I maintain that most Protestants do not understand the concept of worship and that’s sad. Carrying a statue of Our Lady is not worship. Analyze the prayer “Hail Mary.” The first sentence is from Luke. Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Gabriel did not say, You will be Holy and full of grace once the Holy Spirit shows up.” Gabriel describes her as he finds her. Full of Grace and with the Lord. God created Eve without sin. He was certainly capable of doing it again.
The next sentence is also from Luke. “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
The last is asking Mary to pray for us during the two most important moments of our life - now and at the hour of our death. We’re not praying to her but asking her to pray for us.
I assume that you ask people to pray for you. You probably pray for people.
I do too. I also ask Jesus’s mother to prayer for me.
Carrying an idol, which you call a statute, is part of the worship process for Rome.
Comparing aspects of worship in the New Testament with what is witnessed in Roman Catholicism is very revealing and confirms the Roman Catholic indeed does worship Mary.
| New Testament Components of Worship | Roman Catholic Worship of Mary | |
| Praying to God Every knee shall bow to Him Reliance upon faith in Christ for salvation Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and body |
Praying to Mary Kneeling before idols of Mary Reliance upon the promises of an apparition claiming to be Mary and believing the false promise that wearing a piece of cloth, aka the Scapular, will keep you out of the Hell-fire The apparition claiming to be Mary says Whosoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces. . |
|
Analyze the prayer “Hail Mary.” The first sentence is from Luke. Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.
A bad translation of the Greek. It is more correctly rendered as, Greetings, you favored with grace.
Gabriel did not say, You will be Holy and full of grace once the Holy Spirit shows up.” Gabriel describes her as he finds her. Full of Grace and with the Lord. God created Eve without sin. He was certainly capable of doing it again.
Nor did Gabriel tell Mary she was free from sin nor was she created without sin. The Roman Catholic is reading something into the text that isn't there.
The last is asking Mary to pray for us during the two most important moments of our life - now and at the hour of our death. We’re not praying to her but asking her to pray for us.
The emphasis on this vain, repititious prayer as part of the Rosary Roman Catholics are tasked with saying multiple times to "atone" for some of their sins, is primarily focused on Mary.
Consider:
In just one round of the Rosary:
13 Hail Mary's
3 Our Fathers
2 Glory to the Father
1 Apostles Creed
1 Hail Holy Queen
A total of 14 prayers to Mary out of 20....70% of the prayer is directed to Mary.
All prayer in the New Testament is directed to God. There are no directions on praying to Mary.
Protestants full well understand the concept, and practice of worship. Catholics fill their worship with idols. We do not.
The prayer you mention, which is prayed to Mary, is horribly twisted out of context. To understand the prayer, look up the Greek from which it is derived. Gabriel did not say “Hail” he said “Greetings”. The Greek is ‘chairo’ which is a salutation. Nothing more. He further used ‘charitoo’, which is to honor with blessings. This is simply how the Angel of God greeted her, not to make her co-redemptrix as JPII did.
The following sentence comes from Elizabeth and is simply her expression to honor the woman by whom the Messiah shall come. I honor Mary for being chosen to bear the Christ, but will never worship her. Ask yourself this one defining thing: If you never spoke the name of Mary ever again, would you still be saved? Of course you would, your salvation rests in Christ alone!
Show me anywhere, ANYWHERE in the Bible where we are told to pray to anyone other than God. I ask people to pray here on Earth. Once you are dead, you no longer have dealings with mankind. Mary has nothing to do with you now, she is in the presence of her son. You are to pray to God only. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.