Mary Deconstructed: Mariology or Mariolatry?

I’ve seen numerous times on Facebook, Catholics and Orthodox more vigorously and passionately defend their Marian beliefs than they do Christ’s divinity. The emphasis is always on Mary!

There are Marian processions with thousands of people carrying a statue of Mary through the streets, there are numerous statues of Mary that people bow to and even kiss while crying hysterically, there are many icons of Mary which are kissed and revered, and I could go on and on. None of this is rooted in Scripture! It is idolatry! And let us not forget to mention the rosary which billions of Catholics use to pray to Mary every day.

Catholics will be shocked when they enter Heaven and see that Mary isn’t the Queen of Heaven, Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix, New Eve, or New Ark of the Covenant. They will see she is a simple sinner saved by grace like the rest of us saints. She doesn’t have an elevated or exalted special status!!!

There are 4 Marian beliefs, recognized as dogma by the Roman Catholic church, which a Catholic must agree to in order to be in communion with the Roman church and a member in good standing. If one disagrees with a dogma of the church, any dogma, they are excommunicated and cut off from the church.

Here are the Marian dogmas:

• Ever Virgin (perpetual virginity). The Roman church teaches that Mary was a virgin before the birth of Christ, but also after the birth of Christ for the duration of her life. They teach that Mary’s hymen was in tact and not ruptured by the birth of Jesus which would classify the event as a miracle. The truth is that Scripture says nothing of the sort. The truth is that Mary’s hymen was ruptured as Jesus was being born and delivered through the vaginal canal. Mary’s hymen bled. We also know from Scripture that Mary and Joseph had children after Jesus was born. Scripture even says Joseph knew her not (know meaning having sex) until after Jesus’ birth. The names of Jesus’s brothers are mentioned and Scripture also makes reference to certain sisters. The plain and proper reading of Scripture gives these facts. Mary was not a consecrated lifelong virgin. That spurious story comes from the fraudulent so-called the Protoevangelium of James. It dates to the mid-second century. It was obviously not written by Jesus’ brother James.
• Immaculate. The Roman church teaches that Mary was preserved from all sin at her conception. Further, it teaches that she lived her entire life without committing even one single sin. This is an affront to Christ’s unique status in Scripture as the only person to live out their natural life on earth sinless. Once again there is no biblical support for this dogma. Catholics are obligated to believe this dogma.
• Theotokos. The title Theotokos literally means “God bearer”. Since Jesus is 100% man as well as 100% divine and Mary gave birth to the God Man it is proper to say she was the God bearer or Theotokos. This does not mean that Mary was responsible for Jesus’ divinity, or that His divinity started upon birth. I have no problem with this dogma. Sadly some Protestants fall into the heresy of Nestorianism when asserting Mary did not give birth to the God Man.
• Assumption. The final Marian dogma is the assumption. It teaches that Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. There is disagreement in Catholicism as to whether she was assumed while still alive (like the prophet Elijah), or whether she was assumed after she died. Once again, there is no support in Scripture for this dogma.

As you can see the vast majority of the Marian dogmas are without any biblical support. Thus, it is proper to label these dogmas as Mariolatry not Mariology.

The real biblical Mary was a devout Jewish teenager who bore the Messiah. God knew beforehand that Mary would agree to do this task. She wants all the focus on her Son Jesus. The real Mary would eschew every single lofty title that man has heaped on her. She would tell the billions of people praying to her every day to stop it and pray to the Father in Jesus’ Name as He taught us. I deleted the post, but many people voiced disapproval and launched into denigrations and ad hominem insults at me have only proven my point that your relationship with Mary is both unhealthy and unbiblical. Scripture is clear that Joseph and Mary had relations after Jesus is born. Scripture even explicitly says they did “until”! And it is logical to assume they had relations if they had produced other siblings to Jesus. Don’t be mad at me, your issue is with Scripture!

Roman Catholics and Orthodox elevate their man made fallible traditions above the infallible and inerrant Word of God! Thank God for Sola Scriptura!!!

How many prayers does the average Catholic say to Mary, including the rosary, and how many to Christ? The True Church of the New Testament never venerated Mary in any way whatsoever. The Catholic and Orthodox focus is definitely on Mary, not Christ, and Satan is tremendously pleased with that. He knows that Mary can’t save you, hear and answer your billions of prayers in thousands of languages simultaneously, or mediate or intercede on behalf of believers, only Christ can do all those things. Satan will tell Catholics and Orthodox any lies necessary to keep them praying to Mary so they have a personal relationship with Mary and not her Son Christ the Lord!

FACT: Mary was not immaculate (sinless). She was conceived like every other normal human and inherited a sin nature vis a vis original sin. She committed sins in her natural life. Christ alone was immaculate from conception till death!

FACT: Jesus’ earthly mother Mary was NOT assumed into Heaven! She is buried somewhere in either Ephesus or Jerusalem!

FACT: Jesus’ earthly mother Mary was NOT a lifelong virgin! Mary and her lawful husband Joseph had lots of sex after Jesus was born and had other children!

According to Roman Catholic theology Jesus’s earthly mother Mary’s womb was intact and her hymen was not torn even AFTER Jesus’ birth?!

