Why don't protestants bless Mary?

[Aldebaran]

I will disagree with you that she is an ordinary person, just like you and me. The fact remains out of all the women that were born or will ever be born Mary was the favoured. In other words Mary was singled out as the better of any person for the important role that brought humanity salvation.

Can I or you say that we were favoured or better than other men and women?

God chooses to bless those of His own choosing. It doesn't mean she was "better" than anyone else, just as those of us who have been saved through grace are no better than anyone else. Otherwise, we would have reason to become proud. Paul spoke about this in one of his letters.

 

[My Shalom]

God already blessed Mary by finding her worthy of delivering the son of man to the earth.

There is one mediator between God and humanity and that is Jesus Christ alone. 1 Timothy 2:5

Scripture says that all nations will call Mary blessed. Why is it that so many Protestants refuse to do so? Are they so afraid of appearing Catholic that they are willing to disrespect the Mother of our Lord? The only time they ever even talk about Mary when they either drag her out for Christmas or, in extreme cases, when they are disparaging her to say she was merely an incubator and no one special. What is with that?

 

[Aldebaran]

God already blessed Mary by finding her worthy of delivering the son of man to the earth.

There is one mediator etween God and humanity and that is Jesus Christ alone. 1 Timothy 2:5

And His earthly mom! Also the apostles! Don't forget to pray to anyone the Pope says is a "saint", even though a saint is defined in the bible as anyone saved through the grace of Christ.

Seriously though, 1 Tim 2:5 can't be more clear, so it puzzles me how some people think there are other mediators.

 

[Berean777]

God chooses to bless those of His own choosing. It doesn't mean she was "better" than anyone else, just as those of us who have been saved through grace are no better than anyone else. Otherwise, we would have reason to become proud. Paul spoke about this in one of his letters.

It is not about me or you to be proud of Mary for that would be a Sin to put a created being to such a high stature. It would be only in commeration of Mary, rather than glorification. The difference is that we remember the marvelous works of God through Mary and in that regard we hold Mary special to our hearts as a unique servant who became what God wanted her to become.

So in this respect we are proud of God by his works through Mary.

Again it is God who anounced through the Angel Gabriel that Mary is most favoured meaning special and so I need to regard Mary as more special than me because God said so, pure and simple.

I only execute God's word and therefore I cannot opine in this regard.

 

[Standing Up]

Seriously though, 1 Tim 2:5 can't be more clear, so it puzzles me how some people think there are other mediators.

You need a mediator to get to The Mediator, don't 'cha know

And, you will look more humble that way. Like the wizard, they think, you presume to approach Christ Jesus

 

[Berean777]

God already blessed Mary by finding her worthy of delivering the son of man to the earth.

There is one mediator etween God and humanity and that is Jesus Christ alone. 1 Timothy 2:5

One mediator absolutely Jesus Christ.

 

[prodromos]

Seriously though, 1 Tim 2:5 can't be more clear, so it puzzles me how some people think there are other mediators.

You need a mediator to get to The Mediator, don't 'cha know

You guys never ask anyone else to pray for you, do you?

 

[Berean777]

The question of the spiritual bride approaching the groom directly from heart to heart or through the heart of another significant member of the body of Christ, is being contended here on the thread called "why don't protestants bless Mary?"

I think that it is sidetracking the intent of the thread.

People on one camp are saying we don't accept Mary as mediator, so in that regard we don't bless Mary and on the other camp they are saying we accept Mary as mediator so we do bless Mary.

I like to add that blessing Mary has nothing to do with accepting her as mediator!

 

[concretecamper]

You guys never ask anyone else to pray for you, do you?

The spin around this is "they are dead" and cannot hear you. Sort of makes you wonder about all the dead people around the thrown in Revelations and what business they had being so alive.

 

[Grafted In]

Why doesn't Peter bless Mary?
That's Peter, as in the first pope. Why doesn't he bless Mary?

 

[Berean777]

Why doesn't Peter bless Mary?
That's Peter, as in the first pope. Why doesn't he bless Mary?

We can't be 100% certain that he didn't, because not all that Peter said is written down as a testimony.

Mt opinion that Mary is not mentioned in the gospels is because it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and not Mary.

Having said that I do believe that the apostles did revere Mary and the evidence is found by the way that Jesus told John to respect Mary as his mother.

This statement is a direction to the eldest apostle and is a reminder that Peter was rebuked by the Lord when he tried to be the head of John.

It is no trivia that Mary is a silent Saint and therefore is identified as the blessed virgin who we all are yo respect as we respect our own mothers and more.

 

[concretecamper]

Why doesn't Peter bless Mary?
That's Peter, as in the first pope. Why doesn't he bless Mary?

So over 30 years as Pope, and there are 2 short epistles attributed to him, and you think everything he should have said is recorded in these 2 short letters....are you kidding me?

