I Was Blind but Now I See: My Personal Experience With Roman Catholic Idolatry

Back then, I was told that the Roman Catholic's use of images in worship are just like pictures of your friends and family. Major polytheistic religions also say the same thing that the images in their heathen places of worship were also meant to be reminders of the gods and goddesses they worshiped. Roman Catholics and major polytheists say they don't worship the image but the one portrayed by the image. Like a Buddhist can say they're not praying to the image but the god or goddess portrayed by the image. Roman Catholics say they're not praying to the image of Jesus but to Jesus.

I used to be much careful in handling Roman Catholic images and items not because they cost money or because they were a work of art. Instead, I handled them with so much care because I was told that breaking them could unleash a curse. But the more I started reading the Bible, the more I started to see something is dead wrong about the use of images for worship. While the Ark of the Covenant had images on it and images are not wrong per se but the problem comes when images are worshiped. King Hezekiah later had the bronze serpent Moses made destroyed when it became an object of idolatry. So much for saying that the images are just there to remind you of God, Jesus, the saints, and angels!

Talk to the average Roman Catholic and they'll tell you that they're not worshiping Mary. But recalling the time I was still a Roman Catholic, I remembered how I really thought more of Mary than Jesus. I prayed more Hail Marys than Our Fathers. I ended up calling Mary for help more than Jesus. But in John 2:5, Mary told people to do only whatever Jesus tells them to do. Yet many Roman Catholics still continue to use that verse to justify having to pass through Mary. Didn't Mary tell them straight to go to Jesus directly? Nowhere in the Bible are sinners required to go to Mary before they could go to Jesus. Note that Jesus only called Mary "woman" as a term of respect but not as "mother". Mary wanted people to understand that she couldn't mediate between them and Jesus.

Nothing was more shocking for me to realize that what I did was idolatry. Praying to Mary was indeed idolatry. How often have Roman Catholics been misled into believing that they're not worshiping Mary and some even think they're not praying to her. But remembering my prayer books and catechism while I was still a Roman Catholic meant this: Mary meant to be more than God. Although Roman Catholicism doesn't teach Mary is God and they do acknowledge she's just created but they've elevated her above God with or without knowing it. The late John Paul II even gave thanks to Mary instead of God after he survived an assassination attempt with a Muslim assassin.

Without God's grace, I don't think I would have gotten out of Mary worship. Nothing in the Bible suggests that you must pass through Mary to go to Jesus. It's not in the name of Mary men are saved but Jesus. Mary was important but her importance is like every person who loves the LORD. I can always look up to Mary as a mother to model but she's not a co-Mediator with Christ. No, 1 Timothy 2:5 says that Jesus is the only one who mediates between God and man when it comes to salvation.