[metmom]

Scripture tells us so many times to love other people --- brother, neighbor, enemy --- that to make the argument that loving God "with all our heart" means loving other people -0-, zero, supposedly because loving other people takes away from God, is ridiculous on the face of it. I'm not going to abuse FR's bandwidth or your eyesight by printing out everything BibleGateway turns up in a "love" keyword search.

Well, yeah, but who ever proposed such an idea?

What is being addressed isn't loving Mary, it's committing one's entire being to Mary.

Second, my arguments about "father" are all Scriptural. Any Scriptural argument could be mistaken --- that's one reason why Scriptural interpretation by any one in-DUH-vidual like myself, can be debated --- but a Scriptural argument should be debated, not just blown off, either.

Well, taken in context, Jesus is addressing the apostles and addressing titles given to religious leaders.

He no more meant that children should not call their male parental unit *Father* then He meant that we should not love others because we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I've seen all the arguments trying to justify calling religious leaders by the title *Father* and they all basically end up with absurd, shall I say< reasoning? Well, everyone else calls their male parent *Father* so either they're all sinning or it's OK for us to call priests *Father* (and to violate a clear command of Jesus).

In a word, No. That just doesn't work.

Like my mother used to say, *Just because someone else jumped over Niagara Falls, doesn't mean you should too.*

Blessings on you now and always.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Well, yeah, but who ever proposed such an idea?"

You did.

"Jesus told us to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength.... If we give any portion of that to Mary, then we are not giving God ALL of it.. And if we are giving God all of it, there's no room left for Mary."

[Mrs. Don-o]

We've been through this before, but I'll repeat for greater emphasis.

New Testament Apostles and Martyrs---- in the following quotes, Stephen, Paul and John --- addressed religious leaders as "father," and referred to themselves as "fathers" of their converts:

Acts 22:1
“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you."

Romans 4:16
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—

1 Corinthians 4:15
Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Philemon 1:10
I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.

1 John 2:13
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.

In none of the above cases is "father" used to mean, literally, begetter or sire or daddy or pop. It is used to mean "father in the faith," "spiritual father," --- the same way Christians have, for millennia, called their spiritual leaders "father."

Context!