.....”I have seen Catholics.... kiss the foot of Christ on the cross, to commemorate his death. I have seen Catholics pray the Rosary, to which they ask Mary to pray for them.”......
Why would someone have a need to kiss a statue? Especially when Christ is alive and lives within us, readily accessable to us as He is?
As for making requests to Mary to pray for them....Again why go to a departed person...(which btw God has made very clear we are not to attempt contact with)....when we can commune directly with Christ Himself?
“Why would someone have a need to kiss a statue? Especially when Christ is alive and lives within us, readily accessable to us as He is?”
Which is why I asked the question if we are in fact permitted to make an image of God.
Are we, or are we not? Your issue has nothing to do with Mary, but everything to do with the fact that you believe that it is improper to have an image representing God. Fair enough. However, we *are* in fact permitted to do so.
If Catholics sincerely believed that Mary were the equal of Christ, they would kiss her feet in the same ceremony. They do not. Clearly, saying that Catholics do in fact regard them as equal is incorrect.
“As for making requests to Mary to pray for them. Again why go to a departed person”
God is a God not of the dead but of the Living. Christ himself said so. For if we believe they are alive in Christ, then we have that hope also. If they are dead, then there is no hope and we are living a lie.