as I do God because the Bible and the teachings of my Church explicitly forbid it.
IT is GOD that forbids it. Your church says it is wrong yet permits it. Doesn’t correct anyone, encourages it.
My question to you, is WHY would you kneel and pray to an IMAGE of Mary when God invites you into a personal relationship with him as FATHER through the Holy Spirit and Jesus.
“My question to you, is WHY would you kneel and pray to an IMAGE of Mary when God invites you into a personal relationship with him as FATHER through the Holy Spirit and Jesus.”
In my question is why do people hold the Apostle Paul in such high regard? He never really even met Jesus, he talks about Jesus coming to him but this was 40 or 50 years after Jesus had already passed away and risen.
That’s why we have theology.
How many have taken college level theology classes? I certainly have and it almost turned me into an unbeliever because it is so factual in regards to the documentation and the validity thereof in a historical context. Theology rarely delves into faith.
Theology is an investigation into the authenticity of all things relating to Christianity and Hebrew, all things; documents, historical documents validity of documents validity of translations validity of people, the archaeological tepresentations... the screening of texts, comparative studies of various translations of text from differing ancient origins.
To study Faith go to Sunday school, a lot of times people take a few years theology, which is a facinating “science” and come away less a Christian than before. TMI? Perhaps, it can become a quest, or a pursuit. A gut feeling or inner peace may be the only explaination some would ever need.
Heart knowledge? Yes! I also think head knowledge is important to comprehend the historical times, idioms, practices and surroundings.
There’s not a day goes by when I see some representation of a Biblical scripture primarily because there is nothing new Under the Sun, and Human Nature might be finite.
But it’s very interesting to me when I hear or see something or read something or catch a news item that it just clicks in my head that is like just like what happened in this particular chapter or verse, or book... it’s amazing.
It’s also very helpful to understand that it was all understood during ancient times thousands of years ago.
I just told you I didn't. I think I know better what is going on in my mind when I pray than you do.
IT is GOD that forbids it. Your church says it is wrong yet permits it. Doesn’t correct anyone, encourages it.
As I said, the Church explicitly teaches against it. I could take the trouble to show you where in Church teaching it teaches this if I didn't know you would just ignore it. The teaching is there for all to see; it is not the Church's fault that many Catholics are too lazy to learn their Faith at an adult level.
My question to you, is WHY would you kneel and pray to an IMAGE of Mary when God invites you into a personal relationship with him as FATHER through the Holy Spirit and Jesus.
Catholics don't pray to images, they pray to the Saint in heaven who is represented by the statue. When non-Catholics kneel beside their bed with a Bible in their hands, they are not praying to their bible (I hope) but to God.
It's been said a billion times in these forums but I'll just repeat it for those who are not closed-minded anti-Catholics: Praying to Saints is just the same as one Christian asking another to pray for them. The only reason Protestants see this as worship is because they have an impoverished idea of worship where prayer and singing is the highest form of worship there is. Catholics recognize that worship is much more than that, thus we have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which Christ himself instituted at the Last Supper and which thereafter the Church, beginning with the Apostles, followed his commandment to "do this in memory of me).
Sorry, but I don't have time to get bogged down in the same endless debates repeatedly dug up by rabid anti-Catholics in these forums again and again, ad nauseum. Don't have a sincere desire to understand Catholic teaching, then don't be a Catholic. It's as easy as that. Have a blessed evening.