A hidden teaching;

Most Catholics do not consider Mary a Goddess at all, but simply the mother of God(Jesus, who is God incarnate). They believe Mary is in heaven, praying for the church. I agree with all of the above.

Praying to Mary in the Catholic church is an OPTION and is not mandatory. Catholics when praying to Mary are simply asking her to pray FOR THEM. It's kind of like you asking someone you know that is a Christian in your church to pray for a special need you may have.

Unfortunately, many Catholics go overboard and ask Mary things that rightfully should be said to God alone. Like, they say, to thee do I entrust my soul,you are my life, my sweetness, be with me in the hour of my death. These things should be said to God ALONE. But because Marian devotions have grown over the CENTURIES in the Catholic church, so has it's liberal abuse to her in prayer.

 

I can't believe how many people who call themselves Baptists find no problem with people of today "praying" to Mary in ANY fashion and for ANY reason.

You cannot talk to people who are IN HEAVEN and not call it prayer. It is NOT the same as asking someone here on earth to pray for/with you. I do not go into my closet alone and close my eyes and bow my head, and then address my pastor and ask him to pray for me in this situation. He cannot hear me. He is a godly man, who if I CALLED him on the phone, would be more than happy to pray for me. But I would have to be speaking with him in order for him to hear me. This seems like basic physics to me.

When a person is in Heaven, they cannot hear you.........

If you assume/believe that they CAN hear you, you are imparting to them an attribute of deity....omniscience. There are thousands, nay millions, of people praying/talking to Mary all over the world every day of every year. Who does she hear? How can she hear everyone all at once? And as BAPTISTS do not tell me that God "allows" her to hear all these people. God does not give HIS attributes to mere mortals. God does not share what is HIS alone. Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence.

And to say that for Catholics praying to Mary is optional is hogwash. Part of their penance ALWAYS includes "Hail Marys". Who do you think THAT'S addressed to? True, if they don't want to be "forgiven" than they can ignore their "Hail Mary" prayers. But forgiveness for sins is partially through penitent prayers and the rosary. The rosary is all about "Hail Mary"s and "Our Fathers". That takes the whole "optional" idea and just chucks it right out the window.

This idea that Catholics just have a little bit of a different idea on how to decorate their churches, but otherwise they are Biblically sound churches, is a lie from the pit, my BAPTIST friends. We need to not sit back and just accept the differences and think it will be alright. We must realize the heresies here, and see what they are doing to these dear people! If we minimize the dangers in catholicism we are guilty of ignoring falsehoods and allowing lies of the devil to reign.

 

AMEN!
It's nothing less then a compromise of the faith. And this we can be sure of.
It doesn't matter if they consider Mary a goddess, they treat her like she is one. Mary does not have anymore power then any other dead christian. And certainly not for intercession, Jesus is our intercessor, any other is a false teaching, a false goddess.
We have to recognize falseness/heresies and speak out against them. But in the name of unity, and a little added blindness, we accept anything anyone tacks God on to, as if it validates the false teaching! I've seen it over and over, both here and among some christians I know.

 

bapmom, as a former Catholic of 21 years, I could not have said it better myself. Thanks for taking this stand.

 

We should not pray to anyone except God. However, to be accurate, Catholics would disagree that we can only pray to a God or Goddess. According to their teaching, they commonly pray to "saints" with requests. They do not hold these saints to be equal with God.

It's still wrong, but we make no progress unless we accurately describe another's position. The OP does not reflect RCC teaching, so it's not "easy to see" that.

 

I understand their possision,and I know what they call it, and what they call it is not what they are actually doing, they are trying to make it look acceptable, and it isn't biblical, and thats all I need to know.

 

Don't Catholics also teach that Mary is the "Queen of Heaven" or something like that?

 

There are more titles for Mary in the RCC than there are titles for Jesus Himself.

 

While I disagree with praying to anyone besides God the Father (yes, I even disagree with praing to Jesus), Ron is correct here. No Catholic considers Mary a deity. They believe she is in heaven, praying for the church. While I disagree with my Catholic brethren on that topic, it is incorrect for me to accuse them of worshipping any other than God.

I don't think we're saying it's okay. We're saying that we disagree with praying to Mary, but that doesn't mean they're worshipping Mary. Don't confuse recognition that it's not worship with endorsement of it.