Do Catholics Worship Mary?

[andres]

12 hours ago, Haydar Husayn said:

How do you respond to those who quote what Paul says in Galatians 1?

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

 

Do you think the Catholic Church preaches the same Gospel as Paul?

Yes I think so. All Christians do, but just like in Islam, we differ when it comes to interpretation.

[andres]

12 hours ago, Haydar Husayn said:

And functionally what is the difference between their 'latria' of God, and their 'hyperdulia' of Mary? Because I don't see much. Most, if not all, of the functions of Jesus (i.e. God, in Trinitarian Christianity) have been given to Mary.

I have never heard these words before so if yo wish to penetrate the subject you must find someone else. I can only provide you with this paste from www.catholic.org: 

 

"As the terminology of Christian theology developed, the Greek term latria came to be used to refer to the honor that is due to God alone, and the term dulia came to refer to the honor that is due to human beings, especially those who lived and died in God’s friendship—in other words, the saints. Scripture indicates that honor is due to these individuals (Matt. 10:41b). A special term was coined to refer to the special honor given to the Virgin Mary, who bore Jesus—God in the flesh—in her womb. This term, hyperdulia (huper [more than]+ dulia = "beyond dulia"), indicates that the honor due to her as Christ’s own Mother is more than the dulia given to other saints. It is greater in degree, but still of the same kind. However, since Mary is a finite creature, the honor she is due is fundamentally different in kind from the latria owed to the infinite Creator."

[notme]

Is anyone in this conversation actually Catholic? It might be more productive to wait for an actual Catholic to come along and explain their beliefs and doctrines, rather than debate based on protestant speculation. The current conversation is as if Christians and Sunni Muslims were discussing doctrines of Shia Islam. It doesn't make sense.

I know @LeftCoastMom is very busy these days and might not be available to answer. Are there any other Catholic active forum participants? 

[andres]

1 hour ago, notme said:

Is anyone in this conversation actually Catholic? It might be more productive to wait for an actual Catholic to come along and explain their beliefs and doctrines, rather than debate based on protestant speculation. The current conversation is as if Christians and Sunni Muslims were discussing doctrines of Shia Islam. It doesn't make sense.

I know @LeftCoastMom is very busy these days and might not be available to answer. Are there any other Catholic active forum participants? 

Good idea. If LCM has not got the time, Haydar and other interested can write to the Catholic church and ask.

Edited September 8, 2016 by andres

[notme]

42 minutes ago, andres said:

Good idea. If LCM has not got the time, Haydar and other interested can write to the Catholic church and ask.

I know we have other Catholic site members. I just don't know if any are active nowadays. 

I was raised Catholic, but never pursued knowledge beyond the level of what they teach teens in Sunday school. 

We were taught to honor Mary, to ask for her intercession, but that prayer in the op certainly does appear to cross the line into worship. The fact that the writer was beatified makes it appear that at least at that time the Church accepted if not supported his beliefs. It's different from what I was taught, but maybe others learned different things. I don't feel expert enough to give a good Catholic viewpoint. 

[andres]

1 hour ago, notme said:

I know we have other Catholic site members. I just don't know if any are active nowadays. 

I was raised Catholic, but never pursued knowledge beyond the level of what they teach teens in Sunday school. 

We were taught to honor Mary, to ask for her intercession, but that prayer in the op certainly does appear to cross the line into worship. The fact that the writer was beatified makes it appear that at least at that time the Church accepted if not supported his beliefs. It's different from what I was taught, but maybe others learned different things. I don't feel expert enough to give a good Catholic viewpoint. 

Are you saying that the Christian Church in the times of Muhammed, accepted the belief that Mary was a Godess?

[notme]

26 minutes ago, andres said:

Are you saying that the Christian Church in the times of Muhammed, accepted the belief that Mary was a Godess?

No, I'm saying that the prayer in the OP looks like worship, and the writer of the prayer is a Catholic saint. That seems a good reason to ask a knowledgeable Catholic to clarify, don't you think? 

[Christianlady]

17 hours ago, Haydar Husayn said:

How do you respond to those who quote what Paul says in Galatians 1?

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Salam Haydar Husain,

The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ: what He taught and did for us, including his suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead, as well as his future return.

