I noticed that for all the accusations of ignoring Scripture on this thread, no one says anything about the third post which quotes John 19:26,27 and reads in part: “Behold, your mother.” Mary didn’t give biological birth to John. There’s no evidence that John’s father remarried Mary. So why does Jesus tell John that she is his “mother”? Also, why does Jesus call Mary “woman” in John 19:26? Jesus calls Mary “woman” because he is alluding back to the “woman” in Genesis 3. The first “woman”, “Eve”, caused man’s fall because in her pride and disobedience, she ate from the tree. The new “woman”, the new “Eve”, by her humility and obedience, aids in mankind’s redemption by her “Yes”, by her giving birth to the Savior who hangs upon the new “tree” on Calvary.
It’s good that many on here love the Word of God. But there’s often not a very deep penetration of it. Jesus’ mention of “woman” and “mother” on the Cross are not meaningless asides or the mere mentioning of future living arrangements.
“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. ... and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” -Luke 2:19,51
If Mary is so meaningless, why is her prayer life mentioned twice in Luke 2?
Is there a profundity to her prayer life that the rest of us don’t enjoy? One can’t only “read” the Scriptures, one must “PRAY” them, seeking with the aid of the Spirit to enter into their deeper, layered, and multiple meanings.
Finally, Catholics don’t worship Mary as a goddess but they honor her as the Mother of God. Disrespect shown to Mary is a VERY RECENT development within Christianity. Even Martin Luther and Calvin were very respectful of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To say that Christians since 431 have gotten Mary wrong and that only very recent Christians have corrected the supposed error of the ancient Church and centuries of Christians much closer in time to Jesus and Mary seems quite prideful to me.
Sorry; but ANY 'disrespect' is shown to Catholic teachings about the role Mary plays in today's world.
It is ZERO.
Bookmark. ;)
“Finally, Catholics don’t worship Mary as a goddess but they honor her as the Mother of God.”
Fine, Catholics should stop saying the Rosary in her name or genuflecting in front of her statues...because from where I stand there seems to be a very thin line between the “honoring” and “worshiping” of Mary as Catholics describe and practice it!
When Stephan was stoned and just before he died, he forgave those who stoned him and then declared that he saw Christ at the right hand of the Father before giving up the ghost. I guess he died an orphan because he didn’t say he saw Mother Mary hanging around or mentioned her in the sermon that got him stoned. None of the Pauline letters include benedictions or salutations inclusive of “ the name of Mary full of Grace” or even the ones written by Peter, John, Jude, ect. When the Bible was put together in its current form, where were the books written by the apostles exclusively about Mary...certainly there were traditions in “formation” concerning Mary at that time...why was it not all written down as Holy Scripture and included? Were the early apostles asleep and inadvertently inattentive to the role of Mary as “Mother of God”? Why no books by them or by John about the final disposition of Mary (by John who took Mary into his house)? No real eye witnesses to the ascension of Mary or anything written on a parchment written by John,Paul, or Peter?
The written scripture is all we have to verify truth! If you want to make big stink about the apochrypha vs’s KJV...fine...even the apocrypha gives no written support for Mary worship(or adoration or “honoring”...whatever)!
; )