Directed to those of faith: Would it be blasphemous to pray to a Heavenly Mother?

Since I played Freud and brought up my childhood this is directed (hopefully) at any atheist that might look in from idle curiosity. How many of you had an abusive father? Could that have led to your reluctance to acknowledge that things unseen, like a Father God, might possibly exist?
 

palides2021 said:
In our orthodox religion, we do pray to the Virgin Mary as our protector. We ask her to "intercede for us." She has a lot of influence and has helped a lot of people. There are even monasteries devoted to her. The Nativity of the Theotokos monastery in Pittsburgh is one of them. I have gone there and found great solace with the elder and the nuns after my husband passed away. She has appeared to many monks and elders, and this has been written about.
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I always found that the importance of the Virgin Mary has been downplayed in Protestant Circles! Maybe I should switch to Orthodox! <soft smile> I see a lot of things that I like very much!

This should be a good incentive for the rest of us:
Luke 1:

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state
of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed!

 

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Warrigal said:
I was the same until I received an unsolicited communication when my guard was down.
It came as quite a shock at the time.

Now I simply follow the practice, "be still, and know that I am God".
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I think the most important prayer anyone can utter is Thy Will Be Done! Or as others have paraphrased it, Let Go And Let God! I would rather have instant reply and gratification but it's that willingness to let go that is the most effective!
 
Old Salt said:
I always found that the importance of the Virgin Mary has been downplayed in Protestant Circles! Maybe I should switch to Orthodox! <soft smile> I see a lot of things that I like very much!

This should be a good incentive for the rest of us:
Luke 1:

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state
of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed!
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Today, we had a service at church called "paraklesis" and sharing it with you (starts after 5 minutes) - notice the image of the Virgin Mary at the top! (my son chants with the priest):
 
palides2021 said:
Today, we had a service at church called "paraklesis" and sharing it with you (starts after 5 minutes) - notice the image of the Virgin Mary at the top! (my son chants with the priest):
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Fascinating, Palides. I certainly noticed the picture of the Virgin Mary as well as the chanting. Too bad I couldn't understand most of it! What are all the individuals doing going up to the small altar and then leaving. Are they leaving the service or do they remain in church!
 
Old Salt said:
I've always wondered! After all God is Spirit, therefore neither He nor She. I would take great comfort if I could pray to a Heavenly Mother!
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I had a friend, while discussing religion, said she would not pray the "Hail Mary"? I asked why. She said she Hails no one but God? I asked if she considered such recital wrong or a sin? She said "Both". I did not discuss it further, but how in the name of, Creation is a good word, can praying to or hailing God's Mother be a sin?
 
Old Salt said:
Fascinating, Palides. I certainly noticed the picture of the Virgin Mary as well as the chanting. Too bad I couldn't understand most of it! What are all the individuals doing going up to the small altar and then leaving. Are they leaving the service or do they remain in church!
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At the end of the service, they are going to the Virgin Mary icon and bowing down to show their respect or do a short prayer and then leave. It's a short service. In this service, the priest does a special prayer for the living, and me and my family's names were included in there (thanks to my son). I don't know if I'm the expert on this, but this is my limited understanding, lol.
 
Old Salt said:
Fascinating, Palides. I certainly noticed the picture of the Virgin Mary as well as the chanting. Too bad I couldn't understand most of it! What are all the individuals doing going up to the small altar and then leaving. Are they leaving the service or do they remain in church!
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They rotate between Greek and English, so you should be able to catch some of it.
 
This is my belief which might differ from others and that is OK.

God, is neither male nor female. He transcends all such categories.

In fact, the personal name of God, Yahweh was revealed to Moses in Exodus 3, is a combination of both female and male grammatical endings.
The first part of God’s name in Hebrew, “Yah,” is feminine, and the last part, “weh,” is masculine.

One must remember the Bible was written in a patriarchal culture.
 
palides2021 said:
They rotate between Greek and English, so you should be able to catch some of it.
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I did notice, palides! Since I don't understand Greek I wished it were all in English! I was wondering about people going up to the altar and then leaving. Is that the same as having Holy Communion? Did they leave after that or did they return to their seats. Just curious about customs that are very different from ours!
 