Mary is an important figure in the life of Christ, she gets her importance solely from Jesus’ stature and status as the God Man. She is barely mentioned in Scripture, when she is mentioned it’s always in relation to Christ. At one point in Jesus’ life the crowd says blessed is the woman whose breasts you suckled as an infant, and Jesus rebukes them sharply and takes any importance away from Mary and says rather blessed are those who obey God for they are truly his family! The exalted nearly super-human or quasi-divine being that the Orthodox and Catholic churches have constructed of Mary is deeply in error and utterly unbiblical.

August 22nd is the feast day, on the Catholic calendar, of the “Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary” in the Roman Catholic church calendar. Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954.

This image above is as blasphemous as you can get. It basically elevates Mary to the 4th Person of the Godhead. Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are all crowning Mary as the “Queen of Heaven”!! This is appalling and a gross distortion and eisegesis of Scripture.

THE BIBLE HAS VERY LITTLE TO SAY ABOUT MARY! She is not some quasi-divine being that is “Queen of Heaven”!! She is not mentioned at all in Scripture after Pentecost in Acts. More is written about King David or even minor prophets than is written about Mary. We’re barely told anything about her. Catholics take the few scraps of Marian passages in Scripture and build a complex new system of theology and devotion and cultus surrounding her. If Mary could talk to Catholics she’d chastise them for worshiping her with what Catholics call hyperdulia (extreme worship), and giving her devotion, and tell them they should instead direct their worship and devotion and prayer to her Son Christ the Lord!

Catholics spend more time, energy, devotion and money on Marian devotion than they do with Christ Jesus! Everyone who is not blinded by Catholic theology can see the HUGE emphasis on Mary in Catholicism and we see how unbiblical and unhealthy and extreme it is. Mary was a poor, undistinguished, pious Jewish teenager who God chose to bring about His Son’s incarnation. Her role in Scripture was to birth the Christ child. After she fulfilled that role we’re told almost NOTHING MORE about her! Scripture is silent on her. Her importance has been tremendously exaggerated. Some Catholic “saints” even say it’s impossible for a person to be saved without having a relationship with Mary. She is not some super human sinless ever-virgin. She is just an ordinary common sinner saved by grace alone through faith alone! If I see one more post by Catholics lauding Mary and offering devotion to her I’ll scream! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! REPENT CATHOLICS FOR HAVING AN UNBIBLICAL VIEW OF MARY!!

Just because Christ is King of Kings doesn’t make His sinful and non-virgin (after Christ was born) mother some lofty and exalted Queen of Heaven.
This is part of the heretical cultus of Mary which finds such massive support in the Catholic church. Mary’s sole titles which really matter are: Mother of Christ and Sinner saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in her Son alone!

We Reformed must forcefully and oppose these Marian feast days which heaps scorn on the truths of Scripture. The real Mary was a humble and devout Jewish girl who God chose knowing beforehand that she would say yes to His fiat. God could have chosen from thousands or even millions of girls.

Mary is not God’s greatest creation or the most perfect human besides Christ.
She was a sinner in need of a Savior like you and me. She was not ever virgin either. After Jesus was born Mary and Joseph (who was not an old man as the spurious Protoevangelium of James from the mid-2nd century- not written by James either – asserts) had several sons and daughters which are referenced explicitly several times in Scripture.

Only someone blinded by a cult-like devotion to fallible traditions of man could not see the plain truths of Scripture and the hard facts concerning Mary. It’s extremely sad to see this worship of a mere created creature. Mary is not divine!!!

All these blasphemous titles detract from Christ’s glory and His sole role as mediator between God the Father and mankind. Let us pray for our Marian worshiping Catholic friends and pray God would open their eyes and grant them repentance!!!

Well-known Roman Catholic prayer to Mary:

MOST holy Mary, I know the graces which thou hast obtained for me, and I know the ingratitude which I have shown thee. The ungrateful man is unworthy of favors, and yet for all this I will not distrust in thy mercy. O my great Advocate, have pity on me.

Thou, Mary, art the stewardess of every grace which God vouchsafes to give us sinners, and therefore did He make thee so mightily rich and kind, that thou might succor us. I will that I may be saved: in thy hands I place my eternal salvation, to thee I consign my soul. I will to be associated with those who are thy special servants; reject me not. Thou art always seeking the wretched to console them. Cast not away, then a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee. Speak for me, Mary; thy Son will grant what thou shalt ask Him. Take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me; for with thee to guard me I fear no ill – no, not even my sins, because thou wilt obtain God’s pardon for them; neither evil spirits, because thou art far mightier than hell; nor my Judge Jesus Christ, for at thy prayer He will lay aside His wrath.

Protect me, then, my Mother; obtain for me pardon of my sins, love of Jesus, holy perseverance, a good death, and heaven. It is true, I merit not these graces; yet do thou only ask them of our God and I shall obtain them. Pray, then, to Jesus for me. Mary, my Queen, in thee I trust; in this I trust, I rest, I live; and with this hope I wish to die. Amen.

The Glories Of Mary by ALPHONSUS LIGUORI