Bandit said:
i do not pray to mary and i never will. the bible does not say she is the mother of God. I am not subject to any man of religious leadership.
this little bit of history, the scripture used and the topic of the thread do not have a common denominator.
i feel this was started in part to provoke division among the Christian brothers of like faith.
i will also point out your loose and swaying use of the word divine and its forms. it is only used in the scripture about 5 times relating to the goodness of God and femine and masculine is not attatched. Of its 25 other uses in the scripture it is in reference to evil and wickedness of men.
You use the word quite often and out of context of WHAT IS.
Star, I will never trust your mystic teaching.
If I may be so bold. Catholics do not "pray" to Mary. They ask Mary to intervene for them. Same with the saints. The rosary is not a prayer to Mary either. It is a means of focussing on the three sets of mysteries of Jesus and His life (Sorrowful, Joyful, and Glorious).
Did, catholics are Christians. And it is true that there is a type of mysticism about catholicism.
Mary, did not achieve "perfection" or an "immaculate heart" until it was decreed by the Vatican counsul. What she did do, was accept the will of God who had decreed, that He had found favor with Mary.
Mary also had influence over her son Jesus, as is noted at the Wedding in Cannan.
The division of the catholic church began in earnest by Father Marin Luther, 500 years ago, because of the corruption of the people presiding over the church, not due to the church itself.
Last note on Mary. "Mariolatry" means the worship of Mary, giving her the kind of honor due only to God (Greek:
latria). Since Catholics justifiably give her greater honor than they give other saints, but less than they give to God (and not just less, but a fundamentally different kind of honor), Mariolatry does not exist in Catholic piety. In fact, the Catholic Church forbids Mariolatry because it forbids us to worship anyone other than God himself: "Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God. . . . Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God"
But for anyone to decree that any honor given to Mary constitutes Mariolatry, is wrong. He is unable to distinguish mere honor from adoration. One wonders if he thinks people adore as God the judges whom they call "Your Honor," or whether God decrees "parent-olatry" when he commands, "Honor your father and your mother" (Ex. 20:12).
Of course this is merely one catholic Christian's perspective...
v/r
Q