Mary the Usurper.

Catholics.

For a long time, I've struggled with Catholics and their various (false) beliefs. In fact, my dad lately watched a debate about whether Catholics count as our siblings in Christ given some of the false things they believe (according to Protestants). Shall I give an example?

Mary. From where do they get the concept of Mary's power? Who gave her this power? How could we possibly deny that it is power? (And what does Mary need power for?)

You see, Catholics believe that Mary as the mother of God must have some influence over him, so Catholics pray to her to ask her prayers on their behalf. They believe, as John MacArthur lately explained at the Ligonier conference in Orlando, that God is tough, and busy, and hard to get to, and Jesus is the same, and so they go to Mary, because (according to this logic) God needs the extra encouragement to hear our prayers. As if he wasn't interested or personal enough. As if he loved Mary more than the rest of us. As if Mary could somehow do something--could somehow intervene for us in a way--that Christ couldn't do on the cross.

Eugh. So false. So false I want to gag for having said it. Christ's atonement was either whole or it was worthless, not somewhere in between.

I believe this desire for Mary's involvement also reflects a disbelief in God's nature as a Father. Why did Jesus cry "Abba" if not to show us… oh, so much.

He shows us the ability we now have to go directly to God through Christ because of the righteousness imputed on us by him.

He shows us the personal nature of God as a "daddy," "Father," a close paternal figure who loves and listens to his children.

He shows us from this that we don't need Mary to intercede for us because we can go directly to him. What could Mary say that we can't say ourselves? Jesus himself went straight so God, and so can and should we. As Romans 8: 26-28 says,

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony in God's own will. 28And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

How can we refute this? Paul undeniably tells us that the Spirit by God's Grace works for us. Who are we to tell God that his own Spirit's aid is not enough, but rather we seek the extra help of the saints and Mary? How arrogant.

And finally and very importantly, Jesus shows us the role of father through the example of his Father. What kind of father would he be who listens to his wife or mother above his children? The important part of this term "children" goes back to the first point--that we are children because God sees Christ's righteousness imputed in us. Thus we are saved. God now sees us as righteous beings. If God saved us and God saved Mary (we assume, because she birthed and followed Jesus), we are logically equals with Mary. Why should God listen to one righteous person over another? If I am blameless and my sister is blameless, is it right or just that my father should listen to her but not me? What makes her righteousness more valuable than mine? Nothing. We are all equal in our sinful deadness, and thus we are all equal in our salvation by imputed righteousness.

So why would God prefer Mary's righteousness over mine? I don't think he would. I believe God-the-Abba loves his children equally, as a father does. And because God listens to himself first, being omniscient and omnipotent, he would not listen to a "mother." (Please note: I say this because we must understand Christ's simultaneous state of humiliation and exaltation--being both fully God and fully man at once. Mary was the birth mother of the human Jesus, but that is not the same thing as the "mother of God.") In the same way, a father does not and should not listen to a mother more than his equally righteous children. (Take humanity into account here; all of this is meant with a grain of salt; yes, grandmothers/mothers will obviously sometimes know more than a child.)

The concept of Mary's "divinity" or influence denies God's nature as a Savior--one who loves to save, who is generous, who loves us. The same is true of fathers. Father should want to love their children as God similarly wants to love his. So when we come before God and seek Mary's intervention, essentially we deny God's nature and right to be a Savior, deny him the joy that he feels in fulfilling our requests. (How many Scripture passages reference the joy we receive by worshiping God, by following his commands? Ec 2:26; John 17:13 says, "...I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.")

He would, I believe, be injured at our lack of faith in both his atonement and love. And who am I, mere created vessel, to deny God's nature (Romans 9), especially for Mary's sake?

Finally, do these ideas not imply that fathers should take joy in both listening to and answering their children? And in order for this to happen, children must be provided an environment--a father--that nourishes such love from children, an environment in which they feel free enough to approach their fathers. I know many people feel more comfortable approaching Mom; I did for a long time. But clearly Christ our Savior has such an intimate relationship with his Father, and vice versa; why should and do we not? Are you more comfortable with your mother than father? Are you afraid to approach your father for fear of rejection? Do you thus seek Mom's intervention? I think Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." If that's not the point of the Gospel, then I don't know what I believe.