[pblax8]

You do not pray to the statues or the people they represent. When praying the rosary for example or to any Saint you are asking for their intercession, meaning that they help you to speak with god. They are not icons but rather models of how to live a good Christian life. And, at least when it comes to Mary the Mother of God, She is known to carry some weight with the big guy. He raised her body to heaven, otherwise known as "The Assumption", and generally agreed upon by all Christian faiths.

[jeremiah]

I remember now, Jesus said "no man can come to God but through me" and if you ask my mother, or one of my underlings they have an IN, you get better service.

[trebb]

You need to get into some highly interpreted and debatable documents to take the Assumption as a hard fact - it never made the Bible, which means, to me anyway, that it is not of any true import. Jesus instructed the apostles to pray directly to the Father and never told them to pray to other folks so they could intercede for them. Just as many Catholics would consider it blaspheme to discount prayer to the Virgin Mother, I consider it blaspheme that God will hear our prayers differently if they are filtered through a go-between. It seems to me, that this is a way to keep people dependent on other people rather than to be totally dependent on God.

[vrwc1]

He raised her body to heaven, otherwise known as "The Assumption", and generally agreed upon by all Christian faiths.

Absolutely not true - it is far from "generally agreed upon by all Christian faiths."

[MeanWestTexan]

""The Assumption", and generally agreed upon by all Christian faiths."

Actually, the assumption is pretty much rejected by all Christian denominations except the Roman catholic. (I don't know one way or the other about the various Orthodox positions, if any.)

Pretty much just Elijah and one other guy who I forget are assummed into heaven without death. (Even Christ died --- for a while, anyway.)

Similarly, the "eternal virginity" and "sinless" doctrines re: Mary are generally rejected. Indeed, most protestant denominations recognize "James" as Jesus's half-brother.

Not that this has one whit to do with the key point: Christ was sinless, very God of very God, died for our sins and defeated death.