The operable word is man. Christ came to become a man. It was as a fully grown man that He became our substitute and died on the cross. The constant image, put forth by Catholics, of Christ as a baby on His mother's lap is not respectful to His manhood and puts forth a false impression of who He is today. It causes the image of Mary being superior to Him to be ingrained into the minds of many Catholics.
How would you feel if your mother had baby pictures of you and constantly pulled them out and showed everyone your baby pictures though you were a full grown man. You would definitely be very embarrassed. This is what Catholics are doing to Christ when they constantly present Him to the world as a baby on the lap of His mother. It is not the proper image of a fully grown man. Pictures of you that your mother, if your were/are a man, would be constantly showing the world you would certainly hope would be as an adult. The only way your mother would constantly show baby pictures of you on her lap, if you are fully grown, would be if your mother was a little "off".
Because of how many Catholics venerate Mary to the extent that she is a goddess and have doctrines about her that hardly show a difference, whether Catholics want to admit it or not, what many Catholics end up doing is worshiping Mary.
In Scripture the admonition is clear and strong that we are to worship only God. These constant pictures of our fully grown Christ as a baby on His mother's lap do not help people realize that it is not she that is to be worshiped but rather The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus, who is God, did become a man but we do not need constant pictures of Him as a baby to show this. He grew up!
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Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
I was going to stay out of this whole thread but what you said is just preposterous. And no Catholic has ever thought of Mary as a “goddess”. If you heard that it was from some other person with no knowledge of Catholicism at all.
What is wrong and why do you seem to feel so angry and attacked by Catholics who have made a special place in their hearts for the one woman chosen to give birth to Jesus Christ? It in no way lessons my love of my God to have admiration for the woman chosen to bring him into this world! The very fact that he became human through a virgin birth ranks up there pretty high as a central tenant of most of Christianity. There is nothing wrong with celebrating that! It does not make Mary a goddess or Jesus any less. I could go on and on but unless you have a specific question for me I'll stop here.
I and many other Catholics on Free Republic are sick of being told by ignorant, bigoted people that we worship Mary. Who tells you what you believe? Certainly no other FReeper does, and if they did, you would rightly reject it. Yet time after time, day after day, ignorant people -- are they your friends? -- tell Catholics what we believe and who we worship. I am finished being polite about it, that attitude is pure bigotry. Now, show some courage, and go tell a Moslem that Mohammed was a liar, if you want to witness for your pitiful, fraudulent church.