Venerating Mary Undermines Worshiping God

Answering a question on Quora:

How does our veneration of Mary and the saints relate to our worship of God?

According to Merriam-Webster:

Definition of WORSHIP

1: to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power

2: to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion

Definition of VENERATE

1: to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference

2: to honor (an icon, a relic, etc.) with a ritual act of devotion

As you can see, both worship and veneration involve reverence, respect, honor, and devotion. The only difference is the object of veneration or devotion. So they’re the same thing; people just use one word for God and a different word for saints such as Mary.

In other words, an institution plays word games when it says, “We don’t worship Mary or saints, we venerate them.”

The Catholic institution claims Mary is a “co-mediatrix” and “co-redemptrix” with God the Son, placing her on the same level, with regard to mediation and redemption, with the infinite God the Son. To be precise, although the Roman Catholic Church does not officially endorse such teachings, it allows them, and large segments of the institution actively defend and promote them.

On the other hand, the Bible says, “For there is one God, one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…” (1 Timothy 2:5.) Christ plus Mary = 2, not 1. So, logically, if there is one Mediator, God the Son, then depending on another mediator takes away from the reverence, respect, honor, and devotion due to the One.

As infinite God the Son, Christ is omnipresent and omniscient. As such, He can be aware of thousands of simultaneous prayers spread across Earth’s surface (and perhaps a few in orbit). But how can any mere human possess that omnipresent awareness and multi-process thousands or millions of simultaneous voices?

One priest explained to me that people see God as stern and unsympathetic, so they turn to Mary to intercede with Christ. This implies that Mary is more loving and sympathetic than Christ, and therefore quicker to intercede for us. Put another way, Mary’s love and sympathy is greater than God’s, or God is inferior to Mary. Pause for a moment and re-read that.

The scriptures, on the other hand, says Jesus is our high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, “One who has been tempted in all things as we are” (Hebrews 4:15), and is “able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Closer to the hearts of those who become biblical Christians God’s way, “the [Holy] Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and… He intercedes for the saints (all believers) according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26–27).

So, rather than chanting mindlessly and praying to saints, we are commanded by God to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). We do not know that saints in heaven hear us, let alone individually. However, we do know that the brother or sister we ask for prayer hears us, that Christ hears us, and that the Holy Spirit not only hears us, but also corrects our prayers. So, what does it say about our reverence, respect, honor, and devotion to God when we disobey the command to come directly to Him and instead give it to His creatures?

The Catholic institution says that Mary reigns with Christ in heaven. However, the scriptures say that Christ shares God’s own glory and sits on the right side of God’s throne (Hebrews 8:11, Hebrews 12:2), and the LORD (YHWH) says “I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8). Can we say of Mary,

“Yours, LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion, LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all“ (1 Chronicles 29:11)?

If a Catholic usurped titles, roles, and attributes of the Pope, you could rightly call it irreverence, disrespect, dishonor, and disloyalty. And if I usurped a title, role, or attribute of God such as Mediator, Redeemer, or omnipresence, you could rightly call it irreverence, disrespect, dishonor, and disloyalty — in short, blasphemy.

So practices of “veneration” such as creating and servicing images of saints, praying to them, and taking time away from worshiping God not only minimizes worship of God, but actually insults Him.

(Dear Catholic: I don’t hate you. I want better for you. But that requires following the gospel, which Rome has severely distorted. Biblical grace is a “gift” to be received as a free, once-for-all gift direct from God. It is not something earned because anything earned is no longer a gift. Unfortunately, that’s out of scope here.)

Copyright 2021 Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use. Please give credit where credit is due.

Praying for Wealth

From a question on Quora 

Is there a specific mantra or prayer for financial prosperity and wealth?

I answer from a Christian perspective. If you are considering mantras, my answer is probably irrelevant. Hopefully, it will help other, future readers. I had three points to make in answer to the question.

Jack Richards’ answer made my first point. Christians should concern themselves with what good they can do for others and what sort of persons they are, not with how to be come healthy and wealthy. God chooses to make some wealthy so they can help others, but His heart goes out to the lowly and He rewards those who love serving others.

The standard for what Christians should believe is their Bible. There is a type of Christianity called the Prosperity Gospel that deviates from biblical teachings. It emphasizes health and prosperity instead of emphasizing growth in holiness, service to God and others, and spreading the good news that God redeems people at His own expense if they will only receive it.

The prosperity gospel works for its leaders — at the expense of gullible people who love being flattered and whose minds are on materialism. Its mass manipulation and prestidigitation appeal to people who lack knowledge of such matters. It also appeals to people with shallow faith, who need extraordinary proofs before they can trust God for deeper relationships.

Prosperity gospel preachers often teach people to say specific words, such as commanding wealth to come to them. This is not only unbiblical, it is antibiblical. It is so American — and so human. It is a wrong mindset, as described in Marcus Anderson’s answer.

Marcus made my second point by giving an example of a prayer from the Bible about wealth, made with a right mindset. The prayer asks for enough prosperity to meet needs. We need enough wealth to buy food, clothing, shelter, education, transportation. We need enough left over to help others. So asking for income, or, better, ways to earn income, is right.

However, prosperity is a trap for most people. It tempts us to think we are the source of prosperity and forget to thank God for giving us the ability to earn. We become self-sufficient instead of depending on God. Gaining and protecting wealth tempts us into moral compromise and even into treating others unjustly. And every week, we read about how wealth gave some celebrity the means to indulge in self-destructive vices. Whatever we give a higher priority to than we give to God becomes an idol.

My third point is that Christianity is not a religion of magic. Words have power to inform, convince, and motivate people; but they have no power over physical things. Words can deceive or show disrespect. In that sense, they have power to cause a negative reaction. This is especially true when treating labels for God as worthless or usurping His titles. Fortunately, we can also use words in prayer to convince God to do things. But in prayer, there are conditions; primarily:

• God is Spirit, so the thoughts and intents of our spirits are as real to Him as our actions are. Our words are powerless with God if our intents do not correspond.
• God has plans of His own for running the universe. Our prayers must be moral and must fit with God’s plans.
• God loves His family and provides for them. He sometimes demonstrates His presence for the sake of those not yet in His family. But He has no obligation to creatures who owe all their obligation to Him. 

Christianity is not like magic or like other religions in which words have power of their own. Mantras and pre-written “prayers” do not impress God. Jesus of Nazareth said, “When you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard” (Matthew 6:7). The word in the ancient Greek manuscripts was βαττολογέω (battalogeó), which meant to stammer, utter nonsensical repetitions, be long-winded, or use empty, formalistic words. It describes practices from those requiring prayer beads (e.g., Catholic, Buddhist, shamanic), Pentecostal / Charismatic tongues-speaking, formulaic prayers heard in liturgical churches, and bloviating prayers anywhere else.

Christianity is a relationship, and a prayer is one side of a conversation within that relationship. Prayer is simply reasoned asking in humility and dependence. If your heart drives you to repeat yourself, it is not wrong. It is even commendable to think deeply about your request and present reasons as part of your request. The power, there, is in examining your own intentions and opening up your heart to God.

But manipulative repetition is disrespectful, and God will not respect it. Many Christians fall into using pre-written prayers. That is an acceptable method for those who cannot stay focused or who find prayers that express their hearts. They must take care, however, that such prayers do not become shallow formulas, lazy ways to avoid thinking deeply, or evasive ways to avoid opening up their hearts before God.

Copyrighte 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use; and I trust you to give credit where credit is due.