Praying the rosary is promoted within the Catholic Church as a means of strengthening one’s faith, resisting evil, growing spiritually, and generally benefiting society.
.
While some of the prayer of the rosary is
scriptural, the whole second half of the “Hail
Mary” and portions of the “Hail,
Holy Queen” are blatantly unbiblical.
While the
first part of the Hail Mary is almost a direct quotation from Luke 1:28, there
is no scriptural basis for (1) praying to Mary,
(2) addressing
her as “holy,” or
(3) calling
her “our
life” and “our hope.”
Praying the rosary involves giving attributes to
Mary that the Bible never gives her.
.
To call Mary “holy” -the Catholic Church teaches that Mary never sinned or had any
taint of original sin - is not biblical.
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The Bible calls all believers “saints,” which can be
interpreted as “holy ones,” but Scripture says that the righteousness
believers have is the imparted righteousness from Christ (2 Corinthians
5:21).
.
In this life, no one is yet sanctified from sin
in practice (1 John1:9 – 2:1).
.
Jesus is called our Savior repeatedly in
Scripture because He saved us from our sin.
.
In Luke 1:47, Mary calls God her “Savior.”
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Savior from what? A sinless person does not need
a Savior.
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Sinners need a Savior.
.
Mary acknowledged that God was her Savior.
.
Therefore, Mary acknowledged that she was a sinner.
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Jesus came to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).
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The Roman Catholic Church claims that Mary was
saved from sin differently from everyone else - that she was saved from sin
through the immaculate conception (her
being conceived free of sin).
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But is this teaching scriptural?
.
The Roman Catholic Church openly admits that this
doctrine is not found in Scripture.
.
When a young man addressed Jesus as “good Master”, Jesus
asked why he called Him “good” since there is none good but one, God (Matthew
19:16-17).
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Jesus was trying to make the young man aware that
he was using the term good too loosely.
.
In praying the rosary, Catholics use the term holy too loosely.
.
No one, including Mary, is holy but God.
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This ties in with Romans 3:10 -23, Romans 5:12,
and countless other passages that stress the fact that in God’s eyes no one
measures up.
.
Never is Mary excluded from such all-encompassing
statements.
.
But praying the rosary has an even more basic
problem, namely, that much of the prayer directed to Mary, not to God.
.
We are never told in the Bible whether anyone
else in heaven can even hear us.
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God alone is all-knowing, all-powerful, and
all-present.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He
taught them to address their prayers to God the Father.
.
Every example of prayer in the Bible is addressed
to God alone.
.
There is never a single example of someone
praying to any “saint” or angel or anyone else (besides prayers to false
gods).
.
Further, in the Bible, any time that a pious
person prostrates himself (in a religious setting) to honor someone else
besides God (chiefly to the apostles or angels), he is told to get up, to stop
it (Acts
10:25-26; 14:13-16; Matthew 4:10; Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9).
.
The Roman Catholic Church states that it worships
God alone but “venerates” Mary and the saints.
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What is the difference? A person praying the
rosary spends more time calling out to Mary than to God.
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For every one praise of God in the rosary, there
are ten praises of Mary!
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Praying the rosary also assigns a task to Mary
that the Bible never assigns her.
.
Jesus is our Redeemer (Galatians
3:13;4:4-5; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9.
.
He is our heavenly Advocate (1 John 2:1).
.
And He is our one and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).
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The “Hail, Holy Queen” portion of the
rosary prayer calls Mary our “most gracious advocate.” This is a
direct contradiction of the clear biblical teaching that only Jesus is our
go-between.
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Praying the rosary requires Catholics to call upon Mary as
the “holy
Queen.”
.
The only time in Scripture that the title “Queen
of Heaven” is found, the term is used in a negative way (Jeremiah
7:17-19; 44:16-27).
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The Bible never pictures Mary as a queen; rather, she calls
herself “the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38).
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She is never given a crown or authority over
heaven and earth.
.
Likewise, is it appropriate, while praying the rosary, to
call Mary our “life” and “hope?”
.
Again, these are terms that are used of God alone
in Scripture (John 1:1-14; Colossians 3:4; 1 Timothy 1:1; Ephesians 1:12;
Titus 2:13).
.
The practice of saying the rosary runs contrary
to Scripture in a number of ways.
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Only God can hear our prayers.
.
Only God can answer our prayers.
.
We have one intermediary (Jesus), and it is in
His name we pray, not Mary’s.
.
Would
you want to have a deeper relationship with God?
God has made it possible for you to know Him
and experience an amazing change in your own life by receiving His Son,
Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have separated me
from You.
I am truly sorry. I
now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to
You.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was
resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in
my heart from this day forward. Thank You that according to your Word, I am now
born again.
Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your
will for the rest of my life. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Please use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
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