Those who have died and are with God are more alive than we are (and that is an understatement). Whether they can hear us when we ask their prayers is a good question. We know from scripture that we are all surrounded by a crowd of witnesses (those who have died, who care about us, as well as angels), and that the holy ones carry our prayers to God, so they surely know about them.

So Mary is Mary, and Astarte (if she even exists) is Astarte. There are many examples of Christian peoples and practices supplanting pagan ones. God is known even to take sinful creatures like us, and change us, for the better.

But using scripture alone, one must conclude Mary really existed, and was the mother of Jesus, she was filled with grace and the holy spirit, and prophesized that all generations would call her blessed. Scriptural exegetes point out that she is referenced by both the first and last books of the bible - the woman in genesis who will crush the serpent, and the woman crowned with 12 stars who gives birth to Jesus in Revelations aka the book of the Apocalypse. She is a woman, certainly not a goddess, but having been given a special role, by God, as mother of Jesus, and in his entrusting of her to us, as mother of all the living (as the new Eve).

I certainly agree the current situation with the pope and the vatican are both troubling and confusing -- not that this is anything new. The Church founded by Jesus contained both saints and sinners at its founding, and will continue to, until the end of time.

Those who have died and are with God are more alive than we are (and that is an understatement). Whether they can hear us when we ask their prayers is a good question. We know from scripture that we are all surrounded by a crowd of witnesses (those who have died, who care about us, as well as angels), and that the holy ones carry our prayers to God, so they surely know about them.

So Mary is Mary, and Astarte (if she even exists) is Astarte. There are many examples of Christian peoples and practices supplanting pagan ones. God is known even to take sinful creatures like us, and change us, for the better.

But using scripture alone, one must conclude Mary really existed, and was the mother of Jesus, she was filled with grace and the holy spirit, and prophesized that all generations would all her blessed. Scriptural exegetes point out that she is referenced by both the first and last books of the bible - the woman in genesis who will crush the serpent, and the woman crowned with 12 stars who gives birth to Jesus in Revelations aka the book of the Apocalypse. She is a woman, certainly not a goddess, but having been given a special role, by God, as mother of Jesus, and in his entrusting of her to us, as mother of all the living (as the new Eve).

I certainly agree the current situation with the pope and the vatican are both troubling and confusing -- not that this is anything new. The Church founded by Jesus contained both saints and sinners at its founding, and will continue to, until the end of time.

So Mary is Mary, and Astarte (if she even exists) is Astarte. There are many examples of Christian peoples and practices supplanting pagan ones. God is known even to take sinful creatures like us, and change us, for the better.

But using scripture alone, one must conclude Mary really existed, and was the mother of Jesus, she was filled with grace and the holy spirit, and prophesized that all generations would all her blessed. Scriptural exegetes point out that she is referenced by both the first and last books of the bible - the woman in genesis who will crush the serpent, and the woman crowned with 12 stars who gives birth to Jesus in Revelations aka the book of the Apocalypse. She is a woman, certainly not a goddess, but having been given a special role, by God, as mother of Jesus, and in his entrusting of her to us, as mother of all the living (as the new Eve).

I certainly agree the current situation with the pope and the vatican are both troubling and confusing -- not that this is anything new. The Church founded by Jesus contained both saints and sinners at its founding, and will continue to, until the end of time.