The Bible tells us very clearly that we shall only worship and revere God alone. Even when John the apostle fell at the angel’s feet in Revelation 19:10, the angel replied, “See that you do not do that! Worship God!”. When Peter and the other apostles were met with worship or reverence, they proclaimed “Stand up; I myself am also a man.” (Acts 10:26) We shall not steal any glory or honor from God. The prophet Isaiah clearly shows us: “I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another.” (Is 42:8). These and several other references to the Bible, the Word of God, will be made in this article. We encourage you to look up the verses in the Bible and read them yourself!
Catholics may say that they do not “worship” Mary or the “saints” but instead, they merely seek them to intercede for them to Jesus Christ. In practice, however, they venerate and give glory and honor to them. Where in the Bible do we see this is permitted except to God alone? It’s true that Luke 1:28 mentions Mary as being highly favoured and blessed, but we are never told, and we never see an example, of Mary or any “saints” being given honor and glory by anyone. In fact, the saints, according to the Bible, are all God’s people who have been sanctified by Him, which are all true Christians who Have His life (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Eph 1:1; Eph 2:19, 3:18, 4:12; Phil 1:1; Col 1:2,4,12)
Romans 1:25 also speaks of people who have fallen away as those “who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Mary, being a human, is not the creator, but she is in fact a “creature”. Exodus 20:4-5 mentions that we shall not bow down or serve the likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water — this includes Mary or any images of Mary. Indeed it is common to see images of revered people in Catholicism and these images are on some occasions prayed to, particularly images of Mary and the “saints”. This is clearly idolatry. Images of Mary are made even as “good luck charms”, which is idolatry because we are placing our trust in this image or statue rather than the invisible living God Himself. In addition, the second of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:4-5 and Deuteronomy 5:8-9 says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth…, you shall not bow down to them nor serve them”.
Catholics claim they are not praying to Mary or the “saints” but merely asking them to pray for them or intercede for them but the words of some Catholic prayers and the practice of some Catholics is to pray directly to “saints” and to Mary.
For example, a traditional Catholic prayer, “Hail, Holy Queen”:
“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve;To you do we send up our sighs,mourning and weeping in this valley of tears!Turn, then, O most gracious Advocate,your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile,show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, JesusO clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.”
Here’s another common prayer to Mary:
“Hail Mary full of grace,The Lord is with you.Blessed are you among womenand blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen.”
We do not see anywhere in the Bible that Christians pray to anyone besides God nor does the Bible mention asking dead people to pray for them. Yes, Mary and these “saints” are dead. The belief is that these dead people are now in heaven and have better and direct access to God, but the Bible teaches clearly that the way to God is open and we may approach God’s throne of grace with boldness and confidence (Heb 4:16)! We do not need any person, particularly a dead person to pray for us when we ourselves have full access to God! To direct prayers to anyone other than God is to rob Him of something that belongs to Him. Our prayers are also symbolized by incense that was burnt on the golden incense altar (Rev 5:8, 8:3-4). They may only rise to God, to His throne, to be a pleasing aroma to Him. They may not rise to anyone else! To do so is an abomination to God.
The idea of Mary or some other person interceding is wrong and contrary to Scripture. The Bible shows us that ONLY Jesus can intercede for us. In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME.“. 1 Tim 2:5 says “There is one God and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the Man CHRIST JESUS.” Heb 7:25 says “He (Jesus Christ) is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God THROUGH HIM, since He always lives to MAKE INTERCESSION for them”. Nobody can replace Christ as the intercessor and we do not need an intercessor in order to come to Christ. Mary herself, being a mere person, while alive, also needed an intercessor, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Himself did honor His earthly mother, however. At the wedding at Cana, when requested by Mary, He transformed the water into wine (John 2:1-12). Also, while on the cross, He ensured Mary was taken care of (John 19:26-27) out of His love and responsibility. He performed His duty to His earthly mother out of righteousness and as an example for us to honor our father and mother. However, in Matthew 12:46-50, He did not give any preference to Mary and said “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” and declared that His disciples are His mother and His brothers (in other words, His true family). After Jesus’ ascension, Mary did not have any special position or status in the Church as we can see in Acts 1:14 that she prayed with one accord with the other women and disciples of Christ. This is the last time she’s mentioned in the New Testament, again showing no special importance placed on her.
It is clear that the Word of God shows us that we must not venerate or honor Mary, “saints”, or any man. Honor and glory belong to God alone. Jesus Christ is our intercessor and no one comes to God our Father except through Him! These are not ours or any person’s opinion or personal interpretation of the Bible. The Bible states these truths very clearly. May the Holy Spirit remove all the veils from our eyes (2 Cor 3:16) and bring us into the truth. Amen!