Originally posted by NUKE
1. Why do you worship/pray to the virgin Mary? Where in the bible are you instructed to do so?
2. Rosary beads and Hail Mary's, where did that come from?
3. Is any man holy? What about the pope? ANy refernece for a pope in the bible?
4. Confession of sins to another man. Where is that called for in the bible.
5. granting of sainthood. How is it that the church decides who will be elevated to "saint" ?
Thank you for your thoughful answers.
I am not a Cristian (catholic or protestant), but I will try some answer, even if this will bring the risk of the inquisition for me.
1. The Virgin Mary worshipping/praying, like for many female "siding" divinity in the precedent times, is the heritage of the original Female Divinity, representing the fertility and the capability of the woman to give birth, and, by magic similitude, to give fertility to the land too, generally called "Great Mother" by the Antropologists/Archeologists.
2. Dont know, ask a specific religious expert.
3. Same as 2 with the adding that there is something said in the new testament, with probably a mixing with the "Sacred King" tradition, or, better the "pontifex maximus" of the Roman heritage (in fact, the pope is called alsoo
Pontefice, a direct derivation of the term.
4. See 2.
5. If you acquire a little knowing of the way the religion is praticed here in Italy by the masses, you will see the amaizing similitude with the original way the different deitys were worshipped/prayed, each with unique and specific areas of "influence", including the use of
ex voto and specific prayers.
For example,
Santa Lucia (Lucy) for the view diseases, or
Sant'Antonio da Padova (Antony from Padua) for speech and tongue and study problems, and many other possible examples.
I guess that, in the initial phase of the ufficialization (?sp?) of the religion as state religion, during the "capillarization" (uh?) this mix was intended to ease up the penetration of the new religion in the lower masses, generally more resistant to the novelty.
As to how to become saint, see point 2.
