Mary, the Free - 1

Intro.
I think that the traditional Catholic understanding of Mary has some serious flaws, but they get many things  right. What they get right may very well outweigh or at least balance out in both faith and practice what, IMO, they get wrong.  We Evangelicals tend to look at the Virgin Mary as a kind of usurper, even a cover for demonic spirits who would lead us away from pure faith in Christ. We rarely mention her, except when we have to - like at Christmastime when we talk about the Virgin Birth in passing.

The rest of the year, she doesn't get airtime in our churches, except maybe to say that we do not venerate her - whatever that means to us. For all practical purposes, Mary does not exist for us. We are proud of that fact, even. We do not tolerate Mariolatry!  I suspect that Catholics would not tolerate it, either.

I think that we Evangelicals are losing out by ignoring Mary. A proper Biblical understanding of this most blessed of women  may very well be a kind of prophylactic, a protection from demonic spirits - and I am not sure I have that proper understanding. I am just one woman sitting at my dining room table, trying to gain and then put into words a greater understanding of what being a woman in Christ means and how I am supposed to live that out in my life. Maybe someone else reading this will be encouraged to get  to know the Biblical Mary as well. She is not a nobody, after all.

I won't try to explain Catholic dogma, since I am not qualified to do that, obviously. However, here are some links that explain quite clearly what Mary means and does not mean in the Catholic system. Again, I am not in full agreement with what is presented at these websites, but neither am I in agreement with what I will call the standard Evangelical understanding of what Catholicism teaches! Anyway...  I will put my Evangelicalism eyeglasses on and try to explain why I think that we as Evangelicals need Mary more than ever before. If anyone wants to study the Catholic Church's teaching about Mary, these resources are reliable.

Mary is Our Mother

The Blessed Virgin Mary

The following blog post kind of got me thinking about how in our Evangelical faith, Mary doesn't even exist, not even when we talk about motherhood. Ann Voskamp is not more guilty of this kind of oversight than the rest of us. At least Ann spoke beautifully about motherhood, even if she left out the woman, as Elizabeth Scalia gently pointed out.  How did we Evangelicals allow this to happen?

No, I cannot be a Catholic...

Dear Ann Voskamp: Which Mama First Modeled Fluid Beauty?


I am not sure that I can keep calling myself Evangelical, either. Yes, I have no problem identifying with the Evangelicalism of even a couple of decades ago. However, what she is becoming terrifies me.

Some are opting for just plain Christian, but that can mean anything and nothing.

More later...