When you go into a Catholic Church and you
see a big, splendid statue of Mary with
flowers in front of it, a bank of candles lit
before it and an old woman kneeling down,
fervently praying her rosary it would seem to
be what it looks like: the woman is worshipping
a statue of Mary.
But if you ask the old woman if she is
worshipping Mary she’d say,
“Whataryatalkinabout?, I’m praying the
rosary.”
So what is going on? First we have to define
“worship”. From time immemorial worship was
identified with a particular action: the action
of sacrifice. Pagans worshipped their gods by
making sacrifices to them. The Jews
worshipped by making sacrifice to Jahweh.
The reason we moderns get confused about
worship is that we’ve forgotten the principle
of sacrifice so we don’t really know what
worship is all about. This is understandable
from Protestants because they got worried
about the sacrifice thing 500 years ago and
threw it out. What is most depressing is that
most Catholics also don’t understand the
“sacrifice is worship” idea either. They’ve been
told the Mass is all about “the family of God
gathering around the table of fellowship to
increase their mutual self esteem and discuss
peace and justice issues.”
Because of this nonsense the majority of
American Catholics don’t have a clue what the
sacrifice business is all about, and therefore
they don’t know what worship is supposed to
be about either. Like the neo-Prots that they
are they have come to think that worship is all
about hearing a sermon, singing some songs and
praying.
Now we’re getting down to the reason why
Protestants think Catholics worship Mary.
They think worship and prayer are the same
thing. Therefore, if you are praying to Mary
you must be worshipping Mary.
Well, the Catholic faith has been around for a
long time, and believe it or not, these questions
have been asked before, and the Catholics have
the answer. It goes like this: there are three
categories of respect due in the realm of
worship. They go by specific names: Latria,
Dulia and Hyperdulia. Latria is worship. It is
the worship that is due only to God. This
worship consists of offering God our lives, our
souls, our minds and our bodies as a living
sacrifice (Romans. 12. 1-2) We do this pre-
eminently through the sacrifice of the Mass.
Dulia is not worship. It is honor. We honor
anyone who is eminent and accomplished. We
honor them for their brains, their discipline,
their wit, their achievement. We honor our
parents and grandparents because we owe
them that. We honor our loved ones. Part of
this honor is that we ask them for things. We
come to them with our needs. We look up to
them. We respect them. They are our role
models and mentors. We have a relationship to
them of subservient honor. They are awesome
to us. Dulia is also what we give to the saints
and angels. We give them the honor that is due
to them. As part of this we have a relationship
with them. We ask them for things. This is
called “praying to the saints.”
Hyperdulia is the honor we give to the Virgin
Mary. We give her the highest honor because
she is unique amongst all God’s creation. She is
higher than the cherubim and seraphim. She is
the only created being who was honored by
God so greatly that his son took his flesh from
her. She has totally unique place of honor in
heaven and therefore also amongst all of God’s
people on earth. The honor we give her,
therefore, and the dulia we give her is higher
than any other being. But it is not latria.
We’re clear about that. We do not worship
Mary. The sign of this is that we do not make
sacrifice to her. You don’t find any Catholic
priest offering a Mass to Mary. No. The
sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God the
Almighty Father.
This also should be understood clearly: the
dulia and hyperdulia which we give to Mary
and the saints is ultimately honor given to God.
We honor the saints (including the Blessed
Mother) not for who they are, but for who
God made them to be. We honor in them the
completed work of grace. We honor in them
their faithful obedience, which itself is a gift
from God. The Blessed Virgin says, “the
Almighty has done great things for me!” We
honor Mary and the saints because we are
struck with delight and awe at the wonderful
things God has done for them. As the moon
reflects the sun, so the Virgin and saints
reflect the light of Christ. Without him they
are nothing. With him they have become
divinized–sons and daughters of the Almighty
Father.
Finally, we insist that it is proper devotion to
the Blessed Virgin Mary which corrects all the
other errors. Do you think it is a co incidence
that as neo-Protestantism has grown in the
Catholic Church that Marian devotion has been
marginalized, limited sometimes even banned
or prohibited? When Marian devotion plays
its proper part in the life of the Church we
also start to realize what real worship is, and
how important the sacrifice of the Mass is to
everything else. This is why, despite
misunderstandings we come back time and
again to thank God for Mary and to honor her
as the greatest of all created beings.

Super story

JudismphD: Super story

Why do you say so judi?

@ op, the answer to your question is "YES". they worship Mary, hence relegating the worship oF the Almighty God to the background.

uboma: @ op, the answer to your question is "YES". they worship Mary, hence relegating the worship oF the Almighty God to the background.

Sorry, the answer is NO. Read the thread and know why!

uboma: @ op, the answer to your question is "YES". they worship Mary, hence relegating the worship oF the Almighty God to the background.

I've been a silent follower of urs and have always respected ur posts because I find them intelligent. Until this

kool J:


I've been a silent follower of urs and have always respected ur posts because I find them intelligent. Until this

Oh my!!! Did I just break your heart? I'm positive you are a Catholic as well. Anywhere, I see and say things objectively without minding whose ego is altered. I have a couple of friends who are Catholics as well, so I can rightly say that the Catholics worship Mary. Is it right to have the image of Mary or anyone at all, in front of you and you recite the *hail Mary* stuff? That's idolatry gal.

In the Bible, God made it clear to the Isrealites and by extension to all Christians today, that 'no one should make any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the Heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them... Exodus 20: 4, 5 (The King James Version).

