What Catholics Teach

These are the bare bones of some Catholic doctrines.

Authoritative Teaching

Tradition is seen as equal to scripture in authority, and the Church can make official pronouncements on doctrine which must be affirmed by Catholics.

Veneration and Worship

In Catholicism, there are three categories of how to honor a person. One is reserved for God alone (latria), one for Mary (hyper-dulia), and one for saints, angels, etc. (dulia). On the popular level though, the distinction is made between veneration and worship, with worship being for God alone.¹ In an older catechism, it is said that the saints deserve lesser honor and worship, but you must not give them divine honor and worship.

Images

It is seen as acceptable to honor images and statues (icons).

Beliefs About Mary

• Mary is the Mother of God.
• She is a perpetual virgin.
• She was completely sinless.
• She was taken up into Heaven, rather than dying.
• She is the greatest created being.

Accessing the Saints

Catholics argue that because the saints are alive in Christ, communicating with them does not violate the teaching to not pray to the dead.

Veneration or Worship?

Quibbling over words is rarely helpful. In this case, we can ask a simple question and answer it: Is how Catholics behave toward Mary and the saints appropriate based on the Bible’s teachings?

Who Prayers are Addressed To

Let us start by mentioning that no one is prayed to in the entire Bible but God and false gods, and there are many prayers. No godly person spoke into the air or directed his thoughts toward anyone else but God with the expectation that he would be heard. We are told to pray to the Father in the name of Christ, and nowhere are we told we can pray to dead saints and ask them to intercede with God for us. To do so is to go out on a limb and do what God has not commanded, while trusting Roman Catholic tradition. How did this work out for Saul when he did not do what God commanded but insisted that he had good intentions? The kingdom was stripped from him, and he was told that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft."

Let us also consider prayer frequency. The rosary is a collection of prayers whose popularity with Catholics cannot be overstated. In it, Mary is prayed to far more than God himself. God is first given one prayer, then Mary three. Then God is given one prayer and Mary ten! Who is really important here? Would a believer be missing out on anything if he always prayed directly to God instead? The Bible makes no suggestion that he would be making a mistake by never doing the rosary, but Catholic Answers encourages you, saying that praying more to Mary than God is fine, since it is really a prayer to God anyway! Do not let these snakes draw you away from God and toward their false version of Mary.

The Content of the Prayers

Mary and angels are often personally petitioned for help by Catholics. They are attributed the power to hear many people from Heaven and intervene in the world. This is disputed very often by Catholic resources and apologists, but looking at the actual prayers people use tells a different story than official theology. In fact, a number of these prayers themselves are official, and yet clearly do not address God as the source of all these things being prayed for or praised, but Mary or the saints.

Online, you can find prayer after prayer that clearly shows an expectation of direct help from a saint, and praise and oaths that are extremely inappropriate. For example, let us take a prayer to Joseph, the father of Jesus:

"O dearest St. Joseph, I consecrate myself to thy honor and give myself to thee, that thou mayest always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me a great purity of heart and a fervent love of the interior life. After thine example, may I do all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Divine Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary! And do thou, O Blessed St. Joseph, pray for me that I may share in the peace and joy of thy holy death Amen." Consecration to St. Joseph²

Who is the protector? Joseph.

Now take this official Marian prayer:

"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."

Memorare³

Whose protection do people flee to? Mary's. Whose help is provided? Mary's. Her intercession with God is not the only thing attributed to her. She is also implored to answer the person praying, not to speak to God.

Finally, look at this extract from another prayer, which is used by popes and laity alike:

"O Mary, Virgin most powerful and Mother of mercy, Queen of Heaven and Refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to thine Immaculate Heart.

"We consecrate to thee our very being and our whole life; all that we have, all that we love, all that we are. To thee we give our bodies, our hearts and our souls; to thee we give our homes, our families, our country..."

Consecration to Mary⁴

Most powerful? For what scriptural reason do we attribute great power to Mary? She should currently be unclothed (without a body) and awaiting the resurrection, like other believers. Who is the person praying presenting himself as a slave to obey? We are told to obey our authorities as though we are working for Christ himself, but who can we devote our very being, our hearts and our souls to but God? Can Mary protect our families and our country? In what sense is this not attributing divine power to her?

The Powers and Mercy of the Saints in Prayers

Can the disembodied saints supernaturally hear all people? Can they hear our thoughts? Are they not awaiting the resurrection for their glorified bodies? Are they more merciful than Christ our savior, who understands our difficulties and intercedes for us already? It is implied in Catholic teaching and prayers often that the saints are indeed more merciful than God. This is extremely disturbing.

“If thou [Mary] doth protect me, I shall fear nothing: not my sins, because thou wilt obtain for me their pardon and remission; not the evil spirits, because thou art mightier than all the powers of Hell; not even Jesus, my Judge, because He is appeased by a single prayer of thine.”

A Mother of Perpetual Help prayer

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Hebrews 4:15-16

Images

The Israelites weren't allowed to make an image of anything to bow down to or serve, yet both bowing to images of saints and explicitly saying you will serve Mary to an image of her are completely ordinary (see the Consecration to Mary above).

“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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”

Exodus 20:4–5

Even if you are a Catholic who really believes he is not worshiping the images, how must this look to non-Christians? Do you think they believe you are only a worshiper of God in Heaven, or that you also worship images?

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: "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?"

Matthew 22:41–45

He also pointed to disciples and said that anyone who obeys the word of God is his mother, and brother, and sister (Mark 3:35). Surely Jesus would not say that anyone who does the will of God is his mother, as though Mary did not have some special title because of her relationship to him, if Catholic Mariology is true.

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

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?⁵ 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 savior (Luke 1:47), which would not be the case if she were sinless. Saving from what? God is not unjust and does not punish the innocent. Therefore, the Roman Catholics have outright false teaching on this subject.

"By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long."

Catechism of the Catholic Church 492

"Then Mary said: 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!'"

Luke 1:47–48

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. Sealing the deal is that the scriptures mention a false god called the Queen of Heaven, yet they do not ever point out that there is a true Queen of Heaven.

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger."

Jeremiah 7:18

Should "Veneration" Be Directed Toward Mary?

Should we give special honor 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 honor of bearing Jesus, but Jesus shows that obedience to God is more significant than this.

What Is at Stake?

There are many crafty arguments used to justify the false doctrines and evil practices spoken of here, but it should be clear to all that some of these Catholic practices at least seem dubious. Again and again, the boundaries are pushed, and clear biblical statements are muddied by exceptions not mentioned in the text. Answer for yourself: is this a safe way to live? Should you risk practicing idolatry toward images and statues because the Catholic Church says it is okay? Should you worship or praise beings other than God more than you should, and affirm lies about Mary?

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Revelation 21:8

Your alternative is to reject the Roman Catholic Church but follow Christ on your own, in which case, the scripture gives you no reason to fear for your salvation. Submission to the RCC is never mentioned in the Bible, and if it was important for our salvation, it would have been made abundantly clear.

Footnotes

1. Do Catholics Worship Mary and the Saints? — Latria vs Dulia, Corpus Christi Blog. ↩

2. Consecration to St. Joseph ↩

3. Marian Prayers, Mount St. Joseph University. ↩

4. Consecration to Mary. ↩

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