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Is Mary the Mother of God? Let's look at one argument non-Catholics use against this claim, and how to respond. The belief that Mary is the mother of God is not unique to Catholicism. The vast majority of Christians accept this dogma, with only a minority of people in the Protestant community objecting. One text that is appealed to in support of this belief is Luke 1:43. There, Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, exclaims to Mary, who just arrived in her presence, “Why is this …

To outsiders, Catholicism is weird.Protestants, especially, often have a hard time comprehending the Catholic world of popes, Mary statues, prayer cards, vestments, smells, bells, and Jesus’ actual body and blood in the Eucharist—especially if they have been taught that these are unbiblical additions to the pure Christian faith.Of course, all of Christianity can seem pretty weird, can’t it?All Christians believe in a God that is one yet somehow also three. We think that a man who is also God phy …

I was sitting in a booth at a restaurant in San Diego waiting for the religious equivalent of a “blind date” to begin. A few weeks earlier, some Catholic friends of mine asked me to meet with their son while he was home from college. They wanted me to speak to him because he told his parents he wasn’t going to church with them anymore because he was now an atheist. They asked me, “Can you help him see he needs to start going back to church? Can you help him get over all this atheist stuff?” Then …

When I was on the outside looking in at the Catholic Church, I truly believed the emphasis on Mary in Catholic theology led to a loss of focus on Jesus. My aim, in speaking with Catholics, was not only to debunk Catholic theology’s many myths about Mary, but also to point them back to what really matters for salvation: Jesus Christ. Often I would say to them words that I have since heard many times from scores of well-meaning Protestant Christians: “We can agree to disagree about Mary. Afte …

The history of Christianity is one of debate. As the Gospels reveal, Jesus was challenged right from the start. Rival schools like the Pharisees and Sadducees posed pointed questions to him, trying to trap him in his words and even to get him in trouble with the authorities. Some of Jesus’ most famous statements were responses to challenges from his critics: “What God has joined together, let man not put asunder.” “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” &ld …