Why Do Catholics Worship Mary Instead Of Jesus
Do Catholics worship Mary? The answer is no, catholic dont worship Mary.
We have to stop and ask the question. What does a Catholic mean when they say theyre praying to Mary? What a Catholic means is that they are asking Marys intercession and a similar way where you would go up to somebody and you would ask them, can you pray for me? To obtain Grace so that I could come into a deeper relationship with Christ.
Maybe youre struggling with something or you just want to know Gods Will and the same way we go to Mary and we say Mary, can you pray for me and obtain Grace that I would come to know your son Jesus?
When Did The Catholic Church Start Worshipping Mary
Roman Catholics are taught by their church to pray to Mary with the idea being that she can be a mediator between us and God father Longenecker writing for path.
Theists.com says when we pray to Mary we are asking her to pray for us. So Catholics believe that because Mary is already in heaven, she has more direct access to the throne of God and her prayers will therefore be more powerful than our own, so we go to her first and then a petition her to take them to God on our behalf.
This idea that Mary can or indeed should be a mediator between us and God is completely unbiblical.
The Bible says: for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus.
It cant be any more explicit than that.
Jesus is our only route to the throne of God. Mary doesnt even come into it Hebrews says Jesus lives forever his priesthood last forever therefore he is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
So Jesus intercedes for us, not marry.
Should I Pray To Mary
From the earliest days of Christianity the Christian faithful have had a Devotion to the Virgin Mary the Mother of God.
But why?
For many prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary seemed pointless sensational overly sentimental and even superstitious.
Christian spirituality they rightly object must be based upon the truth of divine revelation Not Mere religious feeling or sentiment.
Well to answer these objections we must first go to the gospels themselves.
Those books that all Christians share in common does the bible suggests a Devotion to Mary?
The Gospel of John records one of the most important exchanges in the Bible.
During his excruciating passion while hanging from the cross Jesus himself speaks to his mother and Saint John the Apostle standing below.
Jesus says to his mother woman behold your son.
Then he says to the disciple whom he loved behold your mother.
Now. Theres a mystery hidden beneath the brevity of these words from these lines emerge as a powerful message that all Christians must take to heart.
Although the disciple whom Jesus spoke with st. John it is no accident that the Evangelist instead of writing the proper name John uses rather the generic phrase the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Because in a real way all of us who claim to be Disciples of Jesus can put ourselves in the position of that disciple can insert our own proper name as the disciple whom Jesus loved and recognize that what Jesus spoke to the Beloved disciple. He speaks to each of us now.
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The Very Early Church
We first have early church leaders like Clement, Jerome and Tertullian saying that Mary was a perpetual virgin. That is wrong because we know that Jesus had brothers and sisters not cousins not step-siblings! Marital relations between a husband and wife Mary and Joseph is not a sin!
We know that Jesus was just not man, but also God a part of the Holy Trinity God, the Father God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. Thus, one can easily go from Mary, Mother of Jesus to Mary, Mother of God. The problem with that is shes not the mother of God. No one is the mother of God. God created everything, including humans. Mary was human, thus a creation. How can a creation create her creator? Mary was just a vessel to carry the infant Jesus. Once Jesus was grown and started His ministry, .
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He existed in the beginning with God.3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
John 1:1-4 NLT
Reasons You Should Not Pray To Mary
Luke 1:26-38 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeths pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 Dont be afraid, Mary, the angel told her, for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever his Kingdom will never end! 34 Mary asked the angel, But how can this happen? I am a virgin. 35 The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 Whats more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail. 38 Mary responded, I am the Lords servant. May everything you have said about me come true. And then the angel left her.
Virgin Mary
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Was Jesus Virgin Birth The Immaculate Conception
No. According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception designates the belief that the Virgin Mary was free from ORIGINAL SIN from the very beginning of her life, i.e., from her conception. The rest of mankind inherits a human nature infected with sin . . . But Mary was, by a unique GRACE, preserved from ever contracting original sin. *
By contrast, nowhere does the Bible teach that Mary was free from original sin. In fact, Mary gave evidence that she was sinful when she presented the sin-atoning sacrifice that the Mosaic Law required of mothers. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: The Immaculate Conception is not taught explicitly in Scripture . . . is a judgment that the Church has made.
Jesus Wrote To The Church In Pergamum To Stop Their Idolatry
I pray that any Catholic worshiper of Mary and the Saints who reads this, that they will humble themselves before Jesus their only Lord and King! And ask HIM to forgive you for your past sins of idolatry. He will forgive you! Then, stop sinning! Repenting means to stop sinning!
A sinner cannot get into heaven and theres no such place as purgatory! Theres either heaven or hell.
If youre not sure if youre saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you wont be left behind at the Rapture, this is what you have to do
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Old Testament Bible Quotes About Mary
Lets start at the beginning of the Bible. She is first mentioned in Genesis 3:15, as the Woman whose offspring will crush the head of the serpent .
