Hello - please remove me from this ping list.
And if anyone of my Catholic sisters and brothers can do so, please give me any scriptural passage in which Mary is prayed to.
In the church I attend, the central issue for those who attend is not “coming home” to “the church”. Rather it is “coming home” to the Lord Jesus Christ and His life transforming mercy, grace, and righteousness = the Good News of Jesus Christ!
I could go to many passages in the New Testament to explain what I am talking about - but here is just one in Colossians 2: Notice that in this passage, which Catholics and Protestants unitedly believe are part of the inerrant Word of God - this passage after explaining in magnificent terms what our salvation means.....tells us that all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Jesus Christ alone! It further tells us to be on guard against being “taken captive” by hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on “human tradition” and the basic principles of this world rather than on CHRIST !
Colossians 2
1I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d]
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21”Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
In the Marriage at Cana, Mary inrecedes for the host of the wedding before Jesus. She is also our mother as disciples of Christ, according to the adoption scene in the Passion according to St. John. She is praised as full of grace by Archangel Gabriel, and she is to be called blessed by all generations. She is shown in heaven combatting Satan. In that we enlist her help.
Also, perhaps you don't know that we don't go by prooftexts. It would be a problem is Marian devotions contradicted scripture. I don't think they do, and that is it. We do not need every prayer and devotion to be spelled in the Bible.
I don't understand what the passage in Colossians has to do with Mariology. If it is relevant, please explain how.
Do you think Elizabeth was feining when she was filled with the Holy Spirit and asked who was she that the mother of her Lord would come to her?
Who was she asking?
It further tells us to be on guard against being “taken captive†by hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on “human tradition†and the basic principles of this world rather than on CHRIST !
Christ is not a book. The deceptive hollow philosophy is not the Churches, but rather those who presume on God. If He were ignoring your prayers, would you notice? I did. Now I'm a Catholic and set free from the law of sin and death.
You don't need me to tell you how vain quoting Scripture can be.