What Catholics Teach About Mary

• You ought to bow to images of her.
• They believe she is the Mother of God.
• She is a perpetual virgin.
• She was apparently sinless.
• She was taken up into Heaven, rather than dying.

Veneration or Worship?

Catholics often insist that they only pray through Mary, but this is plainly nonsense when you look at many popular Marian prayers, since they address Mary herself with requests, and expect her to help, often attributing divine power to her.

"Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen." Memorare¹

Do not be in the dark about their posture either: it is common practice to bow before images of the saints and Mary while praying. Even if you are a Catholic who really believes he is not worshipping them, how must this look to non-Christians? Do you think they believe you are only a worshipper of God in Heaven, or that you also worship images?

Mary and angels are personally petitioned for help in Catholicism. They are attributed the power to hear many people at once and perform other feats that are never mentioned to be possible in the Bible. Worst of all is when they are attributed power and authority that belong to God alone, as is very often done in popular prayers.

Mary, Mother of God?

What point was Jesus making here except that God is not the son of David, even if he is according to the flesh?

While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus questioned them: 42“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” “David’s,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’? For he says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.” ’ So if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?”

Again, he pointed to disciples and said that anyone who obeys the word of God is his mother, and brother, and sister.

The Virginity of Mary

Scripture clearly implies that Mary and Joseph had sex. The case really is closed right here:

But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:25)

Let us go on anyway, since the Bible also teaches that sex is a requirement in marriage, and since Mary had a good testimony from God and continued with the disciples after his death, I highly doubt she withheld sex from her husband permanently.

”Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.“ ‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭7‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is even more though, as Jesus had multiple brothers and sisters. Catholics rely on an unlikely interpretation of the word for brother to mean other relative or on saying that Joseph already had children before his marriage to Mary. If the former, why are they mentioned repeatedly as brothers, rather than as cousins (which there was a word for), or whatever “actual” relations they were?² If the latter, why weren’t Joseph’s other children ever mentioned during the birth narrative and fleeing to Egypt? ‭‭

Was Mary Sinless and Assumed Into Heaven?

Mary expressed a personal need for a saviour (Luke 1:47), which would not be the case if she were sinless. Therefore, the doctrine of Immaculate Conception is outright false teaching.

The Assumption of Mary was only defined as a Catholic dogma in 1950. It is that Mary was taken up into Heaven and crowned the Queen of Heaven. There is no evidence of a tradition of this belief before the 5th century, as far as I am aware. Needless to say, if there were a real “Queen of Heaven,” the Bible would have mentioned it, and you would be a fool to trust far-fetched arguments at the risk of actually committing idolatry.

Should "Veneration" Be Directed Toward Mary?

Should we give special honour to Mary because she was Jesus's mother? Well, how did Jesus respond when someone praised Mary in front of him?

"While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.' But He said, 'On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.' " (Luke 11:27–28)

Jesus explicitly dismissed the idea that Mary should be especially blessed here, instead blessing people on the basis of obeying God. No doubt, Mary was blessed to be given the honour of bearing Jesus, but Jesus shows that obedience to God is more significant than this.

The Israelites weren't allowed to make an image of anything for worship, so why should you be able to make an image of Mary to kiss, bow down to, and pray to?

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:4).

Footnotes

1. Marian Prayers, Mount St. Joseph University.\ ↩

2. Josephus, the Jewish historian from the first century, mentioned that James, the brother of Jesus, was killed. ↩