Christianity's views of Mary, Ever Virgin.   

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(Religion is diversive and always will remain so. )
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I would hope that religion can become a world unifying force eventually. I try to imagine a common denominator for the world. If religion is "good" then it should encourage people to live together in peace and harmony while promoting a balanced, healthy, and sustainable future for the world as a whole. I consider religion "bad" when it is divisive, argumentative, and sets man against his fellow man in the name of one unprovable bit of dogma or another.

Thank you for contributing to my discussion. I fear the basic unprovable and uncorrectable nature of religion lends itself to seeing what you want to see and rationalizing some basic wish-fulfillments as dogma hard and fast.

Happy MyLotting!

I agree with you in your wish for a unified world, although i dont see how the constructs of religion will ever do the job. There are some basic truths common to all "good" religions and only these can have any real value. All the dogma and fable is then left behind. Peace.

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(In my opinion Mary is just another woman in the bible like Ruth and Noami. )
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I can see your point, there. However, there is one small part of the bible which people use to rationalize praying to Mary. This occurs at a wedding where Mary essentially asks Jesus to help. He winds up turning water into wine, his first miracle. In this, Jesus shows a certain respect for Mary that some people extrapolate from.

While I understand that we should just pray directly to Jesus (God), I think there is some role for people in offering prayers to Mary as well. A person, for whatever reason good or ill, might be intimidated by the masculine deity we see in the Christian Religion. Imagine, for example, a woman who has been consistently abused by her father and other men in her life. She might not be able to turn her prayers to any masculine personage without self-recrimination and fear that God (Masculine) would not care about her petty plight. However, with Mary standing in with a Materialistic aura, such a woman might be able to bring herself to ask Mary to intercede on her behalf.

In this way, Mary might seem as a catalyst for prayer for some people.

Thank yo for sharing your opinions and happy MyLotting.

Yes there was a situation at the wedding and Mary asked Jesus for Help. This simple means that Mary is just an ordinary woman. When one is praying or have the simplest understanding of God and Jesus his son you don't look at male or female. Remember
God says that he makes us in his own image. He also say that (at least the words of the bible) says and I quote "God is a Spirit and they that worship him worship him in spirit and in truth" end of quote. When one is praying you don't want to picture if he is a man, woman or animal because the bible say that he is a spirit. All we need to do is has respect and be humble in his presence.

All points of view are valuable. Not everyone needs to be Catholic and if someone was asking me for advice, I would advice them to avoid religions which require such strict control over what you believe as that. Not many people ask me for advice, however, and I respect that. :)

The Virgin Mary, by those who believe in praying to her, is unlikely to be considered venerated before God. She is, after all, only important because God chose her.

The theological issues about the First Sign of Jesus often seem to expressly attempt to separate Jesus from Mary. That is, to make sure the reader/listener doesn't think that Mary had any authority over Jesus. This is covered in discussions about what Jesus meant when he called Mary "Woman." Not to tell anyone what they should believe, just making you aware of a sharply held point of view by some.

Science doesn't create virgin mothers, but I guess it could. There was a show on TV where a doctor used a syringe to impregnate a woman without breaking the Hymen. There is a little difference between the immaculate conception, being chosen by God to give birth to his son, and a doctor with a syringe. The point however is taken.

Some people would still see the immaculate conception as something altogether different and for them the virginity and purity of Mary may still be very persuasive to them. I would imagine the injection of sperm into a woman and the invasion of her body in the process would not be seen as qualifying as purity for at least a significant portion of people. For them, if not for you, it would be an entirely different thing.

(I would like to take the time here to thank you for responding. My discussions tend to be a bit more introspective and get fewer responses. I appreciate all contributions.)