my ex catholic wife testifies of how the priests taught her directly saying .." if you want god to hear you faster you must not pray to jesus you must pray to mary because she can get your prayers to God faster .. yup thats what she was taught as a child growing up . astounding and utter lies absolute in their lie and blasphemy .
From THIS ex-RCC'er.....
On this "praying to Mary" thing, MY experience is that the RC Denomination is all over the map on this - it just depends on WHICH Catholic teacher you're talking to (and probably how informed and articulate they are). SOME will say Mary can only be one praying FOR you (not really any different than your neighbor praying for you), but I think they are a minority. You can hear 10 different "takes" on this if you ask 10 different Catholic teachers....
What THIS ex-RCC'er so often heard in this context was BY FAR the RCC's fave miracle:
Jesus changing water into wine. THAT was usually brought up in this context. Here's the WHOLE POINT of that, we were taught. Jesus didn't want to do it.... it probably wasn't the wisest, best thing to do. BUT, Jesus obeyed ALL the commandments - perfectly, constantly! And so He obeyed His mommie! He was submissive to His mommie! His mommie wanted Him to do this - sooooooo...... even though it probably wasn't the best...... He obeyed her. Pronto! Immediately! Fast! And Mary KNEW He would (being a good, obedient Jewish boy). And HE DID!
What's the lesson? If you want Jesus to do something, ask Mary. SHE "gets it." SHE looks at things from a purely human perspective and so will emphathize with us. EVEN IF it's not really the best thing here, SHE can get it done! So......... why take the longer, harder route directly to Jesus? Go to Mary!
Now.... I'm NOT like most Protestants who hold that seeking Mary's prayers is sin or wrong or UNbibical (although I DO question the stewardship and ministerial aspects of this). On the other hand, I don't agree with the Catholic "spin" we were often taught by our Catholic teachers that somehow, SHE gets heard and obeyed via the Fourth Commandment (5th for you Calvinists and Evangelicals, lol) so that if you want your prayer heard and obeyed, go to Mary (but then not ALL Catholics do either).
IMO, I don't think we can definitively state that Mary does NOT pray for us (or even pass on our prayers).... but I equally think we cannot definitively state that she does. And I think it might be BETTER to seek the prayers, counsel, help, accountability of those who can do so (those we know HERE) but that's another issue.
Back to the issue of this thread.
- Josiah