Reddit mentions of Behold Your Mother - A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines

>Fully human and fully God, so Paul isn't talking about him.


Of course. But following the logic of what was said it would implicate him. So you are left with a couple of choices; either Paul is wrong, or it's not meant to mean literally everyone. Additionally there are other who have not sinned: all who died before the age of accountability: Those in the womb, babies, and very young children. I think you would agree they have committed no sin themselves.


>My short answer is, Mary didn't do anything for me.


Oh, but she did. She said yes to God. That was a very powerful choice on her part and it directly affected the course of human history.


> but there's no point focusing on her or any other saints when we have the Son of God to look at and compare to


Not everyone is ready to look directly to God, God can use others in our lives to steer us towards him, whether that be a mentor, a friend, or a saint. Additionally each saint reflects God, indeed each human does. How could we not? We were made in his image. The saints are just clearer reflections since they are closer to God, and Mary is the human closest to God. She will point to her son unfailingly.


I really recommend you look into why we believe as we do.


https://www.amazon.com/Behold-Your-Mother-Historical-Doctrines/dp/1938983807


is a good starting place.

So Jesus Christ is King of the Universe. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Human. Every human born has a mother. A king's mother is a queen. Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ. Mary is the "Mother of God; Theotokos" and also mother of the King of the universe(heaven and earth). Therefore, Mary is queen of heaven and earth and of all of the Angels and Saints and creatures.

Here are some blog post from a very southern baptist turned Catholic about how Mary is queen of heaven and earth as well as more mariology. He also wrote a book on the biblical and historical defense of the Marian doctorine.

http://www.catholic.com/blog/tim-staples/is-there-a-queen-in-the-kingdom-of-heaven

http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/hail-mary-conceived-without-sin

http://www.catholic.com/blog/tim-staples/mary-matters

https://www.amazon.com/Behold-Your-Mother-Historical-Doctrines/dp/1938983807

Hi there! Thanks for giving us a look!

The central "thing" about Catholicism is that we are the continuation of the Church that Christ founded on his Apostles/Peter. By looking at the history of Christianity, I think you'll find that statement is true (like I did).

I'm a cradle Catholic, but I never really looked into or practiced my faith that much. One day, I thought I'd have myself a go and try to disprove religion. Religion is just holding us back as a society right? So let me start at the top of the ladder. I tried to disprove theism in general.

Couldn't do it.

Ok, let me disprove Christianity then.

Couldn't do it.

Dang, can I at least prove that Catholicism isn't the true form of Christianity?

LOL, nope. I ended up having a much stronger connection to my faith. Presently, I am discerning the priesthood. I thank God every day that He allowed me to have such arrogance as to think "I can disprove God!" and travel down that rabbit hole. I came out with a profound love and trust for God. It was stressful and hair-pulling, but worth it!

I, for one, am a reader. Literature is what brought me back to the Church. There area many works which I would recommend:

• a small encyclical by Pope John Paul II called Fides et Ratio, or Faith and Reason in Latin. This very short book is about how faith and human reason are not opposed to each other! Faith and reason are two wings of the same dove on which man ascends to God. It's a very simple, yet important thing to read, and sets the stage for Catholic philosophy and theology.
  
  
• The Fathers Know Best by Jimmy Akin. Jimmy converted to Catholicism after being a Baptist. This amazing book shows historical documents from the Early Church and shows how the Church Fathers, those who studied under the Apostles themselves, prove that Catholicism is the true form of Christianity.
  
  
• The Protestant's Dilemma is a fantastic read. It points to the inconsistencies in Protestantism and how such a religion cannot work. After I finished this book, I realized that every branch of Protestantism was false, and that the only true religion could be either Catholicism or Orthodoxy.
  
  
• Jesus, Peter, and the Keys convinced me Catholicism was true and Orthodoxy was false because of its denial of the Papacy. I was hooked.
  
  
• In your situation, specifically with the attachment to Our Lady that you have, Behold Your Mother is a beautiful read. It's written by Tim Staples, another Catholic convert who converted his whole family to the Church. Tim explains why Catholics love Mary so much, and where all our fancy Mary doctrines come from. I think you would benefit greatly from this read!
  
  Finally, Catholic Answers has a YouTube channel. They have a 2 hour show every weekday in which they answer questions from Catholics and non-Catholics, and upload these questions as short videos. Any question you have should be answered here.
  
  There are many other books you could look into, but we don't want to scare you away! We have almost 2,000 years of material to read.

On Mary, the ones I've heard often are Behold Your Mother and Hail Holy Queen. I have the latter, but it's been many many years since I last read it so I don't remember much about it. I remember thinking it was really good though so there's that. (I guess this is a hint from God and Our Mother that I should pick it up again.) Other than those two, I found this website that you might find interesting.

I hope those prove useful on your journey!

I would highly recommend Behold Your Mother - A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines by Tim Staples in regards to specifically Marian questions.

Although, if you are caught up on praying "to Mary" you probably are struggling with praying to Saints in general, here are a couple links I'd recommend.

Praying to Mary and the Saints
Praying to Mary - A Biblical Defense
Why Praying To Saints Is Not Like Praying To Other Gods