There is no isolated verse in the Bible. And nothing we believe about Mary build her up to a “goddess status”.
It's the one verse catholics cite to justify their false teaching on Mary telling Jesus what to do. What makes it isolated is that Catholicism has isolated it out of context in John and the NT to make it say something it doesn't.
You may not recognize your idolatry, but others do.
There’s nothing the Bible which says we can not ask for the intercession of saints.
Oh, but there is. We have no record of Paul, Peter (you remember Peter don't you?), James, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc ever praying to departed Christians.
We never see in any of John's writings an admission to pray to Mary. And recall, he was entrusted with her care. In fact, after John 2 I don't think he even mentions her again....and in this passage he only referred to her as the mother of Jesus....not the mother of God.
When Jesus' disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, did He include His mom in the prayer? Nope.
So there is nothing in the NT giving the ok to pray to the departed Christians.
>>“they have erected idols of her in their churches which they kneel before and pray to in contradiction of the Word.”<<
We do not pray to statues. Nor are our statues idols.
Then I guess all of the other statues around the world in pagan religions are not idols?? If I figure out how to post pictures on FR I'll be glad to show you pictures of catholics kneeling before statues of Mary praying the Rosary.
>>“They’ve elevated her role, by some writers, to essentially telling Jesus what to do and He does it.”<<
And out of love Jesus might do much His mother asks of Him, but He is Lord and she is not.
And we have one verse out of the entire New Testament where this happened. He did this in this one situation as He is a Good Son.
However, in some catholic writings we're told if we can't get what we want from Christ we should go to Mary instead!
According to Eadmer (A.D. 1060–1124), an English monk and student of Anselm, “sometimes salvation is quicker if we remember Mary's name then if we invoked the name of the Lord Jesus...[who] does not at once, answer anyone who invokes him, but only does so after just judgment. But if the name of his mother Mary is invoked, her merits intercede so that he is answered even if the merits of him who invoked her do not deserve it.” Through her “the elements are renewed, the netherworld is healed, the demons are trodden underfoot, men are saved and angels are restored.” — Andrew Taylor, “Three medieval manuscripts and their readers,” University of Pennsylvania press; page 173
But what...there's more!
Beware, chosen soul, of thinking that it is more perfect to direct your work and intention straight to Jesus or straight to God.Without Mary, your work and your intention will be of little value. But if you go to God through Mary, your work will become Mary's work, and consequently will be most noble and most worthy of God. - THE SECRET OF MARY, St. Louis de Montfort; http://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/SECRET.HTM
There is nothing in the NT that supports this false teaching. Nothing.
We may recall that when the magi came the fell down and worshipped Him only. No kneeling before Mary. No praying to her.
>>“If all that isn’t worship then Catholics are totally blind in this issue.”<,
Well, seeing how you literally had to make up false hoods - as I just pointed out - just to get to this last false point no one should take it seriously. It is not we who are blind. Someone who is blind would resort to lying. Who has done that here? Certainly not I.
From your vantage point you cannot see the false hoods. From those looking on and comparing the catholic action towards Mary with practices from pagan religions the similarity is glaring.
But to be clear:
Do catholics pray to Mary? check.
Do catholics have statues of Mary? check.
Do catholics kneel before Mary? check.
Sure has all of the hallmarks of worship. Must be worship everywhere else but catholicism. The mere fact that roman Catholicism has had to redefine the "levels" of worship speaks volumes.
>>“They cannot offer one clear text from the NT that ever accords Mary any of these attributes. Not one.”<<
Oh, so now it’s a “clear” text? Before it was “not even closely resembling her role in the Word.” Those who choose bigotry always move the goal posts whenever it suits them.
And that you've chose to reply in this manner only confirms what I'm saying. For if you could have posted the verse, I'm quite confident you would have.
And we won't even get into the proposed Fifth Marian dogma currently being circulated for approval.
Remember, anti-Catholics must always resort to lying. In general, anti-Catholics distort, misrepresent, and pretend that one thing is another.
You wrote:
“If I figure out how to post pictures on FR I’ll be glad to show you pictures of catholics kneeling before statues of Mary praying the Rosary.”
And yet none of them are worshiping the statue - which was your earlier claim. I’ve known Protestants to pray before caskets are funerals. Does that mean they are worshiping the deceased?
“When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, did He include His mom in the prayer? Nope.”
Was Mary in Heaven at that time? Nope. Thus, you have no point at all.
And then we see that anti-Catholics - hating genuine scholarship and often being poorly read - rely entirely on anti-Catholic websites for their information. In this case, most likely this one: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/ptds.html
You wrote:
“According to Eadmer (A.D. 1060–1124), ... Andrew Taylor, “Three medieval manuscripts and their readers,” University of Pennsylvania press; page 173”
And then we see that there is no such book. The title actually is, Textual Situations: Three Medieval Manuscripts and Their Readers.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27870498?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents So, first we see that the anti-Catholic is too stupid to get the title right. Then we see that there is an ellipse in the quote in Taylor’s book. Then we see that the anti-Catholic cuts out a key phrase that is the original author’s explanation for his belief. After all truth and accuracy don’t matter to the anti-Catholic. And I know that this is the case because I just looked at the page in question.
And even with all of that, it has to be said, it doesn’t matter what Eadmer wrote. It was just his opinion. And almost no Catholic today has ever heard of him let alone been affected by his beliefs.
But, of course, the fact that the quote means nothing, is deliberately cut, and is mislabeled as to its source, none of that will stop you from posting it over and over again: http://209.157.64.200/focus/religion/3281253/replies?c=144
The anti-Catholic doesn’t care about the truth.