christians…

Eastern Orthodox venerate her pretty much just like Catholics do.

…What that guy said. But Protestants view Mary as the mother of Jesus, and an example to Christians but still do not view her on the same level Catholics do. Protestants believe Mary was a sinner, had children with Joseph, and died a normal death (as opposed to being bodily assumed into Heaven). They with the Theotokos (Mother of God) and Queen of Heaven. They do pray to her or any of the other saints.

In fact, most Protestants (with an exception for some Anglicans and some Lutherans) do not have the concept of “saints” as Catholics do. Jehovah’s Witnesses agree with the Protestant views on Mary.

 

[TeenageConvert]

We never heard anything about Mary in my protestant church(probably becuase we were afraid of being like those heathen Catholics )
Protestants see her as just a woman, one with the privilige(sp?) of being Jesus’ mother. They believe she is a sinner, most don’t believe in her perpetual virginity anymore, nor her assumption.
Most protestants call saints saints…but they don’t have the same concept of what a saint is as Catholics do…One of my protestant friends told me that “the saints are with Jesus and you shouldn’t be bothering them with your prayers” .

 

[gr8full]

I feel like most Protestants I know see Mary as the mother of Jesus. A good, and honorable woman who made the choice to be obedient to Father God.
No one I know sees her as sinless.
That brings me to a question. I understand that she was the first one to be redeemed by her Son Jesus. Does this mean that the Church believes also that Mary NEVER sinned? That she was “perfect” as Jesus was perfect?
I so love the tradition and beauty of the Church. I was even in RCIA at one point, but could not feel like I had real understanding on this topic. I cannot in good conscious go forward with joining the Church if I did not understand.
Anyone out there want to help me with this?

 

[ESMDHokie77]

That brings me to a question. I understand that she was the first one to be redeemed by her Son Jesus. Does this mean that the Church believes also that Mary NEVER sinned? That she was “perfect” as Jesus was perfect?
I so love the tradition and beauty of the Church. I was even in RCIA at one point, but could not feel like I had real understanding on this topic. I cannot in good conscious go forward with joining the Church if I did not understand.
Anyone out there want to help me with this?

Hi there! Yes, the Church teaches, and we believe, that Mary never sinned. So she didn’t have actual sin. Further, it’s a dogma of the Church that Mary was, “from the first moment of her conception”, saved from the stain of original sin. This is the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Picture that you and I are walking through the woods, side by side. One scenario is that you miss a step and then you fall down into a mud pit and I lift you out of it after you get muddy. Another scenario is that when you miss a step I catch you and you don’t fall down into a mud pit and stay clean. That’s Mary’s Immaculate Conception, she never fell into the mud pit, but she still needed saving.

I hope that helps, I’m happy to await your response!

Peace,
Phil