Genesis 3:15:I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
We see her, again, in a prophecy in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 7:14:Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
God Sent The Savior Through Mary
I list this one first because its really tough to downplay Marys importance while acknowledging that the long awaiting Messiah came to earth by being born of a womanand that woman was Mary. Out of all the ways that Jesus could have come to earth, why was Mary chosen? If Mary was important to God, shouldnt she mean something to us?
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Invite Jesus Into Your Heart And Receive The Gift And Confident Hope Of Eternal Life
Pray this prayer humbly and wholeheartedly
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Please forgive me. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and my life to you. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. I surrender my whole life to you and I will follow you for the rest of my life. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Do Catholics Worship Jesus
So, do we worship Mary as a goddess ? No, we asked her intercession and ask her to pray for us to add obtain Grace that we would come to know the only savior of the world her son, Jesus Christ
In short we dont worship Mary, but just like the Saints we pray for her intercession, and we believe that she has a special place right next to her son, and her role is to listen to our prayers and to whisper them in the ears of her son. The fourth Commandment is honor, thy father and mother and Jesus is going to honor his mother as a good Jewish boy would and so we honor her as well.
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Bible Verses About Praying To Saints
Praying to Mary and other dead saints is not biblical and praying to anyone other than God is idolatry. To bow down to a statue or painting and pray to it is evil and it is forbidden in Scripture. When confronted some Catholics say we dont pray to them, but we ask them to pray for us. Ive talked to Catholics who actually told me they pray directly to Mary.
Nowhere in Scripture does it say pray to dead saints. Nowhere in Scripture does it say ask dead saints to pray for you.
Nowhere does it say that people in Heaven will pray for people on earth. Alive Christians on earth can pray for you, but dead people will not pray to God for you and you cant find any passage to justify this.
Why pray to the dead when you can pray to God? Its a terrible and evil thing to pray to Mary, but Catholics even worship Mary more than they do Jesus.
The Lord will not share His glory with anyone. They will do all they can to justify rebellion, but Catholicism continues to put many people on the road to hell.
The Salve Regina Blasphemy.
. 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. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
One mediator and that is Jesus.
1. Timothy 2:5 There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and human beingsa human, the Messiah Jesus.
Believe Repent Be Baptized Receive The Holy Spirit
- Believe have Faith that Jesus is the Christ and He died taking your sins away forever and that He rose from the dead 3 days later.
- Repent of your sins stop sinning! Do a complete 180 in your life and surrender your life to Him.
- Be Baptized show the world and yourself that you have died to your old life and are born again in Christ.
- Receive the Holy Spirit in your heart.
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God Alone Should Be Worshipped
Luke 4:8 says, Jesus replied, The Scriptures say, You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.
Praying to Mary and/or any living or deceased saints is an act of worshipwhich is reserved for God alone.
When Jesus modeled prayer He began with, Our Father in Heaven. No where in Scripture is it suggested that we pray to Mary or any other deceased saints.
Should We Worship Mary
While all Roman Catholics do not necessarily worship Mary, the fact that many pray to Mary and give her titles which resemble those given to Jesus Christ including the idea of mediatorship, this question and others related to Mary have been included under this heading.
Worship is something that is to be restricted to God alone. As the angel stressed when John fell at his feet in appreciation for the revelation he had seen and received, Do not do that I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book worship God . Mary is not God and her exaltation in the Catholic church has no foundation in Scripture. While we may and should appreciate the ministry of men and women, they are only instruments used of God for His glory. Christ alone is our mediator. Paul clearly points this out in 1 Timothy 2:3-6.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and onemediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.
The Bible says nothing about Mary ascending into heaven in some special way. She went to heaven as all do through faith in Christ as Gods Son who died for our sin, including hers.
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Jesus Performed His First Miracle At Marys Request
This is another good one. Oh I know, Jesus didnt need Mary to turn the water into wine at Cana. She just happened to be there. OK, why then did St. John list Mary FIRST in his list of wedding guests?
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there Jesus also was invited to the marriage with His disciples.
If Mary is not important in this saga, why is she listed BEFORE the apostles and BEFORE Jesus? St. John the Evangelist was not known for inserting extraneous details. Mary is listed first because John wants to call the readers attention to her presence at the wedding.
But what about the rebuke? You know, the argument that Jesus was telling Mary to butt out when He stated:
O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.
Jesus Gave Mary To John From The Cross
As He suffered and died on the Cross, Jesus made a very profound statement:
When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His mother, Woman, behold your son! Then He said to the disciple, Behold your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Why, while struggling to speak as He hung on the Cross, would Jesus have spoken these words if they didnt mean anything? Could He have been making small talk? Obviously, there was a reason that Our Lord did what He did. The Church has always believed that John represented each member of the Church and that, from that moment on, Mary became our spiritual mother. Scripture tells us that, on that day John accepted Jesus gift and took her to his own home . Shouldnt we do the same?
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What Jesus Said About Prayer
1. Pray in humility.
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
2. Theres no need for repetitive phrases.
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
3. An example:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
4. Ask God for what you need in faith.
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you.