Worship of Mary = Not even close?

  • Thread starter Thread starter followingtheway
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

followingtheway

Guest
As a Catholic, I seen a lot of Protestants think that Catholics worship Mary saying things like “Catholics worship Mary” and that “Catholicism is the cult of a dead woman” or “the cult of Mary”, but to be honest, I’ve rarely experience anything close to worship when it comes to Mary in my religion.

In Church, we barely even mention her, in confirmation classes, her name doesn’t really com up. Is this because of Vatican II? Is it just me? Anyone else experience this?
 
I got into this debate with some of my Protestant friend on Facebook last week. The problem is they really don’t understand the whole concept. To them the admire Mary during Christmas for being the Mother of Jesus but that’s about it. They get caught up in this whole Statue and worship ideal. No matter what you say 9 times out of 10 they wont believe you. They don’t understand the intercession idea in my debate I said a few analogies to them and one was this
Mother Mary is like the Moon with Jesus being the Sun. His redemptive rays reflect off of her down to us on earth. We admire the Moon and look to know everything about what makes Her shine. She quickly points to Her Son
Click to expand...
 
Quite frankly, it is the demon who has launched this attack on Mary. It is clear from Genesis 3 that there is enmity between Mary and the evil one. It is clear from Revelation 12 that the devil sought to destroy Mary, but failed. It is clear from exorcisms that demons will insult the exorcist, all others who are present, even God, but never dare to mention Mary.

It is clear to me that the demon, being fearful to attack Mary, then dupes ignorant but apparently well-meaning men and women to do his vile work for him.
 
I am very confused by this. I see a lot of these types of comments. I do not worship
Mary, but I do pray the Rosary. Is it truly worshiping a false God if you pray the Rosary or say a Novena to someone else? I simply cannot make the connection between this and “Mary worship”…
 
That’s what I say when I hear this ridiculous claim about Mary from Protestants. The Blessed Mother is really only mentioned twice during a typical Mass - once during the Creed, and once during the Eucharistic Prayer. I have a feeling some might get the impression that we have a plethora of worship services for the Blessed Mother, but we don’t. People need to start coming to the source for the truth, not their pastors or other Protestant friends. This is only a certain group; however, I have seen some Protestants that completely understand and respect and even defend the Catholic devotion to Mary.

Some are still hung up on the definitions of veneration and worship. :rolleyes:
 
po18guy said:
Quite frankly, it is the demon who has launched this attack on Mary. It is clear from Genesis 3 that there is enmity between Mary and the evil one.
Click to expand...
So the serpent is the devil now?
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
So the serpent is the devil now?
Click to expand...
Now? It’s not a new concept. It has been held since early Christian reading of the bible that the serpent was the devil.
He meant the devil by the lion roaring against Him: whom Moses calls the serpent, but in Job and Zechariah he is called the devil, and by Jesus is addressed as Satan, showing that a compounded name was acquired by him from the deeds which he performed. For ‘Sata’ in the Jewish and Syrian tongue means apostate; and ‘Nas’ is the word from which he is called by interpretation the serpent, i.e., according to the interpretation of the Hebrew term, from both of which there arises the single word Satanas.
Click to expand...
That was written by Justin Martyr sometime in the early to mid 100s(ad) see Dialogue with Trypho.
 
bmullins said:
Now? It’s not a new concept. It has been held since early Christian reading of the bible that the serpent was the devil.

That was written by Justin Marty sometime in the early to mid 100s.
Click to expand...
Far be it for me to quarrel with Justin Martyr, but explain causality:

First,

1.) Satan causes the fall of man. (Genesis)

Then,

2.) Satan is a high ranking lieutenant of God (Job)

So God rewarded Satan for making man fall by giving him a cushy office gig? 🤷

But wait, are we to believe that Satan is crawling on his belly in the book of Job? (Genesis first, Job long after).

And if so, why does Satan tell God that he was “walking” the Earth in Job 1:7? Is Satan a being of spirit, and if so, how can he both 1) spirit and 2) only move by slithering?

And finally, are we just going to ignore the idea that Genesis is attempting to explain the natural enmity between man and snake by placing them at odds from the dawn of time?

(Oops, I hate sidetracking a thread. My apologies.)
 
