“There is not one line or one letter in all the Bible, to suggest that Mary (the mother of the Lord Jesus) should be worshipped”
Catholics do not worship Mary and to do so is heretical, she is honored.
“that she is "the refuge of sinners"….” Can’t say if I remember that title, I’ll check, but because she is the Mother of Jesus and because He responded to her request at the Wedding feast of Cana, and because she is with him now Catholics regard a prayer to Mary to intervene on our behalf to be efficacious
“that she is "immaculate"…..” There is Bible evidence for that. The Greetings of the Angel are considered to convey the idea that she was without sin. “Hail Mary full of Grace.” That great Biblical prayer. As I have said before, her flesh had to be sinless to provide the body of our sinless Saviour.
“that she made atonement for sin when standing by the cross” She never made atonement for sin and that is not Catholic doctrine. If you have read it somewhere then I am afraid that source has it wrong. The Church would NEVER say that.
“or that after her death, she was raised again and carried in glory to heaven. “ It is true that there is no mention in the Bible, but the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches do not rely only on what is in the Bible, they also rely on Tradition. For 2000 years the Churches from the earliest times have relied on both sources, it is only the Protestants that have taken the “book alone” route to Christianity. Even the Bible was defined by the Church and it was about 450 years before the NT was confirmed by church councils. So, if you rely on the Bible, you rely on an act of the Church anyway. By the way, I am not badmouthing the Bible as I accept it as the word of God.
I would like to suggest to you that this act, of relying on the Bible alone, has been an unmitigated disaster for Christianity. For as many Bibles there are as many interpretations of what it means within the Protestant communities. (I overstate my case but you get the picture.) Last year I saw a website from the US in which the group had cut ties with another group because they had a rather strong disagreement over whether Christ was nailed to the cross with three nails or four nails. Now that is shear madness, particularly for groups who espouse “the Bible alone” to fall out over something that could not possibly be divined from the Bible. Unfortunately the Bible consists of words on a page and it is Man that reads them and Man can put any interpretation on the words he wants, and he does. We see this in Protestantism, unfortunately. Another group who do it are the Jews. How else can you explain the plethora of beliefs with one Book as a base. You can add the Muslims as well.
The Catholic Church is the one true church because there is only one authority, and it is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing would please me and my fellow Catholics more than reunion of the Churches so that we might live according to Jesus’s prayer at the Last Supper when he prayed that we should all be one.
I will not comment on the rest, except to say “so What?” The devotion to Mary in the Catholic Church or the Orthodox church, has not been influenced by these factors. Remember it is not only the Catholic Church who believes but also those who have been separated from Rome for a long time. Devotion to Mary grew from a very early time. You should go to the Coptic Churches in Egypt to see what I mean.
Thanks for the opportunity.
Regards
ps Read Scott Hahn's Book "Rome sweet Home". He was an American evangelical convinced of the grave errors of Catholicism and set about proving it wrong by studying the Bible. Fortunately he was scrupulously honest and found he had to join 'em. It was very painful for him.
