Something About Mary....

I was speaking with my associate pastor the other day, and we were discussing the Catholic belief in praying to the saints, or to Mary.. My Pastor, ever playing the Devil's advocate in such discussions, brought up some points as to why Catholics feel it is ok to pray to Mary. I responded, and he said I should write something about it. Sooo.....here it is!

Why You Should NEVER Pray To Mary

• Firstly, we never see this in Scripture.

• Objection: We can't argue from silence!
• Answer: True, but we can use it as evidence.

• Praying to Mary is a form of worship
• Objection: How is prayer worship? We are merely asking her for help!
• Answer: Prayer was never intended to be for God's own sake, but rather for ours. When we pray, it is for our benefit, so that we can communicate with our God. Thus, prayer is indeed a form of worship, and by ascribing it to Mary, you are worshipping a false god.

• Praying to Mary assumes that she is powerful enough to grant said requests
• Objection: Well, she IS the mother of Jesus!
• Answer: And as such, she is blessed of God. Does this mean she is any more inherently special than, say, Ruth, perhaps? No. God could have chosen any woman from among the daughters of Israel to be holy and to bring Jesus into the world. Thus, Mary has no intrinsic glory or power.
  

• Praying to Mary is trying to manipulate God
• By praying to Mary on the assumption that Jesus will definitely listen to His mom, you are not only making a false assumption, but you are trying to sneak a guarantee that your prayer will be heard. What is so idiotic about that is that God alone can hear ALL prayers. So by praying to Mary, who cannot hear prayers, you are trying to accomplish that which already is accomplished.
  

• Praying to Mary knocks Jesus out of the "mediator" position
• Objection: Well, Jesus IS too holy to hear our sinful prayers.
• If that be the case, what would the point of the cross be? Jesus died in part for that very thing; namely that sinners could come before a holy God. Do not mock His sacrifice by saying there is more to be done before we can approach Him.

• Praying to Mary leads to very false ideas
• I have heard it said that some women pray to Mary because Mary is a woman, and would understand them better than God. They feel more comfortable praying to Mary. This is out and out blasphemy! They blaspheme the name of God for the sake of their comfort! And this leads also to my next reason:

• Praying to Mary betrays ignorance of God
• If one prays to Mary, who is dead, then that person already has some serious theological problems.
  

• AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: When you pray to Mary and it happens to come true....MARY gets the glory, and not GOD, to whom all glory belongs!
• Think about it...if you lose your sunglasses on the beach, and you pray to Saint WhateverHisNameIs to help you find them, and then you do....who do you thank? To whom do you give a modicum of praise? Therefore, who gets the glory? THIS is the final, but most important, nail in the coffin.