I think if you want all of those things answered it would be better to start an entire thread devoted to them.
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
Far be it for me to quarrel with Justin Martyr, but explain causality:

First,

1.) Satan causes the fall of man. (Genesis)

Then,

2.) Satan is a high ranking lieutenant of God (Job)

So God rewarded Satan for making man fall by giving him a cushy office gig? 🤷

But wait, are we to believe that Satan is crawling on his belly in the book of Job? (Genesis first, Job long after).

And if so, why does Satan tell God that he was “walking” the Earth in Job 1:7? Is Satan a being of spirit, and if so, how can he both 1) spirit and 2) only move by slithering?

And finally, are we just going to ignore the idea that Genesis is attempting to explain the natural enmity between man and snake by placing them at odds from the dawn of time?

(Oops, I hate sidetracking a thread. My apologies.)
Click to expand...
Might start another thread to cover all of this. However, the devil has no body, being a pure spirit. Thus, he can assume, with God’s allowance, any particular appearance that he chooses, when confronting man. As to his being a “lieutenant”, he was an angelic spirit until he rejected God and fell from grace. The fall occurred before man was created, since he appeared as a serpent to Eve.
 
followingtheway said:
As a Catholic, I seen a lot of Protestants think that Catholics worship Mary saying things like “Catholics worship Mary” and that “Catholicism is the cult of a dead woman” or “the cult of Mary”, but to be honest, I’ve rarely experience anything close to worship when it comes to Mary in my religion.

In Church, we barely even mention her, in confirmation classes, her name doesn’t really com up. Is this because of Vatican II? Is it just me? Anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...
I think the reform of the Mass, encouraging greater participation, made a difference: we were not involved in the Mass, not in a plethora of devotions. After the translation into the vernacular, this became even more so.

On the other hand, Mary does get a lot of feast days, almost one per month, besides the optional Saturday celebrations.

And the language of some prayers, such as the Salve Regina, can be pretty hard to accept for those wary of idolatry: “To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.” So, while I think the intensity of our devotion to Mary is still there, the signs of it have diminished.
 
jmoneyideas said:
I got into this debate with some of my Protestant friend on Facebook last week. The problem is they really don’t understand the whole concept. To them the admire Mary during Christmas for being the Mother of Jesus but that’s about it. They get caught up in this whole Statue and worship ideal. No matter what you say 9 times out of 10 they wont believe you. They don’t understand the intercession idea in my debate I said a few analogies to them and one was this
Click to expand...
The reason why they don’t understand is because they have never experienced it. In this case believing is experiencing. Catholics naturally focus on her because they have a deep historical background to her life. For example how her parents prayed for a child and Mary was born sinless. Most Protestants don’t believe in this. Jesus’s virgin birth in most cases has less attention compared to his death, crucifixion and resurrection. As a result, they forget the sacrifice Mary made by saying yes she would carry God’s child. If there was a greater emphasis on her sacrifice, the understanding would be greater. From my understanding of both sides, (I’m still the new kid on the block,) Catholics embrace the entire holy family while Protestants for the most part (it’s impossible to generalize here) focus on Jesus and that’s it.

Catholicism is an extremely old denomination and with it’s old age, most do not know why we do certain things. I’ve witnessed cases where certain practices and actual teachings of practices are not the same thing. They should be, but they aren’t. For example, we should ask ourselves why do some wear the rosary around their necks. Some wear it because it is a beautiful piece of jewelry and others for religious reasons.

Catholics also have to be careful, because they shouldn’t be worshiping Mary like one would Jesus. Many do I’m sorry to say. There is a very thin line with this that most Catholics aren’t aware exists. I’ve seen many Catholics give Mary, Joseph and the Saints more time and dedication than Jesus. Therefore, when Protestants generalize and make assumptions, I think, we also need to take a step back and ask what are we doing? Why am I praying in front of a statue? Why am I praying the rosary? Why? Why? Why…When we are in our different Catholic circles, it’s important to question what are others are doing? Research and then correct it or bring it up with your priest. If we understand why certain things are done, we can better understand the Protestant understanding and point of view. Only then can dialogue continue.
 
Hi, I think it may be very different from parish to parish, diocese to diocese. Where I am, The Blessed Virgin is venerated and spoken of all the time. In the north, when I visit my family there, She is also greatly revered. I do understand that Protestants don’t see the difference between veneration and worship, a key point. It’s interesting to me to hear from and others just how Our Lady is venerated in different areas of the country and abroad.
Many blessings,
Kathryn Ann:harp::heaven::harp:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top