Is it Okay for Christians to Pray to Mary?
The question of whether Christians should pray to Mary is one that has been debated among various Christian denominations. While many in the Roman Catholic tradition venerate Mary and pray to her as a mediator, other denominations believe that prayer should be directed to God alone.
In this article, the author explores the biblical perspective on this topic, highlighting that Mary, while being the mother of Jesus and worthy of admiration, does not hold a position that gives her special access to God beyond that of any other believer. The article references Luke 11:27-28, where Jesus redirects attention from His biological relationship with Mary to the importance of being His follower.
What do you think? Is praying to Mary an acceptable practice, or should prayer be directed to God alone through Jesus Christ?
No. Absolutely not. There is only one mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ. Mary is just a plain ordinary human just like us. The only thing thatâs different about her, is that she gave birth to Jesus Christ the Son of God. Besides, if Mary is a human, wouldnât her memory and concentration be just like a humanâs? And the whole world would need to pray to her just so that she could relay that prayer to Jesus, who then would relay that prayer to God the Father, who would then give His answer to Jesus and on and on it goes. It doesnât make any sense.
Isnât she alive in heaven? Couldnât one say that, in truth, she is even more alive now⌠the theif was told he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day⌠how can he if he is dead?
Good points. So if she is conscious, I see no evidence that she can hear prayers. Or that she would have more pull with God than others. I donât think Jesus is the Mamas boy he is made out to be.
Hebrews 12:1 (ESV):
âTherefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.â
Who is this cloud of witnesses and who are they surrounding?
Not only would Mary have to listen to the prayers of a small group, but she would also have to listen to the prayers of the whole world. What human can accurately do that? Our church doesnât have an actual meeting time when we do that; we just do it as a part of discipleship.
Sharing prayer requests with others and praying to another person is entirely different. Sharing requests is asking others to pray in accord with you and those prayers are directed to the throne room of God himself.
Since we already have access to God through the completed work of Christ (1 Timothy 2:5) we (and our friends) are to pray to God.
I want to be sensitive to my Catholic friends and note that we all have a mixture of error in what we believe (we are humans affected by sin after all), but praying to the saints who have gone before us can be called an act of idolatry, something forbidden in scripture, most pointedly when it comes to including images or statues.
The disciples asked, âLord, teach us to prayâ and Jesus taught them how to pray in what we call the Lordâs prayer which begins with âOur Fatherâ. And Jesus taught us how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount where he said, âBut when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.â (Matthew 6:5-15)
Letâs not forget the character of God, who is merciful and compassionate towards his flock and Jesus is our High Priest. So I say we boldly approach the throne of grace together as the writer of Hebrews puts so well (Hebrews 4:14-16).
No. They are wasting their time and breath. She is not omniscient. She is dead and canât hear anyoneâs prayer. We instructed in Scripture to pray through Christ and Him alone.
From what I understand, the catholic response would say that they are asking Mary to intercede for them just as you would ask another Christian to pray for your requests⌠assuming you believe in intercessory prayer.
Yes, I do know this is what Catholics are taught. I do believe in intercessory prayer. I have often asked friends to pray about something but they are alive and well. Scripture tells us that when I pray, I pray only through Jesus. He is our only mediator. Mary is not alive and we are told in Scripture, not to contact the dead.
Thatâs the question that gets asked when there is a real problem and when we need action and answers. It doesnât matter if itâs the young lad with the broccoli haircut at a burger joint, when thereâs a problem, you want to speak to the person in charge to get things handled properly.
No one haggles with a car salesman-- thereâs a Sales Manager who gets involved when push comes to shove and a deal gets made. Yet these are still middle men. Middle Managers. If there was a real problem of magnitude and importance you would want to talk to the real boss. The CEO. The Owner. The Father.
Scripture lacks any instruction or example of praying to anyone other than Him. We should take the teachings of Jesus to heart, where he provided specific and direct instructions that instructed us who to pray to⌠Instructions that didnât include-- âor my mom.â
And we need no other intercessor to access the Father, beyond Jesus and the example he provided.
He didnât mean âsurroundedâ surrounded, he meant that we have people who have come before us; we have examples. This is supported by the word âalso,â meaning that the âgreat cloud of witnessesâ did that as well.
Weâre surrounded by examples. You canât just go off of the definition of the word, you have to read it in context. Iâve made that mistake lots of times.
Actually, the word is Perikeimenon. And verbs can denote action, or express a state of being. In this case, itâs denoting a state of being. To see if a verb is a state of being, you must read the word before it. The word before âsurroundedâ is âare.â That implies a state of being. I stick by my understanding of this verse.
