Comments | jsph123: (без темы)

jsph123

(Untitled)

Jan 01, 2008 11:42

Any person remotely aware of religious history knows that idol worship has played a major role in cultures for thousands of years. Even today, statues of the virgin Mary and Catholic saints adorn churches and village squares all throughout the world. In India there are thousands of gods worshipped, their stone or wood images prevalent throughout ( Read more... )

god, religion, jesus

Comments 4

ptbirdsong January 2 2008, 15:48:59 UTC

Hey! I actually agree with you on something! We HAVE made an idol of Jesus. Not only Jesus, but we've made an idol of scripture as well. We have made these two so perfect and above us that they are untouchable and unquestionable, and in that we have lost our spiritual curiosity and do not challenge ourselves to grow in our spritual experiences. There is no question that Jesus cannot handle and no inquiry that scripture cannot withstand and keep it's value as a teaching of God.

There is a correction that I have for you though. I do not know where you learned about the Catholic church, but your designation of statues of Mary as "idols" refelcts a negative bias and an all-too-common misunderstanding and ignorance of Catholic theology, and Christian history.

No Catholic worships the Virgin Mary or any other Saint. They are venerated. The difference is that they are not seen as being incarnations of God, or demigods, but essentially God's All-Star team. These are people who were just people, but so faithful, and so skilled in ( ... )

worship jsph123 January 2 2008, 17:52:41 UTC

I would disagree with your correction. You may say the virgin Mary amongst the other saints is only venerated, but you are so, so wrong ( ... )

ptbirdsong January 3 2008, 16:04:19 UTC

I've been a member of the Catholic church, have Catholic parents, was given a religious education by Catholics, and have been friends and acquaintances with Catholics for much of my life. I have lived most of my time in the St. Louis area, probably in the top ten of Catholic areas in the country and I have never known of, witnessed, or participated in worship of Mary. That is my experience, and I think that if there are those that take veneration of Mary too far, that they are in the gross minority, or it is a regional phenomenon ( ... )

jsph123 January 8 2008, 23:32:34 UTC

I would argue against the worship of Mary as being a regional phenomenon. And I believe that there is enough scripture in the Bible to refute the need for praying to the "saints", or to Mary herself.
Your last statement fully explains the comflict: that reasoning and scripture do not always walk hand in hand. My question to you is then: why do it?
If you know it to be wrong, or at least non-Biblical, then why do it? To make you feel better?
How about offending God? That's like stressing angels instead of God. They are the creation, as we are, and He is the Creator. "I have angels watching over me..."
No, people who say that don't realize that angels only do what God tells them to do. So there is no reason to hold them higher than us. My point being, we are not to hold anyone or anything in the same context with God, and that includes prayer and sainthood (We are called "saints", by the way).

End of story. Amen.