If we are to model ourselves after Jesus Christ and imitate His life
We can personally share with Jesus, right now . . . in us >
"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)
In actual union with us Jesus shares how He is and how He loves . . . having us flowing in sharing with Him >
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
So - - there is no second-hand way of trying to imitate Him and how He walked. In us, we are growing in discovering how He is, by being changed by Him to become and love like He is and loves. In His love >
"Love has been perfected in us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
"as He is, so are we in this world" > because His perfect love in us has been perfecting us.
And you can check out Galatians 4:19 >
"My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you," (Galatians 4:19)
So, if this is what you mean by modeling and imitating . . . I agree.
by doing what He did while He was alive,
Well, I haven't raised anyone from the dead. But I trust Jesus to have me loving like He has done.
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)
Even if I do not cast out demons and heal maimed people, I can be sweet-smelling to God while I am loving any and all people.
would praying to Mary be something we would do?
While on earth, as I recall the gospels, nowhere does Jesus consult with Mary or pray to her.
And in the book of Acts nowhere does the early church have anything about the church consulting with or praying to or doing devotionals to Mary. And, of course, while the disciples were waiting for the Holy Spirit, Mary was there praying >
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." (Acts 1:14)
So, this appears to say that Mary prayed along with everyone else. And, of course, not all Catholics claim that they "pray" to Mary > ones understand that Mary is not God and therefore not one to pray to.
In any case, Jesus did not leave them in her hands, but she prayed along with the others, and then Peter and other leaders took care of things.
And, by the way, Jesus Himself "makes intercession for us," we have in Romans 8:34. Jesus who is God's own Son is praying for us according to His faith. And I have not been made aware of any Catholic telling me that we need to keep asking Jesus for His intercession. Because Jesus is obedient; He makes intercession for us because our Father has Him to do so. An obedient one is already obeying by praying for us; there is no need to keep begging someone obedient to pray for us.
So, my opinion is that the real Mary would not need to have ones constantly asking her for prayer. And saints are commanded to pray for all the saints . . . so ones perfected in Heaven would have no need to keep being reminded and asked for prayer.
Actually, we ourselves are commanded to pray "for all the saints" > Ephesians 6:18. So, if we ourselves are commanded to pray for all saints, why ever would we need to beg people who have died to pray for us . . . if they really are praying and this is obeying how all of us are ***commanded*** to pray for all saints?
So . . . no . . . even if Mary were praying for people . . . she would be obedient to do this, no need for anyone to be giving her such attention as ones do, when we ourselves are required to be praying for any and all people. We have our things to do, and so we do not need to be using our time to tell anyone else who is obedient what to do!
are led by the spirit of God - not by a bunch of books which Jesus never needed, never commanded, never mentioned, & never promised. There is no NT evidence that Jesus ever thought of any other "new testament" than this one: "This cup is the new testament in my blood" (St Luke 22.20). If Jesus fulfilled the Old Law, so that it is totally defunct, then, if He fulfilled the OT, it too must be equally defunct. So if the Old Law is "done away in Christ", the Old Scriptures must be equally "done away in Christ". So a "new testament" Christian will be led by the spirit of God, and will not rely on carnal, dead, books such as the defunct Jewish Scriptures, and the imaginary New Testament Scriptures, of which Jesus knew nothing. A true reformation in the Church would cast out carnal, dead, books like the Bible, because the law of God would be written on men's hearts instead. True Christians, obeying the wise - though not Scriptural - words of John 14.6, go to Christ - not to the Bible. Jesus never told the thief on the cross to read the Bible. Salvation is by faith - not by Bible-reading. The Church, not the Bible, is "the pillar and foundation of the truth". The Pharisees and Sadducees "search[ed] the Scriptures", and much good it did them. Bible-reading leads to crucifying Christ, as they did. Scripture is the devil's most powerful weapon. The Bible in modern Evangelicalism has become a new Dagon, able to stand up only if its worshippers support it. Like all other idols, it cannot speak, cannot see, cannot hear, cannot smell, cannot touch, cannot taste, cannot walk. And like all other idolatries, this too makes idolaters fools. The fruits of Bible-reading are, to say the least of it, extremely dubious and questionable. Evangelicals cannot serve both Christ and Scripture; for if they serve one, they will despise the other.
