Well certainly not Catholics:>).
There has been a substitution of Mary for Jesus, in the work of salvation, and to pray to in times of need. The impression is that Mary will listen, but God is cold and unapproachable. Mary will grant wishes, when God might reject them. That somehow God is bound by the will of Mary.
One gets the impression that salvation is obtained from Mary and God will rubberstamp her decisions.(co redeemer)
In the Catholic scripture the book of Baruch, , there is a description of the pagan practices of the Babylonians, who at the time held the Jews in captivity.
Baruch 6:3 But now, you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of wood borne upon the shoulders, causing fear to the Gentiles.
Baruch 6:4 Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you.
Baruch 6:5 But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord.
Baruch 6:6 For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls.
Baruch 6:7 For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot speak.
Baruch 6:8 And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up.
Baruch 6:9 Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads; whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves.
It was the practice of the pagan Babylonians to crown the statues of their gods.Note the crown on Mary's head
The picture shows John Paul II bowing down and paying homage to crowned statues of Mary, the "Queen of Heaven", in direct violation of the Commandments of God:
Exd 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
Exd 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;
My point is that there is no Divine guarantee that the authors of these commentaries are infallible. They could well be teaching error.
There has been a substitution of Mary for Jesus, in the work of salvation,
Malarkey. The Church teaches no such thing.
.The impression is that Mary will listen, but God is cold and unapproachable. Mary will grant wishes, when God might reject them.
Those may be your "impressions", but the Church does not teach them. We do ask Our Lady and the saints (our other Christian brothers and sisters, both in Heaven and here on Earth) to pray for us.
That somehow God is bound by the will of Mary.
Nonsense. The Church follows the example of Mary, who turned her entire will over to God: "Be it unto me according to Thy word."
One gets the impression that salvation is obtained from Mary and God will rubberstamp her decisions.(co redeemer)
Impressions are meaningless. The Church neither teaches or holds that salvation is obtained from Mary, nor that God will rubberstamp her decisions. By the power of the Holy Spirit Our Lady surrendered her decision-making ability to God and conformed her will totally to His when she gave her fiat at the Incarnation of the Lord.
"Co-redemptrix" simply means that Our Lady co-operated in our redemption by bringing into the world the One Redeemer, her Son Jesus Christ.
In the Catholic scripture the book of Baruch, , there is a description of the pagan practices of the Babylonians, who at the time held the Jews in captivity.
Baruch 6:3 But now, you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of wood borne upon the shoulders, causing fear to the Gentiles.
Baruch 6:4 Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you.
Baruch 6:5 But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord.
So what? We Catholics do not adore statues, blocks of wood, or anything else; the Church teaches that God alone is to be adored. We do respect and venerate symbols (ikonos, ikonos, "icons") of the Lord and His saints, much as Protestants respect and venerate their Bibles, but no good Catholic believes that such things have any divinity in and of themselves. Bowing to a statue of Our Lady is no more idolatrous than kissing a picture of one's spouse; in both cases, we express our love to the subject of the image, not the image itself.
Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads; whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves. It was the practice of the pagan Babylonians to crown the statues of their gods.Note the crown on Mary's head
So crowns = evil?
The picture shows John Paul II bowing down and paying homage to crowned statues of Mary, the "Queen of Heaven", in direct violation of the Commandments of God:
Exd 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
Exd 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me
God forbade the worship of statues, but he did not forbid the religious use of statutes. Instead, he actually commanded their use in religious contexts!We know that Our Lady brings the problems of people to her Son because we see her do it in Scripture [John 2:1-5]. Far from bossing her Son around, Mary commands us all to obey him as she does. "Whatever He tells you to do, do it."People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: "And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18-20).
David gave Solomon the plan "for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan" (1 Chr. 28:18-19). Davids plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was "by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all," included statues of angels.
Similarly Ezekiel 41:17-18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, "On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim."
During a plague of serpents sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to "make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live" (Num. 21:8-9). One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations.
Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember ones mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.
If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these "graven" images, they would be practicing the "idolatry" of which they accuse Catholics. But theres no idolatry going on in these situations. God forbids the worship of images as gods, but he doesnt ban the making of images. If he had, religious movies, videos, photographs, paintings, and all similar things would be banned. But, as the case of the bronze serpent shows, God does not even forbid the ritual use of religious images.
It is when people begin to adore a statue as a god that the Lord becomes angry. Thus when people did start to worship the bronze serpent as a snake-god (whom they named "Nehushtan"), the righteous king Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kgs. 18:4). [Source]
Yours in Christian fraternity,
B-chan