Jesus is my buddy

[Cory_G]

Today I read a thread where the topic was Catholic and protestant terminology. (forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=279071)). In this thread was several assertions that Jesus is our buddy.

In my opinion, God should not be thought of as our buddy, even though I know God loves me and would do anything for me.

An Earthly example would be my mother. My mother loves me and would do anything for me. On many occasions my mother reminded me that she was not my buddy but my mother. Because of her status I should treat her in a specific way, as a loving, caring person but one who has great authority over me.

My mother’s phrase was always, “Don’t talk to me that way, I’m not one of your little buddies on the street, I’m your MOTHER!”

In my opinion God would state the same thing, “I"m not one of your little buddies on Earth, I am the Lord God maker of the Heavens and the Earth. Show some respect when addressing me.”

 

[AveSantaMaria]

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

God is God of mercy, so perhaps he accepts those who consider him to be their buddy. However, God dearly loves humility. 1 Peter 3:5-7. "Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

St. Louis Mary de Montfort, writes in **True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin **that it is better for us to have humility by going to Jesus through a mediator and warns us about how Lucifer lost so much through pride:
**53. **What Lucifer lost by pride Mary won by humility. What Eve ruined and lost by disobedience Mary saved by obedience. By obeying the serpent, Eve ruined her children as well as herself and delivered them up to him. Mary by her perfect fidelity to God saved her children with herself and consecrated them to his divine majesty.

**Fourth principle: It is more humble to have an intermediary with Christ **
**83. ** It is more perfect because it supposes greater humility to approach God through a mediator rather than directly by ourselves. Our human nature, as I have just shown, is so spoilt that if we rely on our work, effort and preparedness to reach God and please him, it is certain that our good works will be tained and carry little weight with him. They will not induce him to unite himself to us or answer our prayers. God had his reasons for giving us mediators with him. He saw our unworthiness and helplessness and had pity on us. To give us access to his mercies he provided us with powerful advocates, so that to neglect these mediators and to approach his infinite holiness directly and without help from any one of them, is to be lacking in humility and respect towards God who is so great and holy. It would mean that we have less esteem for the King of kings than for an earthly king or ruler, for we would not dare approach an earthly king without a friend to speak for us.

143. ** Moreover, this devotion (True Devotion to Mary) is an expression of great humility, a virtue which God loves above all others. A person who exalts himself debases God, and a person who humbles himself exalts God. ** “God opposes the proud, but gives his graces to the humble.” If you humble yourself, convinced you are unworthy to appear before him, or even to approach him, he condescends to come down to you. He is pleased to be with you and exalts you in spite of yourself. But, on the other hand, if you venture to go towards God blindly without a mediator, he vanishes and is nowhere to be found. How dearly he loves the humble of heart! It is to such humility that this devotion leads us, for it teaches us never to go alone directly to our Lord, however gentle and merciful though he may be, but always to use Mary’s power of intercession, whether we want to enter his presence, speak to him, be near him, offer him something, seek union with him or consecrate ourselves to him.

So yes, it is wonderful to show God respect when addressing Him!!! Thank you for your post! Please keep me in your prayers

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

 

[RHC]

Perhaps you misunderstood. I posted in that thread. No one was advocating that mentality. It was simply stated that it is the view of some Protestant groups. Not all, or even most, Protestants but some.

But no one that I saw agreed with that view of the Lord.

 

[Cory_G]

Perhaps you misunderstood. I posted in that thread. No one was advocating that mentality. It was simply stated that it is the view of some Protestant groups. Not all, or even most, Protestants but some.

But no one that I saw agreed with that view of the Lord.

Hello RHC,

I wasn’t addressing anyone specifically in the other thread. I was only referring to it because that thread is what sparked my thoughts on this subject.

It’s good, as you state, no one in the thread agreed with the view. However, the fact that it was mentioned means to me that some people may agree with the view, or at least contemplate it. Which is why I wanted to bring up this topic for discussion.

 

[JReducation]

The problem with the word “buddy” is that it has a very different nuance from the word “frienship” used in traditional Catholic Mystical Theology.

Not knowing many Protestants personally, I can’t say that they do or do not use the term buddy. I’ve only known three Protestants in my entire life. None of them use the word “buddy”. But as a matter of good theology, I would avoid the term, because of the nuance.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[RHC]

Hey, Cory G,

I totally understand . And, yeah, some people do think that way. To me, it is a little too familiar, too casual, you know?

JReducation -

At least in my experience, the term isn’t common, even among Protestants. I think I just managed to run into a few who were of that mindset. Most Protestants that I know have a reverence for the Lord.