Orthodox Christians love the Ever-Virgin Mary Theotokos! And we’ve prayed for centuries: Iperagia Theotoke soson imas! Most Holy Mother of God save us!
This is off topic, but…
Hi Ed, that’s not wrong at all, and I believe God is pleased when we honour His Mother!I guess to a certain point before exploring Catholism, I kind of had a different view on the Holy Mother. In fact in quite a few conversations I stated, “If Mary wasn’t around, God would have picked another woman who was the most rightous”. Now seeing that it was pre-ordained before Mary was even born ( I have a deeper understanding of it now), I can’t understand why I made such a off color statement. I have since asked our Holy Mother for forgiveness on this statement directed towards her. It gets rather extreme in some Protestant denominations when you talk about our Holy Mother Mary. Misunderstanding is the biggest shortfall I experienced as a Protestant, looking in on Catholic beliefs. Now that I am studying more, I understand things I didn’t before. The prayers I offer our Holy Mother Mary are only prayers of thanks for bringing our Lord and Savior into the world. I do not pray to Mother Mary and ask for forgiveness of any sins. That I believe is something only God the Father can do, thru his son Jesus the Christ. If I’m wrong for doing this, please tell me.
Take care and May God Bless!
Ed
because He loves her very much. His will and plan was for her to give birth to our Savior, and she said yes. btw, we never ask Mary for the forgiveness of sins, neither do we worship her God bless!Hi Ed,I guess to a certain point before exploring Catholism, I kind of had a different view on the Holy Mother. In fact in quite a few conversations I stated, “If Mary wasn’t around, God would have picked another woman who was the most rightous”. Now seeing that it was pre-ordained before Mary was even born ( I have a deeper understanding of it now), I can’t understand why I made such a off color statement. I have since asked our Holy Mother for forgiveness on this statement directed towards her. It gets rather extreme in some Protestant denominations when you talk about our Holy Mother Mary. Misunderstanding is the biggest shortfall I experienced as a Protestant, looking in on Catholic beliefs. Now that I am studying more, I understand things I didn’t before. The prayers I offer our Holy Mother Mary are only prayers of thanks for bringing our Lord and Savior into the world. I do not pray to Mother Mary and ask for forgiveness of any sins. That I believe is something only God the Father can do, thru his son Jesus the Christ. If I’m wrong for doing this, please tell me.
Take care and May God Bless!
Ed
Are you the dumbest person alive? Moron, even I call her blessed
why do you ask your friends to pray for you, if you could just go to God yourself?
Two things
Oh, AJ, I don’t think anyone on this thread has accused non-Catholics of “hating” Mary..
Let me see if I understand the Catholic perspective here…
All those who do not pray to Mary ERGO hate Mary.
Is THAT the Catholic point of view?
If so, if I don’t pray to YOU, do I ergo hate you?
If not, then what in the world does that observation have to do with the claim that 5.5 billion people in the world have a personal dislike for Mary?
.
So, [SIGN]Straw Man. [/SIGN]
Here’s the title of this thread and thus the question we are permitted to discuss:
There are 6.5 billion people in the world. The Catholic Church claims that up to 1 billion of these are Catholics. I’d do the math for you (I have a degree in such), 6.5 minus 1.0 equals 5.5 billion. Thus, the question is why do 5.5 billion people dislike Mary?
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But it doesn't follow that Christians need to pray to Mary, that Mary was born without sin and was the only human being to live a sinless life, that Mary did not die in the usual fashion but was taken to heaven in a special way, that Mary did not have other children, etc. These are points on which Christians should be able to disagree.
Let me emphasize a couple points that have influenced my thinking.
(1) Mary is only mentioned twice - in passing - between the Nativity and the Crucifixion. She seemed to be on the periphery of Christ's ministry. When I examine those two passages Jesus appears to give her no special homage - quite the opposite, perhaps.
(2) Mary isn't mentioned even once in all the letters we have of St. Paul. If she should occupy such a central place in Christian theology and liturgy, why did he omit her entirely when he wrote about so many key theological matters?
(3) Some Catholics - not all, true - appear to make more out of Mary than Jesus.
(4) Why should we go through Mary when we can go to Christ directly? The notion that Mary can be an advocate for us, that Jesus would certainly listen to her appeal on our behalf, seems very worldly and even rather odd.
(5) The preoccupation of some Catholics with Marian apparitions makes me fearful that Mariology is an arena in which superstitions thrive. A couple years ago a neighbor swore that she saw an image of Mary in a large toadstool growing on the side of her tree. I have trouble with many stories emanating from Catholic emphasis on Mary, including the one out of Mexico - I forget the details - when the Virgin Mary of Guadaloupe left her image on the cloak of one who saw her. Sorry, but I need a reasonable and rational faith.
(6) Mariology seems to have grown over the centuries, and I wonder how much of it was influenced by paganism and its virgin female goddesses? I don't know but sense that it may have been. There are ways in which Mary and the whole saint phenomenon - praying to them, etc - may mirror and perpetuate in part the polytheism of the Greco-Roman religion. This traditions of a saint for bankers and metal workers and pawnbrokers and skiers and hairdressers and cab drivers and advertizers - ad infinitum - makes me wonder.
Nevertheless, all Christians have a special place in their hearts for Mary. They may disagree on some things, but admiration for Mary is universal among Christians. She is blessed, as scripture says, but there's a long jump from that to the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and a variety of other doctrines. It seems to me that the Bible says that 'all have sinned' - nothing about Mary as an exception. I can believe that Mary sinned and still honor her. In fact it makes her more like the rest of humanity.
God bless Catholics, Protestants and people of every creed, color and country. Religion needs to be a bridge and not a barrier. I wonder if Christ will ask: "Why callest thou me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?" Our theology is far less important than the way we reflect the love of Jesus in our daily lives.Well there is a difference between protestants and Catholics. Most, protestants do not believe dead people can pray for them at all.