What is Mary's role?

What is the role of Mary –

the mother of Jesus?

How should the church view Mary?

Presenting A Sensitive Topic:

Is it biblical

to

Pray to Mary?

-

Note: We have an interesting section

at the bottom of the page.

What do you think about praying to Mary

and the "Saints" who have died?

Is it biblical to pray to them

and/or

ask them

to pray for us?

In love and gentleness,

 I urge churches to open this topic up

and discuss these things through using Bible verses.

We begin with TWO helpful videos.

Here is the first one.

My comments are below these videos.

A second video.

Here is my position

and

some of the Bible verses that are relevant:

First: The Bible says we have ONE mediator

1 Timothy 2:5 says,

 For there is one God,

and one mediator between God and men,

the man Christ Jesus;

Second:  We do not need Mary to intervene for us.

It is not biblical for Mary to intervene for us.

Hebrews 4:16 (among other verses)

assures us

that we can boldly come

-  without anyone's help - 

into the throne room of God

and speak to God in prayer.

Third: Mary is not to be treated as special.

1. God gave Mary a blessing of being chosen the

earthly mother of Jesus. BUT  - Mary has no special

power or special authority or special favor in heaven

or on earth.

 

In Matthew 12:47-50 and Luke 8:19-21:

Jesus makes it clear

that Mary

is not

to be thought of as special

or

treated as special. 

Mary is our sister in the Lord – nothing more.

Mary is a dead Christian living in heaven.

God teaches us not to be preoccupied

with dead people.

We cannot do anything to bless her 

(or anyone else in heaven)

including honoring her.

There is a separation between us

and those who have died.

The

Bible

does not encourage us

in any way

to do anything for Mary

or anyone else who is dead.

Some in the Catholic church say

Mary has a role as Co-Redemptrix.

That idea cannot be found in the Bible.

It is not even hinted at in the Bible.

If anything,

Jesus speaks words that indicate

he wants Mary to be seen as any other Christian

in Matthew 12:47-50 and Luke 8:19-21.

Fourth: We only pray to God.

Matthew 6:9 Jesus said when you pray say...

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Matthew 6:6  Jesus said...
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

We never pray to Mary, or any Saint, or any angel.

We do not ask Mary

- or any person who has died - 

to pray for us.

There is no example in the Bible of praying to Mary - or others who have died. 

BUT

There are examples of God

being angry

with people who talk to those who have died.

God makes it clear that we are

NOT

to talk to the dead.

See 1 Samuel 28 for an example.

(Take note: trying to contact angels is also not biblical.)

 

Jesus is our

ONLY

mediator -

and he IS God.

God is one God in three persons. 

(Click here for info on the trinity.)

~ ~ ~

Knowing God and Pleasing God

is our mission in life.

- -

The Bible is our source for what God wants us to do.

Here is an example of the

unbiblical

teaching on this subject.

Rome places their man-made tradition

on an equal level

with the scriptures themselves!

Recently

I looked up what the rosary prayer

is all about.

I was shocked.

The site I read from

easily convinced me that the

rosary prayer is not biblical

because

it has within it, praying to Mary.

~

After the rosary prayer,

the site added the following:

"Mary really likes to give surprises to people

who are new to the rosary

so

we encourage you to

ask Mary for bold requests

because she likes to grant them."

~

That may not be Catholic teaching

but

those are the kinds of things

that will naturally emerge

from the unbiblical doctrines

of Mary

in the Catholic church.

~

To be clear:

Protestants see Mary as a Christian sister

and are

totally stunned

at the attention

particularly by praying to her

and ungodly devotion

Mary gets.

-

I assume that Catholics

are surprised at the lack

of attention Protestants

give Mary...

This page helps clarify that.

-

And notice that Protestants seem

to do fine without Mary's help.

- - -

The real Mary

was humble and she tried to be godly.

So...

all this focus on Mary

would make

the real Mary

very upset.

Problems with

The Rosary...

In Luke 1:47,

Mary called Jesus Her Savior.

She needed a Savior.

She was not sinless

and should not be called sinless.

The Bible is our source of truth.

The Bible is NOT the source

of the Catholic church's ideas about Mary.

-

The Bible does NOT say Mary was sinless.

The Bible does NOT give an example of praying to

Mary or any saint

or in any way introduce that idea.

The Bible does NOT say that

Mary or other people in heaven

have a

special "ear" to Jesus.

The Bible does NOT say that Mary

was a virgin all of her life.

The Catholics try to say that in Matthew 1:25

the word

"until"

doesn't mean "until."

https://biblehub.com/strongs/matthew/1-25.htm

The Greek text says.... in Matthew 1:25
that
they had sex after the birth of Jesus.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,

²⁵ but knew her not until

she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

And

Logically

we even realize that if there was no sex in the marriage of Mary and Joseph - then Joseph would also be highly honored in the Catholic faith. Can you imagine being married for years and no sex? 

And...the Bible does tell us that the book of James and Jude were written by the brothers of Jesus.

I watched a video of the inside of a

Catholic church and

was dismayed at the

many images of Mary

and of

Mary and baby Jesus.

~

To be clear,

Protestant denominations all need to

relook

at their doctrines and practices.

We all need

to get out our Bibles and review

and relook at

what we consider biblical.

~

The month of May and the Virgin Mary

I found out that May is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The page referenced below will be a shock to those who have not grown up in the Catholic church. It is an eye-opener.

https://www.learnreligions.com/prayers-for-may-542768

On the above linked page, we find the following

Updated April 27, 2019

The Catholic practice of assigning a special devotion to each month goes back to the early 16th century.

Since the best known of those devotions is probably the dedication of May as the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it might come as a surprise that it wasn't until the late 18th century that this devotion arose among Jesuits in Rome.

In the early years of the 19th century, it quickly spread throughout the Western Church, and, by the time of Pope Pius IX's declaration of the dogma of the immaculate conception in 1854, it had become universal.

I urge you to follow the link and read the page if you want more information about what Catholics believe about Mary and how they pray to Mary to protect them and help them.

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Jump to the top of the page.