[Abigail Adams]

I don't think that Protestants "attack" Mary. I think we hold her in high regard. We just don't believe that she is divine in nature, and therefore don't pray to her or sing her praises. We only pray to and praise God.

Perhaps the woman in Revelations 12 is Israel?

[AlaninSA]

Fair enough - and I thank you for your non-confrontational statement regarding the difference between your beliefs and that of my Church.

However, I must correct something in your post.

There's a big difference between prayer and worship. We do not worship Mary. We do pray to her, but in order to ask her to intercede on our behalf. It's not a worshipful prayer. It is, in my mind, like needing to ask a favor of someone who's in another part of the country. You can ask your friend who lives in that town to have a face-to-face conversation with the person from whom you need help.

That's the deal for me. Mary's there (in heaven), she's got big time street cred and she loves us. Why not ask her to help us out in our conversations with God?

[GAB-1955]

Since this post invites a Protestant reply, I will do so.

As noted, we respect and honor Mary; we understand she points to Christ; but we believe her role is like John the Baptist's, pointing to the Author of our redemption. The deeper issue is the differing concepts of grace and merit. We believe the merit and grace is Christ's alone, and we respect Mary in our way by refusing to conflate her with the Godhead.

[Claud]

I don't think that Protestants "attack" Mary. I think we hold her in high regard. We just don't believe that she is divine in nature

Excellent! Because she's not, and you'll find that everyone is in 100% agreement on that.

There's no notion of divinity here; only that you hold in her in high regard, we hold her in higher regard. :)

[Jim Noble]

I don't think that Protestants "attack" Mary. I think we hold her in high regard. We just don't believe that she is divine in nature, and therefore don't pray to her or sing her praises. We only pray to and praise God.

Did anyone remember the popcorn?

[tiki]

Did you read it?

[NYer]

We just don't believe that she is divine in nature, and therefore don't pray to her or sing her praises. We only pray to and praise God.

Catholics only worship God, as well. Mary leads us to her Son and vice versa.

[trisham]

I don't think that Protestants "attack" Mary. I think we hold her in high regard. We just don't believe that she is divine in nature, and therefore don't pray to her or sing her praises. We only pray to and praise God.

*************

Not divine, but the Mother of God. What more do we need to revere her?

[Lee N. Field]

We just don't believe that she is divine in nature

Or sinless. Or forever virginal. Or snatched up to heaven without dying. Or a mediator between the believer and God. We don't see the BVM every time prophetic or poetic scripture mentions an unnamed virtuous woman.

[Cronos]

We just don't believe that she is divine in nature, and therefore don't pray to her or sing her praises.

Well, that's where Protestant misconceptions and plain wrong teachings come into place. Catholics do not consider Mother Mary to be divine -- the Theotokos is/was NOT divine, her being human makes the value of her decision even greater.