To be honest, what's being said in there isn't really any bother to me. In fact, it's rather interesting and also a bit entertaining. So that's what GT is like.
Uhhhhh, no, not really.
It's usually MUCH worse. They are being VERY nice. I'm surprised it's going as well as it is.
But I agree with Seashale - you're not going to change anyone's mind.
As a Protestant, that's probably the biggest idea, or one of them - that is most ingrained to resist about "Catholics" - and the most misunderstood.
I've heard a number of Orthodox priests say that devotion to the Theotokos is the last hurdle almost any convert faces. I will say it is true for me.
I very cautiously prayed ONE prayer - and I have to say, the results did surprise me, and I'm no stranger to having prayers answered.
Still, to be honest, where I am now is better described as "mental assent" that I understand what the Orthodox teach (in general) about the Theotokos, and I no longer see asking for her intercessions as a possible affront to God.
I do ask for intercession, but ... how can I explain this? I see her as more like someone who stands beside me, encourages me, points to Christ. You know, now that I put that into words, I'm not so sure that there's anything wrong with it.
I appreciate her. I appreciate VERY MUCH what she did in being willing to be the one through whom Christ entered the world and gave pretty much her entire life into God's service. I admire her greatly for that.
The more I learn of this saint, or that one, and it gets reinforced, the more I appreciate them, and come to love them. Mary above the others in that case, since she is the one that comes up most often. I've always loved John and Peter, for example, and I do even more so now. I've come to appreciate Paul much more than before, and Andrew and James.
Anyway. Long way to say, I've heard Orthodox priests say that if a person is going to appreciate the Thetokos, they need to have time to get to know her, and I think that is true. Coming from Sola Scriptura, there isn't much background to go on.
And yet ... there I am, fairly vigorously defending the ideas. It's been a good exercise for me.
I really NEVER got the impression that the Orthodox believe that Mary saves us. But I did raise my eyebrow the first time I heard "Theotokos save us". And I still wonder how I'm going to make my husband understand it.