The Catholic Church does not negate Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

Quote

Do you think the Catholic Church preaches the same Gospel as Paul?

Yes. The main issue for Protestants however is the additional doctrines that the Catholic Church believes. For example, neither Jesus Christ, no his chosen apostles, nor Paul commanded to pray to Mary.

There is no evidence as far as I know in the Bible of people praying to Mary. Now, there is indeed evidence of Jesus listening to his Mom, so maybe that's why some Catholics pray to Mary?

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

 “Woman,^[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[b]

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. - John 2:1-7 (NIV)

Personally, I believe Jesus called his mother "Woman" and not "mother of God" for a reason. He called other women "Woman" too  Woman is not an insulting word, but it does show that he considers his Mom a "woman" same as he considers this woman a "woman"

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” - Luke 13:10-12 (NIV)

The view of many Protestants is that only God hears prayers. Since we believe that Jesus is God incarnate, we have no problem praying to Jesus as well as to our Father in Heaven. 

If Jesus had wanted people to pray to his Mom, then he would have taught us to. Jesus did teach us to pray to our "Father in Heaven" There are some Christians who will just pray to our Father in Heaven, though other Christians like myself do interpret this to mean we can pray to Jesus too:

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me^[e] anything in my name, I will do it. - John 14:13-14 (NIV)

Please note that Jesus does not mention praying to Mary or any saint.

Anyways, most Protestants nowadays don't think that the Catholic Church preaches another Gospel. We just believe differently in different areas, yet both Catholics and Protestants believe that Jesus Christ suffered, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and will return someday!!!

Peace and God bless you

 

[andres]

58 minutes ago, notme said:

No, I'm saying that the prayer in the OP looks like worship, and the writer of the prayer is a Catholic saint. That seems a good reason to ask a knowledgeable Catholic to clarify, don't you think? 

I did not know what "op" was. Thought it was a spelling error. If I guess it means "opening post", it gives meaning. And yes, non-catholics (myself inclusive) could easily mistake this for worshipping a Virgin-Mary Godess. If so, it would be in stark contrast to the Bible, and not a Christian text. 

[LeftCoastMom]

No, we don't worship Mary. Christ is the only redeemer. This " co-redemptrix" stuff keeps getting shot down by the theologians. The last time I remember it even being discussed was in the 90's. Even Pope Benedict  said it was a bad idea.

Hope this helps.

[LeftCoastMom]

5 hours ago, notme said:

Is anyone in this conversation actually Catholic? It might be more productive to wait for an actual Catholic to come along and explain their beliefs and doctrines, rather than debate based on protestant speculation. The current conversation is as if Christians and Sunni Muslims were discussing doctrines of Shia Islam. It doesn't make sense.

I know @LeftCoastMom is very busy these days and might not be available to answer. Are there any other Catholic active forum participants? 

Had to come in here to check on possible messages. As far as I can tell from some private conversations, seems like the Shia have similar feelings about asking intercession from their holy folks  and some groups might accuse them of " worshipping" someone other than God.  (In fact, they do accuse them of that.)

Looks can be deceiving.

But I'm not  Shia, so that's a ball-park guess.

Edited September 8, 2016 by LeftCoastMom

[LeftCoastMom]

The prayer that kicked all of this off is not part of the Liturgy nor have I heard it recited at all that I can remember. Saints are humans. Sometimes they went a little overboard,IMHO, in their devotions to...whatever.

Doesn't make it dogma.

[andres]

16 hours ago, LeftCoastMom said:

Had to come in here to check on possible messages. As far as I can tell from some private conversations, seems like the Shia have similar feelings about asking intercession from their holy folks  and some groups might accuse them of " worshipping" someone other than God.  (In fact, they do accuse them of that.)

Looks can be deceiving.

But I'm not  Shia, so that's a ball-park guess.

Interesting. I looked it up. It is called Tawassul. Seems very similar to Catholics praying to their Saints. Or what is different? 

[notme]

18 hours ago, LeftCoastMom said:

The prayer that kicked all of this off is not part of the Liturgy nor have I heard it recited at all that I can remember. Saints are humans. Sometimes they went a little overboard,IMHO, in their devotions to...whatever.

