La verdadera Maria de la Biblia
You are encouraged to print these out to give to Catholic Hispanics
249 pages contrasting the
Mary of Catholicism with
the Mary of the Holy Bible.
The Bible has many praiseworthy things to report about Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus. Because of the many distortions and misrepresentations she has been labeled with, many non-Catholics have never really studied her with admiration. Let’s now take a look at the real Mary of the Bible.
(2) She was willing to risk her own life to obey God and become impregnated with Jesus, for in those days adultery would be punished by stoning to death (Lev. 20:10), which is what it would appear she was guilty of, though she was innocent. Hence, she was going to serve God to the point of death, regardless the cost.
(3) She was willing to imperil her marriage with Joseph, by her obedience to God, as it certainly did until Joseph had a dream from God regarding this situation (Mt. 1:18-20). That saved their marriage!
(4) She was also ready to be the topic of slanderous, untrue gossip and evil suspicion by those that would see her pregnant. Such untrue words can be crushing to the innocent and conscientious (Job 19:2), such as Mary.
(5) She was also a person of great faith. Mary was still a virgin at that point, since she and Joseph never had sexual contact until after Jesus was born (Mt. 1:25), yet Mary had faith to believe for the impossible.
(6) Without a doubt, after Jesus and Mary’s other children were born, (Joseph and) Mary raised them, in the ways of God, since they were both godly themselves. With Joseph being the head of the household, Mary certainly followed his godly leadership, which benefitted their entire family (and marriage).
(7) After Jesus started his earthly ministry at the age of 30, Mary is to be commended again as she told the people at the wedding at Cana:
“Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)In other words, she knew that Jesus had the answers for life’s problems. Simple obedience to God’s word is exalted here, even if it doesn’t always make sense in the natural. Mary pointed people away from herself to the teachings and directives of Jesus. She also encouraged us to have faith in Jesus and not in herself.
(8) Mary was at the foot of the cross mourning and sympathizing with the other disciples over the harsh and unfair treatment given to her firstborn (Lk. 2:7), as he alone paid the price for our redemption. This was a dangerous time to be associated with Jesus, yet she (and other disciples) were there at the cross grieving over what cruel and ignorant people did to him.
(9) After the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven, she was in the upper room patiently awaiting to be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit along with the other 120 disciples. We, however, never see her afterwards doing any exploits or miracles in the name of the Lord, as the other disciples did in the book of Acts, who were also filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time she was.
Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. (Judg 5:24, KJV)There are also many others that are described as blessed. Just one such example is shown in James:
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)Furthermore, according to Jesus himself John the Baptist was greater than Mary:
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist .... (Mat 11:11)Moreover, Jesus told us who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but did not say it was Mary:
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 18:4)(B) While it is certainly true that Jesus did what his mother requested at Cana, it is also true that the Lord equally obeyed the wishes of others at times, which also resulted in the miraculous:
While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples ... After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. (Mat 9:18,19, 25)Hence, in light of this passage, the miracle at Cana has been misused and distorted to teach we can go to Mary to get her to uniquely move the hand of the Lord in our behalf—meaning that she has a special ability and closeness to the Lord to do this. The truth is: Mary doesn’t have a unique influence on the Lord Jesus to affect his actions.
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mat 12:46-50)(C) While Mary was certainly a godly mother and wife, this doesn’t mean she was the perfect mother. Evidence for this appears as she neglected to care for Jesus when she and Joseph returned from the Passover in Jerusalem. She didn’t know the boy Jesus (only 12 years of age) was not in their company until a full day went by:
Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. (Luke 2:44)Since Joseph and Mary traveled for a full day before discovering Jesus wasn’t with them, it took another day for them to return to Jerusalem, which means Jesus was left alone with no apparent place to sleep or food to eat during those two days.
How could Mary (and Joseph) forget about Jesus as they returned home from a distant place, especially if he was their only child? Is such possible for a couple with only one child? On the other hand, Scripture shows Jesus had multiple brothers and sisters in his natural family, while he was still the firstborn (or oldest). (See our article entitled, Mary’s Virginity.) A possible reason for this negligence is that Joseph and Mary were busy tending to the many needs of their other children, who were all younger and much more dependent than he was. Whatever the reason, they were so preoccupied that they neglected to check the health and well-being of the boy Jesus.
But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. (1 Cor 7:2-4)So now will the devout Catholic deny Mary’s sinlessness, because she violated this command to sexually unite with Joseph or repudiate her perpetual virginity, as declared by Catholicism? This is a small part of the problem that Catholicism has created for itself by going beyond Scripture to create a Mary that doesn’t exist and is trusted in for deliverance and salvation. Again, the evidence shows that the Mary of Catholicism is not the Mary of the Bible, but a dangerous distortion that has led multitudes into idolatry and a false salvation hope.
(E) Though Mary had great faith to believe she could get pregnant while still a virgin, this doesn’t mean others didn’t have greater faith than she did. In fact, many are mentioned in the faith chapter (Hebrews 11) as the examples of faith, yet Mary is excluded from the list.
(F) While Mary had godly wisdom this doesn’t mean that she was beyond being deceived herself. This is apparent since she actually thought Jesus was out of his mind at a point in time during his ministry:
When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” ... Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.” Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. (Mark 3:21-4:1)This is another passage which shows that the Lord denied Mary’s request! Furthermore, Jesus placed any person who does the will of God on a par with Mary, as is apparent in that passage. Mary is not superior to any such person, according to Jesus himself. In fact, the Lord would have us all know that Mary does NOT have a special role or blessing upon her because she gave birth to Jesus:
As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:27,28)Notice: Jesus publicly rebuked the woman praising Mary because she gave birth to Jesus and went on to state who the real blessed people are—those who hear the word of God and obey it.
Luke 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”By calling Mary by the same term that others were also called, the Lord showed he was not favorably disposed towards his mother the way Catholicism states him to be. Jesus honored his mother, but not as Catholicism presents it; and all disciples of the Lord are on a par with her, according to Jesus himself (Mt. 12:49,50; Lk. 11:27,28).Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Finally, please remember the post-ascended Jesus in Rev. 1 was not a baby or child and Mary wasn’t with him. Never is Mary shown to be any kind of Queen in the book of Revelation.
These additional Scriptures about Mary have been suppressed and ignored by many who have exalted her to the reigning Queen of the Universe. Just because Mary was chosen over all other women to bear Jesus doesn’t justify elevating her to the place where she has a role in one’s salvation or even thinking she is specially blessed (Lk. 11:27,28). In fact, to place any trust in Mary for your salvation is to disobey the many commands in Scripture to trust in Jesus alone. Hence, if one is not placing his submissive faith in Jesus, he is without salvation and in disobedience to God. This is why this information is so important. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that multitudes of sincere Catholics have been mislead by their own spiritual leaders, past and present, regarding salvation itself.
Though Mary is a primary figure in Catholicism, there is much more information in God’s word about other servants of God, such as Moses, Abraham, the apostle Paul, etc. Unlike others, she never wrote part of the Bible or died a martyr of the faith. Furthermore, absolutely no scripture states that we are to go to Mary to get to Jesus, or that she is a co-redeemer, or that she is to be prayed to, trusted in, or venerated. Catholicism has also magnified her in a multitude of other unscriptural ways. The real Mary is the Christian’s sister, not his mother. (See our article entitled, Is Mary The Mother of the Church?) GOD BLESS YOU.