why mary??

[4EverHis]

hello everyone,

My main question here is why are roman catholics so interested in mary?
i’ve already touched on the subject of praying to mary in a previous post, and i’ve been told catholics more pray through mary than to her. Fair enough:thumbsup:.
But,Is this not still against gods teaching that we should under no circumstances, pray to any other? (exodus 20:4-5- also one of the original 10 commandments, which some catholic bibles have changed- to me thats kinda blashphemous, but thats for another post)

the Bible says we should only worship God. Prayer is not worship… prayer is communication. for Catholics, worship is offering the Mass. We only offer the Mass to God, never to Mary or the Saints.

Also does bowing before statues of mary(or any other) not go against this?

we don’t bow TO the statues… we just bow and kneel when we pray, out of humility… and the statue happens to be there as a visual reminder

Now i know a lot of catholics say they dont worship mary or statues of mary, but when i look at pictures of people bowing or standing with hands clasped or praying in front of such statues I find that very hard to beleive. (sorry, but i do. Please dont get offended)

as I said, we don’t bow to the statues. They’re visual reminders. We don’t see kneeling/bowing as worship, necessarily… when people bow before a king, does that mean they’re committing idolatry? It can just be a sign of respect. What makes something worship is the intention. We never have the intention to worship anyone but God. Try not to judge by appareances

I also remember reading a passage in the bible where jesus refers to mary as"woman" and not “mother”. Does that not mean he was telling us that mary was just a normal woman?(seriously, someone help me with this. cannot remember which passage tho, sorry!!)

No… He called her woman because He’s referring back to the part in Genesis where it says that there will be emnity between the serpent and the woman. In fact, this phrase gives Mary more honour, not less… and look at what the Archangel Gabriel told her: that she is full of grace, favoured by God… she was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit… blessed among women… (as St Elizabeth said). And she’s the Ark of the New Covenant (Revelation 11-12)

I understand this may be a touchy subject, so apologies if anyone finds this offensive, I generally dont understand the fasination with mary and would welcome any answers.

Thanks again,
Allan

no probs, God bless

 

[benedictus2]

hello everyone,

My main question here is why are roman catholics so interested in mary?

How about because God is so interested in her?

How about becauase she is the Mother of God.
i’ve already touched on the subject of praying to mary in a previous post, and i’ve been told catholics more pray through mary than to her. Fair enough:thumbsup:.
But,Is this not still against gods teaching that we should under no circumstances, pray to any other? (exodus 20:4-5- also one of the original 10 commandments, which some catholic bibles have changed- to me thats kinda blashphemous, but thats for another post)
If you look at the wedding at Cana, who was interceding for the couple. Whose supplication did Jesus listen to? And this inspite of Him saying His hour has not yet come. So think about it, He performed His first miracle at the request of His mother and this He did outside of His hour.

Also does bowing before statues of mary(or any other) not go against this?

Nope because we are merely honoring them And God knows that we are merely honoring them.
If you look at the prayers to Saints and Angels, we say " Pray for us".

Now i know a lot of catholics say they dont worship mary or statues of mary, but when i look at pictures of people bowing or standing with hands clasped or praying in front of such statues I find that very hard to beleive. (sorry, but i do. Please dont get offended)

From the outside that is what it looks like. So come inside so you will know the difference.

I also remember reading a passage in the bible where jesus refers to mary as"woman" and not “mother”. Does that not mean he was telling us that mary was just a normal woman?(seriously, someone help me with this. cannot remember which passage tho, sorry!!)

Not quite. Jesus’s address of Mary as woman is actually an allussion to Mary as the new Eve.

But yes, Mary is definitely a “normal” woman.

But ordinary? No. God saw fit to give her the honor of becoming the Mother of His Son.

Are we better than God that we cannot do the same?

 

[4EverHis]

Jesus honours His Mother, so we should too