Queen of Heaven

The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. Jeremiah 7:18

This part of the Bible speaks of sins committed by Israel which aroused God's anger. Of course that was a long time ago, so what's the problem? Some think that now we no longer engage in such pagan practices.

Status Report: The Queen of Heaven is still with us! Only today her name is attached to "The Blessed Virgin Mary".

So now I guess it's okay to worship her? If the mother of Jesus had known what blasphemies were going to be performed in her name, how sad she would have been.

I have seen two extreme treatments of Mary. I have heard Protestants say that Mary was just a common woman of her time. Nothing exceptional about her. The angel Gabriel said otherwise. This attitude of demeaning Mary may be an attempt to compensate for Mariolatry, followed by billions around the world, many of them not Christians at all.

There is a powerful desire in the world to worship a woman. Catholicism makes Mary co-redeemer with Christ. Its adherents are told to pray to Mary who will then intercede with Jesus on their behalf. As a kind of "receptionist", Mary is the gate keeper to Christ and the Grace of God.

So we have two extremes. May I suggest we follow the Bible and what it says about Mary, and stop using her name to perpetuate paganism, or trying to debase the mother of Jesus?

See this entry on Queen of Heaven from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.