Psalm 115:4-8 says 'their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not. They have hands but they handle not, feet have they but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them so is everyone that trusteth in them'. (The Kings James Version).

kool J:


I've been a silent follower of urs and have always respected ur posts because I find them intelligent. Until this

don't mind him

My dear uboma,
before you accuse abt 1bn people of idolatry, pls do well to tell us: what is idolatry? If i accuse you of stealing i must be able to prove that you have took something that isn't urs without d implicit or explicit consent of d owner and even contrary to his wish.
To lay a basis for the accusation, pls define idolatry.
Thanks.

uboma:

Oh my!!! Did I just break your heart? I'm positive you are a Catholic as well. Anywhere, I see and say things objectively without minding whose ego is altered. I have a couple of friends who are Catholics as well, so I can rightly say that the Catholics worship Mary. Is it right to have the image of Mary or anyone at all, in front of you and you recite the *hail Mary* stuff? That's idolatry gal.

In the Bible, God made it clear to the Isrealites and by extension to all Christians today, that 'no one should make any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the Heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them... Exodus 20: 4, 5 (The King James Version).

Psalm 115:4-8 says 'their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not. They have hands but they handle not, feet have they but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them so is everyone that trusteth in them'. (The Kings James Version).

LOL! Break my heart? Not nearly. I don't do religious arguments as I believe there are a lot of materials for self-enlightenment for whoever wishes to know. U jst spoke out of the depth of innocent ignorance. There is only one true God to whom worship is due, that isn't debatable. That's exactly why catholics do not worship Mary.

uboma: @ op, the answer to your question is "YES". they worship Mary, hence relegating the worship oF the Almighty God to the background.

Mr Judge so which church do you attend so we can start from there. Its never enough to hide behind the keyboard in faceless forum and judge catholic church.
If you tell us your church,we can start from there.
And I hope you're not the same op I asked his church and he immediately abandoned the thread and ran away.
I have a VERY STRONG feeling you're the same person hiding under a different moniker.

All that op has been doing is running up and down the religious section of nairaland (like a puppy) opening different threads and saying churches that will go to hell.

But when I asked his church so we too can join his heavenly church and heavenly pastor, he abandoned the thread and ran away.lmao

Just because talk is cheap free on nairaland.

TELL ME YOUR CHURCH FIRST, PLEASE I'M WAITING

uboma:

Oh my!!! Did I just break your heart? I'm positive you are a Catholic as well. Anywhere, I see and say things objectively without minding whose ego is altered. I have a couple of friends who are Catholics as well, so I can rightly say that the Catholics worship Mary. Is it right to have the image of Mary or anyone at all, in front of you and you recite the *hail Mary* stuff? That's idolatry gal.

In the Bible, God made it clear to the Isrealites and by extension to all Christians today, that 'no one should make any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the Heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them... Exodus 20: 4, 5 (The King James Version).

Psalm 115:4-8 says 'their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not. They have hands but they handle not, feet have they but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them so is everyone that trusteth in them'. (The Kings James Version).

Mr Judge so which church do you attend so we can start from there. Its never enough to hide behind the keyboard in faceless forum and judge catholic church.
If you tell us your church,we can start from there.
And I hope you're not the same op I asked his church and he immediately abandoned the thread and ran away.
I have a VERY STRONG you're the same person hiding under a different moniker.

All that op has been doing is running up and down the religious section of nairaland (like a puppy) opening different threads and saying churches that will go to hell.

But when I asked his church so we too can join his heavenly church and heavenly pastor, he abandoned the thread and ran away.lmao

Just because talk is cheap free on nairaland.

TELL ME YOUR CHURCH FIRST,PLEASE I'M WAITING

Kamsy10:

Mr Judge so which church do you attend so we can start from there. Its never enough to hide behind the keyboard in faceless forum and judge catholic church.
If you tell us your church,we can start from there.
And I hope you're not the same op I asked his church and he immediately abandoned the thread and ran away.
I have a VERY STRONG feeling you're the same person hiding under a different moniker.

All that op has been doing is running up and down the religious section of nairaland (like a puppy) opening different threads and saying churches that will go to hell.

But when I asked his church so we too can join his heavenly church and heavenly pastor, he abandoned the thread and ran away.lmao

Just because talk is cheap free on nairaland.

TELL ME YOUR CHURCH FIRST, PLEASE I'M WAITING

I speak objectively and if that annoys you, then you will have to live with that. And truthfully, I only have one moniker here which is Uboma. I have no need to create multiple monikers. And as per the church I attend, sorry to break your bubble, I don't attend church. So much hypocrisy going on around most churches today that I prefer to sit @ home on Sundays. And mind you, talk isn't free on Nairaland, I pay to comment here (I hope you get the drift).

Ubenedictus: My dear uboma,
before you accuse abt 1bn people of idolatry, pls do well to tell us: what is idolatry? If i accuse you of stealing i must be able to prove that you have took something that isn't urs without d implicit or explicit consent of d owner and even contrary to his wish.
To lay a basis for the accusation, pls define idolatry.
Thanks.

The Bible verses I quoted earlier already defined what idolatry means. So if you still do not understand what idolatry means or you prefer to feign ignorance, then I advise that you pick up your Dictionary if you have access to one and look up the meaning. Feel free to share what you learn from the meaning of idolatry. I'll love to read your comments.

Luke 11: 27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

uboma:

The Bible verses I quoted earlier already defined what idolatry means. So if you still do not understand what idolatry means or you prefer to feign ignorance, then I advise that you pick up your Dictionary if you have access to one and look up the meaning. Feel free to share what you learn from the meaning of idolatry. I'll love to read your comments.

bible passages can be interpreted and misinterpreted, what do you understand by d passage u quoted, exegesis i think it is called. If you are using a dictionary then please tell me which one. At least it is known that bible throwing never ends an arguement, scriptures must be interpreted.