Doesn't make it dogma.

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought so, but as a non-Catholic, I wasn't certain. 

 

 

[Nataly]

Personally the virgin mary made me many miracles when I was a child and I asked her for them. 

If believing that Mary is like equal to Jesus (intercesor to God and allowed to make miracles and get prays), but not God, just like the same position to the son; and make prays to her like the most well known that is hail mary; is worship, then yes, Mary is worshipped. 

[Reza]

Not sure if everyone has the same definition of "worship". My definition is the penultimate recognition and devotion to something above all other things, without an equal. By that definition, I don't believe Catholics "worship" Mary unless she's considered an undetachable part of God physical/spiritual essence himself.

Imagine God, the son of God, and mother of the son of God all part of a single unified, inseparable continuum. This thinking makes no sense to a Muslim, but maybe it does to others.

Edited September 9, 2016 by magma

[Haydar Husayn]

41 minutes ago, magma said:

Not sure if everyone has the same definition of "worship". My definition is the penultimate recognition and devotion to something above all other things, without an equal. By that definition, I don't believe Catholics "worship" Mary unless she's considered an undetachable part of God physical/spiritual essence himself.

Imagine God, the son of God, and mother of the son of God all part of a single unified, inseparable continuum. This thinking makes no sense to a Muslim, but maybe it does to others.

By this definition of worship, the pagan Arabs didn't worship their idols either, since they didn't consider them 'above all other things, without equal'. In fact, they freely admitted that Allah was above their idols.

And if you ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the sun and the moon subservient, they will certainly say, Allah. Whence are they then turned away? [29:61]

Say: Who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? Or Who controls the hearing and the sight? And Who brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living? And Who regulates the affairs? Then they will say: Allah. Say then: Will you not then guard (against evil)? [10:31]

And should you ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth? They would most certainly say: Allah. Say: Have you then considered that what you call upon besides Allah, would they, if Allah desire to afflict me with harm, be the removers of His harm, or (would they), if Allah desire to show me mercy, be the withholders of His mercy? Say: Allah is sufficient for me; on Him do the reliant rely. [39:38]

And those whom they call upon besides Him have no authority for intercession, but he who bears witness of the truth and they know (him). And if you should ask them who created them, they would certainly say: Allah. Whence are they then turned back? [43:86-87]

 

Attempting to define worship in such a way that it can only apply to God is extremely problematic. It means that a person could perform the fact same acts of devotion towards God and someone else, but wouldn't be considered to be engaging in worship of other than God. In fact, such a strange definition of a set of actions, which then hinge completely on intention, has no advantage other than of allowing people to perform acts that look exactly like worship for other than God. Why would anyone want to do that in the first place?

[Haydar Husayn]

1 hour ago, Nataly said:

Personally the virgin mary made me many miracles when I was a child and I asked her for them. 

If believing that Mary is like equal to Jesus (intercesor to God and allowed to make miracles and get prays), but not God, just like the same position to the son; and make prays to her like the most well known that is hail mary; is worship, then yes, Mary is worshipped. 

Do you not believe Jesus is God?

[LeftCoastMom]

8 hours ago, notme said:

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought so, but as a non-Catholic, I wasn't certain. 

 

 

You gave good info. Thank you.

[LeftCoastMom]

11 hours ago, andres said:

Interesting. I looked it up. It is called Tawassul. Seems very similar to Catholics praying to their Saints. Or what is different? 

Some day I would like to explore that more with them when I am not dealing with potential cultural and environmental crisis situations. 

[LeftCoastMom]

If individual Catholics are putting Mary into  the same status as God /the Trinity, they are not following church doctrine.

[Martyrdom]

46 minutes ago, Haydar Husayn said:

By this definition of worship, the pagan Arabs didn't worship their idols either, since they didn't consider them 'above all other things, without equal'. In fact, they freely admitted that Allah was above their idols.