Jamala said:
At the end of the service, they are going to the Virgin Mary icon and bowing down to show their respect or do a short prayer and then leave. It's a short service. In this service, the priest does a special prayer for the living, and me and my family's names were included in there (thanks to my son). I don't know if I'm the expert on this, but this is my limited understanding, lol.
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Sorry this is palides reply, not Jamala's! I started out with a reply to Jamala's post, then while looking things over noticed palides' reply to me and I had just asked her again! Tried to correct this and voila, Jamala as the originator! It's getting late! And thanks palides for clearing things up for me!
 
ohioboy said:
I had a friend, while discussing religion, said she would not pray the "Hail Mary"? I asked why. She said she Hails no one but God? I asked if she considered such recital wrong or a sin? She said "Both". I did not discuss it further, but how in the name of, Creation is a good word, can praying to or hailing God's Mother be a sin?
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This is terminology that messes with my mind. I believe in the Trinity, because I've been told I must if I want to be a true Christan ... yet ... my treacherous and unorthodox mind keeps God and Jesus separate. I can adore the Virgin Mary as the Mother of Jesus but can't think of her as being the Mother of God. The Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) really messed things up for the ordinary believer! I wish they had supported the Arian section of the Christian faith instead! Which stated in a nutshell that Jesus did not co-exist with God from the beginning but was created by God as His special and beloved Son. Read this, it's fascinating history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism
 
There are passages in the Old Testament that suggest YHWH is both Mother and Father to creation. It's a concept we have a hard time accepting since we are personally either male or female dealing with all the stuff that goes with both. We have to transcend the physical to understand I suppose. Personally, I have always had a hard enough time dealing with the physical to consider transcending it at this time. YHWH knows all about it because I keep bending his ear with daily updates that would drive even the most attentive mother wacko.
 
Old Salt said:
I did notice, palides! Since I don't understand Greek I wished it were all in English! I was wondering about people going up to the altar and then leaving. Is that the same as having Holy Communion? Did they leave after that or did they return to their seats. Just curious about customs that are very different from ours!
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Holy Communion is reserved for Divine Liturgy which is a longer service and reserved for Sundays and feast days. Short services like this are like Vespers. They don't include communion. Yes, the people leave after that. If they returned to their seats, you would see them back at the pews.

We also have a service on Sundays called Orthros (which means to stand) and it occurs before Divine Liturgy. During that one-hour service, there is a lot of praying by the chanters and the Bible is brought out and we go and kiss it and then return to our seats and wait for this service to end and the Divine Liturgy to begin. It's quite a ritual! If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me so we don't take up all this discussion on the thread (since it's going on a tangent, lol). You can also go on the St. George website (through the youtube link I provided) and browse the different services to get a feel for what they are about.
 
ohioboy said:
I had a friend, while discussing religion, said she would not pray the "Hail Mary"? I asked why. She said she Hails no one but God? I asked if she considered such recital wrong or a sin? She said "Both". I did not discuss it further, but how in the name of, Creation is a good word, can praying to or hailing God's Mother be a sin?
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It's not.

I am not RC but I spent 25 years teaching in a catholic girls' high school. I learnt a lot while I was there and attended many a requiem mass for parents of students and sometimes for the girls themselves. One time I witnessed parishioners saying the Rosary before one of the funerals and I was struck by the soothing effect it had on the mourners. Later, as the service reached the eucharistic prayer I observed the same effect. The timeless and well known ritual brought everyone together as one in an act of worship and celebration of a life that had ended.

I would never again sneer at people of any faith who were drawing strength or comfort by observing some ancient or habitual ritual. It may not do much for me but that is not important. It is what the people participating experience that matters.
 
In response to some of my later posts, I am not promoting Arianism, that's died out, so I am not proselytising! I am working through things that baffle or bother me. I've never been one to take someone else's word for anything unless it makes sense, if it doesn't I have to dig until I am satisfied! I am hoping to find in this forum fellow seachers after rational answers to various questionable thoughts, beliefs and attitudes!

To return to my subject: Looking at the New Testament through Arian eyes many passages would not have to be explained away, as when Jesus says (paraphrased), "I am not God, only the Father knows," or when He cries out on the cross "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" I drove my professors crazy with all my questions as well, so I will make this my last religious thread! Ahem, at least for a while, so relax, RR and others who peeked, I will now return to safer subjects! :) Good night, all!
 
For those of us who were taught that God is a masculine, supreme being, then yes...it would be blasphemous. But there are those who's beliefs do honor the feminine entities. For Wiccans, one of their important deities is The Triple Goddess.
 

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