Saint Worship

The Catholic church venerates many people as “saints.” We must first be clear what this means. They don’t use the term like the bible does. If you look up the word “saints” in a concordance, you will find that the term is used to refer to the Church or a collection of God’s people. It is used in both the Old and the New Testaments in talking about the camp or a church, or something similar. One exception is that Aaron the High Priest is once referred to as the “saint of the Lord,” but the overarching use of the word denotes an every-day person who is living in accordance with God’s principles.

When the Catholics use the word “saint,” they are imbuing the person referred to with a holy aura. Those that have attained sainthood in the eyes of the Catholic church are revered and considered to be quite apart from the rest of the masses that make up their congregation. They also typically have some sort of legend attached to them, like perhaps healing some great person or providing protection for some innocent.

But of all the saints in their lineup, no stands out so clearly as Mary, the mother of Jesus. As I indicated on the link to this page, many of the church’s leaders are giving so much importance to Mary that they consider her to be a fourth member of their godhead! (Please review my discussion to see that there aren’t just three, but only one “person” in the Godhead anyway.) They think that it would be impossible for someone to go to Heaven without actually worshipping her. And that’s what “Hail Mary’s” are all about: worshipping her.

Does this sort of worship have any precedent in the Bible? I certainly can’t find it. The main passage to which I like to refer shows exactly what Jesus thought about how important Mary was in the plan of salvation.

Matthew 12:47-50, “Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Jesus was saying that anyone who would live according to godly principles was worthy of the same respect as his mother or his brothers! How does that contrast with what the Catholic church does, and how does that fit in with the Bible’s overall use of the term, saint? And if Mary doesn’t deserve any more honor than Jesus seems to be indicating here, what’s the point of honoring the endless list of other people in the lineup?

Even though I think I have covered sainthood, the issue begs another question. What did Jesus say about his “brethren?” Huh? Did you catch that? That’s right, Jesus had brothers and sisters. (Matt 13:55-56) And yet the Catholics maintain that Mary is still a virgin. Are they not reading the same bible I am? Well, of course, they aren’t, but that’s another story. They’re reading one that reads much the same except for the added books, and the commentary. In this Douay-Rheims translation, right after this passage, it claims that these brothers are actually sons of the “other” Mary that always followed Jesus around. However, her sons are referred to as James and Joses (Matt 27:56), not the four listed here. And, in any case, the context of the passage is completely clear. The people are commenting on the fact that Jesus is just one of them, pointing out that all of his family lives right here in town with them. Thus, another pillar of the Catholic faith can be shown to be completely unscriptural.

But let’s not stop there. This topic begs yet one more. Isn’t true that all priests must be chaste? That the pope himself must be celibate? Why is it, then, that Paul declares that bishops in the church should be married?

1 Timothy 3:1-2, “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”

The bible says basically the same thing about elders (also called bishops.) (Titus 1:5-9) So why should the leaders of the Catholic church be forbidden to marry? Paul said “it is better to marry than to burn [with lust,]” and that “marriage is honorable in all.”

But this scriptural problem for their church doesn’t stop there. The bible also records that Peter – the apostle they claim was the first Pope – was also married! Now how do they justify that their ministers should be prevented from marrying?

Matthew 8:14, “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.”

I could spend page upon page talking about the crazy things going on in the Catholic church, but, one, you can find tons of it on the net yourself, and, two, my other pages on doctrine explain my views such that I don’t need to spend time on the major tenets like salvation and the nature of God.