[cookcounty]

There’s a lot I like about the Catholic Church, but the whole “Mother of God” as opposed to “Mother of Christ” is just a bridge too far. It makes no sense. Maybe they mean she is the ideal Mother, but the terminology is an awful way to communicate that.

If Christ pre-existed the world (as the New Testament teaches with in-your-face clarity) then Mary as Mother (and therefore creator of) of his Divinity also pre-existed the world. This all falls right into the muslims’ complaint that Christians believe God has sexual relations with other beings. What a mess.

Why isn’t it enough to say, with Scripture, “blessed is she among women?”

[Boogieman]

“If Christ pre-existed the world (as the New Testament teaches with in-your-face clarity) then Mary as Mother (and therefore creator of) of his Divinity also pre-existed the world. This all falls right into the muslims’ complaint that Christians believe God has sexual relations with other beings. What a mess.”

It gets even worse when you toss in the Catholic title “Queen of Heaven”. After all, Christ is King of the Kingdom of Heaven, so if Mary is Queen, there is an additional incestuous implication. The Catholics try to avoid this by saying they mean something like the British term “Queen Mother”, but the title by itself is troubling and creates unnecessary implications.

[ronnietherocket3]

The issue comes with the statement "Mary as Mother (and therefore creator of)"

How does a woman become the mother of a child? In the modern world we understand mother in the sense that the mother of a child gives the egg cell, gives birth to and raises a child. However, the first one, the mother gives the egg cell could not have applied 2000 years ago since the human egg cell was only discovered in the 19th cent. However it was well understood that a child took shape in his/her mother's womb. So it would be reasonable to say that the ancient understanding would be the mother of a child is the woman in whose womb the child formed, gave birth to and raised.

It is in the latter sense that the phrase Mother of God can be understood without claiming that Mary created God. Jesus was born of her and raised by her (to the extent that one can say Jesus was raised by a human).