And if you ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the sun and the moon subservient, they will certainly say, Allah. Whence are they then turned away? [29:61]

Say: Who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? Or Who controls the hearing and the sight? And Who brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living? And Who regulates the affairs? Then they will say: Allah. Say then: Will you not then guard (against evil)? [10:31]

And should you ask them, Who created the heavens and the earth? They would most certainly say: Allah. Say: Have you then considered that what you call upon besides Allah, would they, if Allah desire to afflict me with harm, be the removers of His harm, or (would they), if Allah desire to show me mercy, be the withholders of His mercy? Say: Allah is sufficient for me; on Him do the reliant rely. [39:38]

And those whom they call upon besides Him have no authority for intercession, but he who bears witness of the truth and they know (him). And if you should ask them who created them, they would certainly say: Allah. Whence are they then turned back? [43:86-87]

 

Attempting to define worship in such a way that it can only apply to God is extremely problematic. It means that a person could perform the fact same acts of devotion towards God and someone else, but wouldn't be considered to be engaging in worship of other than God. In fact, such a strange definition of a set of actions, which then hinge completely on intention, has no advantage other than of allowing people to perform acts that look exactly like worship for other than God. Why would anyone want to do that in the first place?

Whats your definition of worship?

[Reza]

1 hour ago, Haydar Husayn said:

Attempting to define worship in such a way that it can only apply to God is extremely problematic. It means that a person could perform the fact same acts of devotion towards God and someone else, but wouldn't be considered to be engaging in worship of other than God. In fact, such a strange definition of a set of actions, which then hinge completely on intention, has no advantage other than of allowing people to perform acts that look exactly like worship for other than God. Why would anyone want to do that in the first place?

But this is a complicated subject indeed, I still have to think about it. 

Edited September 9, 2016 by magma

[andres]

13 hours ago, LeftCoastMom said:

Some day I would like to explore that more with them when I am not dealing with potential cultural and environmental crisis situations. 

 

Some Muslims regard Muhammed a Muslim Saint. Wikipedia has this info on Tawassul.

The Qur'an states:

If, when they had wronged themselves, they had come to you, and asked forgiveness from God, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found God Relenting, Merciful.

— Al-Qur'an, Surah an-Nisa, 4:64

This verse raised the question as to whether or not Muhammad’s mediation was still possible after his death. A number of Islamic scholars including Al-Nawawi, Ibn Kathir and Ibn al-Athir in his exegesis relates the following episode, aiming to demonstrate its effectiveness:

A Bedouin of the desert visited the Prophet’s tomb and greeted the Prophet, addressing him directly as if he were alive. “Peace upon you, Messenger of God!” Then he said, “I heard the word of God ‘If, when they had wronged themselves . . .,’ I came to you seeking pardon for my mistakes, longing for your intercession with our Lord!” The Bedouin then recited a poem in praise of the Prophet and departed. The person who witnessed the story says that he fell asleep, and in a dream he saw the Prophet saying to him, “O ‘Utbi, rejoin our brother the Bedouin and announce [to] him the good news that God has pardoned him!”^[8][9][10]

 

I have tried to find out why Catholics believe in Saints. There are some references to Revelation, but I do not find it convincing. Has Jesus said anything in non-canonic Gospels? Or did I miss anything in the 4 in NT?

[Haydar Husayn]

Quote

 

Pontiff Puts World in Mary’s Hands

Benedict XVI placed the world in Mary’s hands during his one-day visit to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples.

The Pope’s leading of the Supplication of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, a prayer written by Blessed Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) was one of the high points of this 12th pastoral trip in Italy.

“We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart,” the text of the prayer reads.

With the words of Bartolo, the Pontiff turned to Mary, saying: “If you will not help us because we are ungrateful and unworthy children of your protection, we will not know to whom to turn.”

In a gesture of filial love, the Pope then offered the Madonna a golden rose.

...

The shrine contains an image of Mary to which hundreds of miracles and healings are attributed.

 

https://zenit.org/articles/pontiff-puts-world-in-mary-s-hands/

 

So the (former) Pope goes to a shrine to Mary (which contains an image of her), prays to her to to have pity on the world, so that they may repent and return to her, says that she is their only hope and is that the world is in need of her protection, and gives an offering to that shrine, and we are supposed to think that this isn't worship? I have to ask, if these aren't acts of worship, then what are?!

