The importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God cannot be overstated, for she points to her Son, our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ and commands obedience of Him, as we see at the Wedding Feast in Cana. So yes, I do venerate our glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary, more than anyone else; she is a loving mother to all Christians and the means by which Christ our God became human, and as His mother had a closer relationship with Him than anyone else.
As regards your other points, for example, your erroneous assertion that St. Mary is dead when she is, with all the Church Triumphant, alive in Christ, but especially so, for like Elijah and a few others, she was taken bodily into Heaven, all of these have been addressed previously in the thread as my dear friend
@prodromos pointed out, and I encourage you to read the thread to obtain an orthodox response to your concern.
Lastly, it pleases me to note that in praying to the blessed Virgin Mary I am following in the footsteps of the first Protestants: Saints Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, who are also venerated as martyrs by the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, and also Martin Luther. And in affirming her perpetual virginity, I am joining the ranks of not only Luther, but Thomas Cranmer, John Calvin and John and Charles Wesley.
I have absolultly no bone to pick with you. You are free to exercise your choice of religion just as I am.
However.....when you openly make the comments you have you open the door for others who do not think as you do to say what they believe.
I DO NOT follow the directions of men or Popes or religion. I am a Bible literalist. What the Bible says is what I repeat!
Anyone is free to ignore what it says and what I repeat from its pages.
Now.....having said that, there is NO Scriptures in the Word of God which say that Mary is to be venerated, worshipped or to be considered above or better than any other person.!!!
Mary was just a person God used for His purposes. Because of certain misunderstandings about Mary, it is important to note that she was not chosen because she was more holy than other people. The angel’s address to her as “highly favored” and “blessed” is a reference to the uniqueness of her pending task, not to any level of virtuousness she had attained.
Mary was surely a godly woman, but that is not the point. Gabriel’s emphasis was on her
privilege, not her
piety. She had “found favor with God” (verse 30), but that says more about God’s goodness than Mary’s.
When we actually READ the Bible, we can see that the angel gives Mary a number of high compliments, BUT, nothing indicates that she is worthy of worship, or veneration let alone being an intercessor between
Jesus Christ and His followers, or a Co-Redemptrix, sinless for her entire life, or given any other honor aside from being God's chosen vessel for the purpose of the Son of God being made flesh and blood.
Now, all of that stuff mentioned above is Catholic Denomination teaching and IS NOT FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE BIBLE.
Again, with all respect, you are free to believe it and accept it and do it, but you can not do it and say that it comes from BIBLICAL directions. That is ALL I am saying.
God chose Mary to be the mother of the Messiah for several reasons........
1. Mary was of the right lineage.
2. Mary was engaged to a man whose heritage would require him to visit Bethlehem at just the right time.
3. Mary was a virgin.
4. Mary was from Nazareth.