Roots of Romanism (The Veneration of Mary)

This is the final installment in a series Wayne Jackson wrote examining the Catholic Church. It is copied here from the April, 1978 edition of The Christian Courier which was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and was edited by Jackson.

It is an undeniable fact that in Roman Catholic theology "The Blessed Virgin Mary" is accorded more attention than Christ Himself. She is venerated in the Rosary as the "Mother of God" 150 times. There are 14 feasts which are universally held in honor of Mary. She is remembered every Saturday and the whole month of May is dedicated to her. The year of 1953 was celebrated as the Marian year (F.C.H. Dreyer & E. Weller, Roman Catholicism in the Light of Scripture, pp. 179, 180).

The worship of female deities was quite common among the heathen of antiquity. In the days of Jeremiah, those Israelites that wandered into idolatry offered worship to, "the queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25). The Egyptians had Athor, the Greeks had Hestia and the Romans worshipped Vesta. Accordingly, when the bloody persecution of the 4th century ended with the so-called "conversion" of Constantine, the idea of a female god for "Christianity" began to evolve. As one writer notes, "An influx into the church of many pagans occurred when the Emperor Constantine declared himself a Christian, and the thought of a female element in the divinity, encouraged by pagan thought generally Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Latin began to emerge." (W.C.G. Proctor, Baker's Dictionary of Theology, p. 344.) Another historian also traces this development:

"The adoration of Mary the mother of the Lord originated later than the veneration of angels and saints and relics. From the first, Mary was regarded as the highest ideal of maidenhood. This veneration grew steadily and the notion that Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Christ became an article of faith as early as the fourth century. During the great doctrinal controversies the absolute divinity of Christ was strongly emphasized, which belief enhanced respect for Mary to a point beyond the veneration paid to the saints. She was the 'Mother of God.' Augustine did not number her among sinners. Ambrose designated her the second Even who cooperated with Christ in His atonement. A legend spread that Mary, immediately on her decease, was raised by angels and carried to Heaven, where she was elevated as the heavenly queen. As such she became the object, not only of veneration, but also of invocation. People looked on her as the real helper in heaven and they prayed to her for intercession, rather than to God through Jesus Christ. They prayed in Mary's name and not in the Lord's name.

The worship of Mary was the counterpart to the worship of a female divinity, the Great Mother, by all pagans in the lands around the Mediterranean." (Lars P. Qualben, A History of the Christian Church, p. 132)

As this series of articles on the "Roots of Romanism" is concluded, let it be observed that many other examples could be cited demonstrating the dependence of Romanism upon paganism. Sincere Roman Catholics need to be taught that the total authority for religious practice resides in the sacred Scriptures. We are not at liberty to go beyond that which is written (I Corinthians 4:6). To go beyond the doctrine of Christ is to deprive ourselves of God (II John 9).