Oh, yeah, and lest I be accused of deliberately misleading people, he also added the standard 'this is all a path to God (or Jesus, in this case)' disclaimer: "The secret of Pompeii, the Holy Father revealed, is the rosary: “This prayer leads us through Mary to Jesus.”"

[Haydar Husayn]

On 06/09/2016 at 10:15 AM, andres said:

Catholics definitely would say they do not worship Mary as a deity. As a Lutheran I also say they dont, thou I find the idea of Saints unbiblical. As I understand the Quran, Muhammed say Christian do worship Mary. I can actually understand if Muslims or others may have this impression.

 

Since you are a Lutheran, you might be interested in knowing what Luther thought of the matter:

Quote

"Furthermore, how will you endure [the Romanists'] terrible idolatries? It was not enough that they venerated the saints and praised God in them, but they actually made them into gods. They put that noble child, the mother Mary, right into the place of Christ. They fashioned Christ into a judge and thus devised a tyrant for anguished consciences, so that all comfort and confidence was transferred from Christ to Mary, and then everyone turned from Christ to his particular saint. Can anyone deny this? Is it not true?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther's_Marian_theology#Comparison_to_Roman_Catholic_views

So Luther outright said that Catholics made Mary and other Saints into gods. Maybe he was also being mislead by reading the Qur'an?

[notme]

It does seem that there has historically been some excessive veneration of Mary and other saints, but worship of Mary is definitely not present day Catholic doctrine and probably wasn't doctrine at any time, though it clearly was tolerated.

You gotta understand, they were trying to convert the European pagans who had many gods and goddesses. Something had to fill the void. Saints and bishops who wrote these supplications are not considered to be infallible, and never have been. 

[Haydar Husayn]

2 minutes ago, notme said:

It does seem that there has historically been some excessive veneration of Mary and other saints, but worship of Mary is definitely not present day Catholic doctrine and probably wasn't doctrine at any time, though it clearly was tolerated.

You gotta understand, they were trying to convert the European pagans who had many gods and goddesses. Something had to fill the void. Saints and bishops who wrote these supplications are not considered to be infallible, and never have been. 

I think it's obvious that there will never be a Catholic doctrine that explicitly endorses 'worship' of Mary, for obvious reasons. That doesn't prevent many Catholics, including the Pope himself, clearly worshipping Mary though. Or would you not consider what the Pope did to be worship? And Luther, who had been a Catholic monk, coming from a milieu of veneration of Mary (which he himself never completely let go of), clearly says that Catholics of his day had turned her into a goddess.

 

[andres]

2 hours ago, Haydar Husayn said:

I think it's obvious that there will never be a Catholic doctrine that explicitly endorses 'worship' of Mary, for obvious reasons. That doesn't prevent many Catholics, including the Pope himself, clearly worshipping Mary though. Or would you not consider what the Pope did to be worship? And Luther, who had been a Catholic monk, coming from a milieu of veneration of Mary (which he himself never completely let go of), clearly says that Catholics of his day had turned her into a goddess.

 

Luther was a monk and would know Catholics did not believe Mary was a Godess. His rethoric against veneration of saints (and other catholic traditions) was heavy. A pope certainly also would know. This would be totally against the Bible, and you are not Christian if you believe so. Even if Luther condemned catholisism, I do not think he regarded catholics as non-christians.

If I may say so, Muhammed is an Islamic Saint. But there is no way to determine if there are people that believe he is divine, unless they admit they do. And if they do, they are not Muslims. 

If there existed a sect in Muhammeds syrrounding that believed Mary was a Godess, they were not christians, and his critisism was not against christians or the Bible.

Edited September 10, 2016 by andres

[Haydar Husayn]

1 minute ago, andres said:

Luther was a monk and would know Catholics did not believe Mary was a Godess. His rethoric against veneration of saints (and other catholic traditions) was heavy. A pope certainly also would know. This would be totally against the Bible, and you are not Christian if you believe so. Even if Luther condemned catholisism, I do not think he regarded catholics as non-christians.

Let me quote him again:

"Furthermore, how will you endure [the Romanists'] terrible idolatries? It was not enough that they venerated the saints and praised God in them, but they actually made them into gods. They put that noble child, the mother Mary, right into the place of Christ. They fashioned Christ into a judge and thus devised a tyrant for anguished consciences, so that all comfort and confidence was transferred from Christ to Mary, and then everyone turned from Christ to his particular saint. Can anyone deny this? Is it not true?"

