I would like to relate that to what
Catholics and
Orthodox believe - I will open the thread now so that Catholics and Orthodox can clarify anything I misunderstood about their teachings.
I do not believe that the Bible says she was without sin - that was Jesus. I do not believe that the Bible uses terms like "Queen of Heaven" to describe her. I do not believe that the Bible describes her as "ever-virgin". I believe that the Bible tells us Jesus is our advocate and intercessor, and the Holy Spirit also intercedes, but nowhere does the Bible say anything like "Through the intercessions of the Theotokos, Savior, save us" - why would our intercessor save us through the intercessions of his mother?
I do not believe that the Bible gives her a status above the angels:
People: It is truly right to bless you, Theotokos, ever blessed, most pure, and Mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Logos. We magnify you, the true Theotokos.
I believe that Jesus washes our sins away, and that the intercession of Mary is not required for this:
Priest (in a low voice): Wash away, Lord, by Your Holy Blood, the sins of Your servants here remembered through the intercessions of the Theotokos and all Your saints. Amen.
I think that much of what is in the following prayer is more appropriately directed to Jesus:
All-holy Lady, Theotokos, the light of my darkened soul, my hope and protection, my refuge and consolation, and my joy, I thank you that you have made me worthy, though I am unworthy, to partake of the pure Body and precious Blood of your Son. But as the one who gave birth to the true Light: enlighten the noetic eyes of my heart. You who conceived the source of immortality, give life to me, dead in sin. You who are the compassionately loving Mother of the merciful God, have mercy on me and give my heart compunction and contrition, humility in my thoughts, and release from my captive thoughts. And make me worthy until my final breath to receive without condemnation the sanctification of the pure Mysteries for the healing of both soul and body. And grant me tears of repentance and confession, that I may praise and glorify you all the days of my life. For you are blessed and glorified unto the ages. Amen.
If you said that to the Mary in the Bible, I think she would respond a lot like Peter did in Acts 10:
When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshiped him.
But Peter helped him up and said, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”
And I think the language in the previous paragraph goes well beyond what I feel comfortable saying to a human being, it blurs the distinction between man and God. I also think that calling her "the Mother of the Church" blurs this distinction, as do claims like "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship".
I do believe that Jesus is God, and that Mary is the mother of Jesus. Exactly how that works is beyond my theology, but she clearly is not the mother of God the Father. I think Mennonites and Protestants want to be clear about that, and avoid language that goes beyond the Bible. I think Orthodox and Catholics would agree with what I said in this paragraph, and that Theotokos properly means the same thing as "the one who gave birth to God the Logos", which is Jesus. But parts of this go beyond my theology.
If Jesus was fully God and fully man, was Mary the mother of both parts, or of only the human Jesus? Mennonites Simons had
an elaborate theology about this that makes no sense to me. I prefer to say that it is a mystery - I am not willing to go as far as the Orthodox do in saying that Mary is the mother of the Logos, which was there in the beginning with God. After all, the Logos existed long before Mary did.
In general, I think the issue is that Mennonites and Anabaptists (1) do not want to go beyond what Scripture teaches, and (2) are extremely uncomfortable with anything that looks like putting human beings in the position of God. Sometimes our concern for this can be so great that we fail to appreciate Mary and appreciate her major role in the New Testament - that's an overreaction. But I also think that the role of Mary in the Catholic and Orthodox churches goes way beyond the simple teaching of Scripture, and runs into problems (1) and (2).
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?