[Always Right]

By bearing him, Mary gave Jesus his flesh.

True.

Or are you denying that he was truly man, born of woman?

No one is saying that.

Raising him, she raised a son of Israel and her redeemer.

yes.

Do you think she contributed nothing to his education, he who was subject to her and Joseph?

Joseph contributed to his raising too, but why not write articles about him.

If one believes Luke, her womb became the judgement seat, for the spirit of the Lord overshadowed her.

So. no one is saying Mary was not an important figure. there is just nothing scriptually that supports the elevation of Mary into the role the Catholic church gives her.

[RobbyS]

Yes, but evangelical do deny her an important role. She is never mentioned except at Christmas, if then. And the Church has developed a doctrine of Mary because without reference to her there is no coherent theology of the God- man. Mariology is corollary to the doctrine of the Trinity. Ithink this can be seen in the events of the past two centuries in Catholic Countries. The Enlightenment rejects the divinity of Jesus, repudiates the Incarnation. God has not, in its estimation visited man. The Virgin Birth is absurd. In response to this unbelief we have many reported visions of the Virgin, as if in replay to the claims of the infidels, with their demand for empirical proof. As if in mockery of their science, we have the Virgin appearing to children, and often signs that challenge their claim to all knowledge. And always the Virgin is pointing to Jesus, but as often as not, the Jesus who is the judge of all mankind. The most dramatic instance is that of Fatima because of its apocalytic character and its timing, the eve of the Russian revolution and in the midst of the Great War that pulls down the Proud Tower of Europe. Mary in these instance is serving as an angel of the Lord, with God perhaps letting the children see His Mercy and His justice made manifest in a form most soothing to these children.