*Was Mary the Mother of God?
As to going through Mary to find Jesus, that probably stems from the unbiblical Catholic teaching that she is our Mediator.
618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men".
1544 Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the "one mediator between God and men."
This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."512
970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it."513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source
The Bible says that there is ONE mediator between God and men and that is Jesus.
*Yes. We Catholics were correct when we wrote the New Testament and we are correct still. Jesus did not create a Church to write some books and let each individual reader decide for himslelf what the words in those books meant. He established a Church as the Pilar and Ground of Truth, If the Church He established could teach error now, what makes youthink the very same Church was unerring in writing and Canonising Holy Writ?
Protestants do admire Mary. She was a holy innocent young lady when the Holy Spirit came upon her. She loved the Lord, and she is definately a good role model for Catholic and Protestant alike. However, NOWHERE in Scripture are we ever told to pray to her, to hold her up as anything other than a woman blessed by God. She sinned (she called God her Savior. If she hadn't sinned, she wouldn't need a Savior). She was rebuked by the Savior at times. And, ultimately, she turned to her own Son and faded into the background - in SCRIPTURE.
*We Catholics teach Mary never sinned. Mary was saved prior to her conception.
The Catholic Church has developed a doctrine of Mary - OFTEN as a result of a "vision" of Mary.
67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.
Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations".
`Herein is the difference between Catholics and Protestants.
5` The BIBLE is our ultimate authority for doctrine for Protestants. For Catholics it is the Bible PLUS something else - all held up with equal validity.
*Bible, Tradition, Magisterium of the Church. And, if we hadn't written the New Testament, you wouldn't have one.
We can not, as Protestants, embrace the Catholic teaching concerning Mary. Some of it is purely unbiblical (such as the praying to Mary, the story surrounding her birth, her assumption into heaven etc.,). But we do love and admire her.
*Well, people change once they learn the real facts about what we teach.
If the Movie shows her as something other than a humble young woman, it is my personal opinion that such a view is probably not the way it was. The God of Eternity reached out and used her to be His vehicle for becoming a man. If someone can't admire her for that fact alone something is wrong with them.
*I recognise a GTO as a vehicle. I honor Mary As Theotokos
Thank you for a copy and paste from your catechism. I've already studied it though to see what Catholics believe, and I am very careful when I choose my words. I do not say you "worship" Mary as God. But she is called Co-Redemtrix and Co-Mediatrix. This concept is unbiblical (as are many things). Sorry if you don't like what I am saying. I am trying to follow the rules of the thread and be respectful. But, in my estimation, having studied the subject at length, Catholicism's doctrine concerning Mary is unbiblical and I reject it.