"Mary, The 'Perfect Mother' ?"

In my blog of August 7th, I wrote about the pain of losing several "adopted moms" in the past year-and-a-half.  I would not be surprised if a well-meaning Catholic reader was thinking "Why don't you come back to Catholicism and have MARY as your Mother again? There is no one better, and HER love is Perfect and Eternal."

Well, let me just say in response that I appreciate the offer, but I've "been there and done that" and the way Catholics perceive Mary does not square with SCRIPTURE.  Mary was, indeed, a highly favored woman but Catholicism has made her into practically a GOD.  She was NOT "born without sin," herself...that's why she rejoiced in God her savior. She was NOT a perpetual virgin after Jesus's birth, that's why He had half-brothers and sisters.  And she is NOT the "Queen of Heaven" today...NOT a "Co-Redemptrix" or "Co-Mediatrix"....these are all man-made traditions of men which are, sadly, negating the Word of God and deceiving millions.

Now, it is not my purpose here to evangelize or try to persuade anyone...were that the case I would go on and on and quote the actual Scripture references.  I'm only trying to tell my hypothetical Catholic friend why "The Perfect Mother" is not an option for me.  I definitely AM working hard on a book called "Winning Catholics to Christ" which lays all of this out in more detail and perhaps when I self-publish it (Lord Willing, next spring) I'll reprint the chapter about MARY here.  But for now, again, I'm only answering a (very good) hypothetical question.

You see, I already gave up Mary as my "Perfect Mother" and "adopted mom" back in 1975 when I got saved and left Catholicism.

And, perhaps doing that helped prep me for the loss of my REAL mom (2007) and those OTHER adopted moms in this past year-and-a-half, the ones I blogged about here on August 7th. TURNING AWAY FROM CATHOLICISM WAS DIFFICULT PARTLY BECAUSE IT MEANT LEAVING "THE PERFECT MOTHER" BEHIND...but I definitely HAVE left her behind, and it made me stronger. Yes, I still yearn for a mother-figure in my life, but not the kind of "figure" which is only a statue that many PRAY to, or a painting (like the one above) which is inanimate. I want a mother-figure I can pray WITH here on EARTH, not someone in Heaven who SUPPOSEDLY hears and answers millions of prayers all at once.

And why would I want a PERFECT mother when I, MYSELF am not perfect??

Protestantism VALUES Mary highly, yes...at least we should....but we don't DEIFY her. And in fact it was HARD to learn to see Mary through the realistic lens of Scripture, and not through the Catholic Church's TRADITIONS, but I did and I still recall all that I saw.

And having seen how Catholicism lies about so many things, I will never, ever go back DESPITE the lure of "the Perfect Mother." (Thank you anyway, though!!)