Please tell me how you understand this other than what it says. It's amazing the mental gymnastics some people will do to avoid the obvious.

 

1 minute ago, andres said:

If I may say so, Muhammed is an Islamic Saint. But there is no way to determine if there are people that believe he is divine, unless they admit they do. And if they do, they are not Muslims. 

What do you mean by 'divine'? Does believing someone is created from divine light, is all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing, and all-powerful (but not independent of God) count? If so, then yes, there are plenty of Muslims willing to sign up to that (although most of them wouldn't like to use that wording).

There are Muslims that worship the Prophet (s), and others (mainly others), but of course they wouldn't admit that this is what they do. It's obvious that when your religion clearly prohibits you from worshiping other than God, then you are never going to admit to doing so. However, many people's hearts incline towards doing this, so what they do is construct a framework in which they can perform acts of devotion and worship that would normally be reserved for a deity, without officially putting themselves outside of their own religion. So for example, they will restrict their definition of worship to only be possible towards God, so that by definition they cannot be engaging in idol-worship! This is very convenient, but intellectually and spiritually bankrupt.

[notme]

17 minutes ago, andres said:

If there existed a sect in Muhammeds syrrounding that believed Mary was a Godess, they were not christians, and his critisism was not against christians or the Bible.

But did they call themselves Christian? Are Mormons Christan? They certainly think they are! They believe that men and women can become gods and goddesses, in addition to believing in God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit. If Mormons consider themselves to be Christian, how is it infeasible that people who deify Mary "mother of god" would also call themselves Christian? 

[Haydar Husayn]

On 9/8/2016 at 3:40 PM, andres said:

Are you saying that the Christian Church in the times of Muhammed, accepted the belief that Mary was a Godess?

Are you under the impression that there was a single Christian Church in the time of Muhammad (s), or that there is one now? And who gets to define what the 'true' Christian Church is?

[andres]

30 minutes ago, Haydar Husayn said:

Let me quote him again:

"Furthermore, how will you endure [the Romanists'] terrible idolatries? It was not enough that they venerated the saints and praised God in them, but they actually made them into gods. They put that noble child, the mother Mary, right into the place of Christ. They fashioned Christ into a judge and thus devised a tyrant for anguished consciences, so that all comfort and confidence was transferred from Christ to Mary, and then everyone turned from Christ to his particular saint. Can anyone deny this? Is it not true?"

Please tell me how you understand this other than what it says. It's amazing the mental gymnastics some people will do to avoid the obvious.

 

What do you mean by 'divine'? Does believing someone is created from divine light, is all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing, and all-powerful (but not independent of God) count? If so, then yes, there are plenty of Muslims willing to sign up to that (although most of them wouldn't like to use that wording).

There are Muslims that worship the Prophet (s), and others (mainly others), but of course they wouldn't admit that this is what they do. It's obvious that when your religion clearly prohibits you from worshiping other than God, then you are never going to admit to doing so. However, many people's hearts incline towards doing this, so what they do is construct a framework in which they can perform acts of devotion and worship that would normally be reserved for a deity, without officially putting themselves outside of their own religion. So for example, they will restrict their definition of worship to only be possible towards God, so that by definition they cannot be engaging in idol-worship! This is very convenient, but intellectually and spiritually bankrupt.

By divine I mean a God. Jesus and God are Gods. Mary is not. 

[andres]

13 minutes ago, Haydar Husayn said:

Are you under the impression that there was a single Christian Church in the time of Muhammad (s), or that there is one now? And who gets to define what the 'true' Christian Church is?

The Bible defines a Christian. The Quran defines Islam. Mary as a Godess is not Christian belief in the same way as Muhammed is not Islamic belief.

[Haydar Husayn]

Just now, andres said:

By divine I mean a God. Jesus and God are Gods. Mary is not. 

So you have several gods? Doesn't the Bible say there is only one?

Can you define for me what you understand a god to be?

And I notice that for a second time you haven't addressed the quote by Martin Luther.