Mary Cannot be Divine, Can She?

[Denise]

By Dan Byron on Jan 23, 2016

I heard my neighbor, in our massive cubicle maze, call over the wall, “Hey Dan, you have time for coffee?”

Before I could hang up the phone and answer him, he called over the wall again, “I have a couple of additional questions. I will even buy the coffee this time.”

When I was finally able to end the call, I got up and poked my head around the partition and said, “Free coffee? I am in.”

When we got the coffee and found the familiar table, he began, “Is it true Catholics worship Mary?”

“No, we do not worship Mary; the only being who deserves worship is God, the Triune Being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We do, however, venerate her as the Mother of God.”

He nearly chocked on his coffee and he replied, “She cannot be the Mother of God since that would make her divine. She cannot be divine can she?”

Occam’s Razor

I replied, ” Do you recall in science or philosophy class when the teacher mentioned Occam’s Razor? Do you remember it is principle ( developed by a Franciscan Friar ) that states the simplest answer is most often correct?”

“Yes, but what has that got to do with Mary being the Mother of God?”

” Believing Mary is the Mother of God is the simplest and most correct thing to do. First, let’s look at what she isn’t, OK?”

“Yes”

“As Christians we know God is eternal, with no beginning, no end, unchanging, always was and always will be, right?”

He replied, “Yes, of course.”

“Well, if Mary was His mother, it would make Him at best immortal, but certainly not eternal, as it would mean He had a beginning. If she was His mother, she would have had a beginning, and you would have to keep going back through a string of immortal gods to find the first one who would be the only eternal one, right?”

He conceded the point.

I continued, “Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other early Mormon prophets all held the god of our little corner of the universe is Adam. He had been raised to a god status by following the doctrines of their faith perfectly. In the mid-1840’s another Mormon president, L. Snow, coined the couplet ‘As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.’ which simply shows that god is a string of immortal beings, not an eternal one. A god is made a god from man, and so on.”

Finishing the first of what would be two cups of coffee, I continued, “As Catholic Christians, we believe God is God, eternal, unchanging, and His only job is to be our one and only God. Do you agree with that?”

He was getting up to get our second cups of coffee when he stopped and said, “Yes, God is God, the great ‘I am.”

Occam’s Razor Revisited

Taking the second cup of coffee from him, I began, “Now let’s get back to Occam’s Razor. If God is God and He always has been, how dare we Catholics say Mary is His mother? Let me ask you, ” Is Christ Jesus fully divine?”

“Yes, He is the second person in the Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.

Continuing, I asked, “Is Christ Jesus fully human? That is, did He cry, feel joy, feel pain, frustration and anger; was He human in all ways, except in sin?”

His response was,” Yes, of course, He was fully human, involved with people, sharing and caring the best role model for humans.”

“Excellent. Now, let me ask, have you ever seen a crèche, a Nativity scene?”

“Yes, I have, they are everywhere from Thanksgiving to New Year’s,” was his response.

“O.K., now here comes the simplicity of Occam’s Razor. In the manger scene, who is usually present?”

“Well, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, kings, and angels.”

I said, “Excellent, that is all we need. Mary is there, she is the mother of Christ Jesus, yes?”

“Yes, of course.”

“And just to prove Catholics know the Bible, we can look at a couple of gospel passages to fortify the point that Mary is Christ’s mother. In the second chapter of Luke, Mary walked in haste to go to her cousin Elizabeth who was old but pregnant. When she arrived, Elizabeth asked ‘Who am I that the mother of my Lord comes to me?’ This passage confirms Mary’s role as the mother of the Christ. We can go to the second chapter of John and the wedding at Cana; the guest list included Jesus and His mother. Then the last example I will use is the 19th chapter of John and the people standing at the foot of the cross included Mary his mother, and a couple of others, are these examples correct?”

“I will take your word for the chapter and author, but the content is correct. Mary is called His mother frequently.”

Mary the Mother of God

Finishing the second coffee, I concluded this portion of the discussion, “We agree Christ is the Son of God, and we agree He is fully human. We agree Mary is his biological mother who donated her flesh, blood, and DNA to Christ. This makes her title as “Mother of God” completely correct because she is the mother of the humanity of Christ. From the Catholic perspective, if she was good enough for Christ to call mother, she is good enough for us to venerate her in this role. Here was a teenage girl with an unplanned pregnancy which would change the world.”

Looking a bit confused, he asked, “Is that all there is to it? You guys venerate her as His Mom?”

“Yup, that’s all there is to it. When you are looking at a complex topic, the simplest answer is most often correct. We call Mary the Mother of God because she is. Simple isn’t it?”