 

[Grafted In]

No

 

[Grafted In]

These words were spoken by Jesus Christ in Mathew 11:11. Why does no one idolize John the Baptist?

"Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he"

 

[prodromos]

These words were spoken by Jesus Christ in Mathew 11:11. Why does no one idolize John the Baptist?

Have you looked at the iconostasis in most Orthodox Churches lately? You will usually see Mary on Christ's right and John the Forerunner on His left.

 

[ToBeLoved]

Would you say that you actively bless Mary, or is it just a passive thing that you acknowledge when the subject is brought up?

Why would we bless Mary? Bless her for what? I'm sure she is in heaven with Christ, so what blessing does she need?

We call her blessed (her blessed by God) to have been Jesus mother. That's what the Bible says. Not to bless Mary.

 

[ToBeLoved]

We can't be 100% certain that he didn't, because not all that Peter said is written down as a testimony.

Mt opinion that Mary is not mentioned in the gospels is because it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and not Mary.

Having said that I do believe that the apostles did revere Mary and the evidence is found by the way that Jesus told John to respect Mary as his mother.

This statement is a direction to the eldest apostle and is a reminder that Peter was rebuked by the Lord when he tried to be the head of John.

It is no trivia that Mary is a silent Saint and therefore is identified as the blessed virgin who we all are yo respect as we respect our own mothers and more.

I think the main difference is Jesus is God and Mary is not God.

Having said that, I do not think that anyone shows Mary any disrespect at all.

 

[Berean777]

I think the main difference is Jesus is God and Mary is not God.

Having said that, I do not think that anyone shows Mary any disrespect at all.

Yes, Jesus is God and our one and only mediator.

However saying blessed is Mary doesn't make her our mediator nor does it make her deity.

To respect Mary is to recognise and to commemorate her as the mother of all ages/centuries. In the same spirit that we recognise the mother of the year, we also are required to recognise the mother of all ages/centuries.

We may wilfully not want to recognise her as such and that may be construed as being disrespectful. This is not to cast stones upon those who do it wilfully and who also teach others, but it is to remind them that we need to look at Mary from the point of view of our own mothers and in this matter acknowledging your mother is required is it not?

Would you not say blessed is my mother for she brought me into the world and so in like we say blessed is Mary that bore our Lord and saviour.

 

[Standing Up]

People on one camp are saying we don't accept Mary as mediator, so in that regard we don't bless Mary and on the other camp they are saying we accept Mary as mediator so we do bless Mary.

I like to add that blessing Mary has nothing to do with accepting her as mediator!

So, when we ask each other to pray for us (mediate), we are blessing each other?

 

[Berean777]

So, when we ask each other to pray for us (mediate), we are blessing each other?

Firstly, when we pray for each other, we are doing it as the spiritual bride of Christ, in one Spirit, that is, the body of Christ. So in this regard we are not mediating on each other's behalf, rather as one body in Christ, as it is written, where 2 or more are gathered in the Lord's name, we are petitioning our intentions through prayers, to the one mediator who is Christ.

Secondly, we are not blessing one another through our power, when we pray for others. Rather we are again petitioning to the one shepherd Christ Jesus to bless certain members within the body, so to fulfill the Lord's will.

Thirdly and lastly, the word bless can be used also to show high regard to one who is blessed, meaning Barack, which implies that we are putting the pride we have for the Lord, on display through our hearts. So when I say "blessed are you my Father, you alone know all things, blessed is your name forever!", this implies a Semitic form of supplication with the intent to glorify God.

Mary falls under the third usage of the word blessed, where we are glorifying God through his servant Mary.

We are the temple and Holy instruments within his Holy Temple and so we are glorifying the works of the Lord through members of his body.

One Old Testament prophet summed it up poetically as follows:

Isaiah 8:18
Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Now, allow me to contextualise this statement according to the New Testament believers.

Here we are as the spiritual bride of Christ, and the children like apostles, Mary and all the saints the Lord has given us. We of the body of Christ are signs and symbols in Christ's church from the Lord God Almighty, who dwells in his Holy Temple.

To bless Mary is to glorify God. In fact to bless each other who do the Lord's marvellous works, we are glorifying God as we are all instruments, signs and symbols of his Holy works.

If we bless one another today, then we do not differentiate between the present and the departed members of Christ's body, who also glorify God, even though they are not around to do it themselves. So that leaves his present members to glorify God from Abraham down to the last member of his body who the sovereign Lord puts his marvellous works on display.

As Jesus said I go to my Father and if you ask in my name, greater works of the Father will manifest through you.

Now whether departed or present all are counted as living stones and if we nit pick who we want to bless in that regard, we are playing favouritism and not sincere in our praise of God.

Do we want to show insincerity to God by picking and choosing who we want to bless?

I don't think so!