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Wow.

What a lengthy post.

Regardless of length of post, the comments that you made regarding praying to Mary are simply incorrect and demonstrate a gross ignorance (common in the anti-Catholic crowd) of actual Catholic faith.

It has been said many, many times:

Catholics do not pray to Mary or the Saints as a form of worship. Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints as a form of asking a trusted friend for assistance. To over-simplify, think of it as calling up a friend at work and asking them to speak to the boss since the friend is at the office and you are, say, on a business trip.

Don’t be blinded by the ignorant lies told in so many protestant churches.

Something that’s always intrigued me is the fact that protestant churches preach against Catholicism fairly often, but I’ve never heard a negative word about protestants while at Mass.

I've never heard a sermon mention Catholicism before. What I'm talking about is Christianity 101. You don't pray to idols. Mary can't help you. A piece of bone can't help you. Jesus is our advocate and no one else.

This isn't ignorance of the Catholic faith, it's your ignorance of the Word of God. You have been TOLD by the church that it is praying to a friend for assistance, but God doesn't need an intercessor between you and Him. It is CLEAR in the Bible that you are to pray to God in the name above all names, Jesus.

There is not one instance of any of the apostles or Jesus invoking any other name in Scripture. Jesus Himself said to pray "Our Father, which art in Heaven". It is a tradition of men and in ERROR. It has evolved into Mary had no other children when she clearly DID, and now she is supposed to have just ascended to Heaven? Made up myth! That is Mary worship made up out of someones imagination.

Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints as a form of asking a trusted friend for assistance. To over-simplify, think of it as calling up a friend at work and asking them to speak to the boss since the friend is at the office and you are, say, on a business trip.

God is everywhere, He's with you wherever you are. It's not necessary to call a "friend" to speak to Him for you.

Further, I wouldn't think of calling my dead friends for help.

>>Catholics do not pray to Mary or the Saints as a form of worship. Catholics pray to Mary and the Saints as a form of asking a trusted friend for assistance.<<

Youre second sentence is how it is explained to me by my wife (ex-catholic). And as Chuckles says, and I agree, that is not Christian, pure and simple. Just as Mormons say Jesus “mostly” died for your sins, this implies that going to Jesus through “a trusted friend for assistance” diminishes the personal relationship he wants to have with you.

If Jesus was your brother, and he, you and Mary were all walking the earth, do you seriously think it would help your cause to, instead of talking to Him directly, go to mom and ask her to present your case to him - after he has made it abundantly clear he wants a direct and personal relationship with you?

Would it not show unbelief in what he said? Would he, being a man, not feel slighted? Remembering that he was fully man, if you were him, wouldn’t you?

It appears, AlaninSA, many of us understand what Catholics mean by praying “to Mary” more than we thought we did. And it is the very thing you described above that we ARE saying is not Christian.

Christians do not put an intercessor between themself and Jesus - even Mary. It is, frankly, an insult to His promise.