Changes

==Degrees of Worship: Dulia, Hyperdulia, and Latreia==

==Degrees of Worship: Dulia, Hyperdulia, and Latreia==

Many [[Protestantism|Protestants]] have been taught that Orthodox and Catholic Christians worship Mary as God or Goddess apart from or greater than Jesus Christ and above God the Father, and worship all the other saints as a [[pantheon]] of gods, and that they commit [[idolatry]] in reverently showing them respect by bowing to them, to their images and pictures and [[icon]]s, and praying to them for their [[intercession]]. The Protestant teaching that this is all pagan idolatry is based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of the word "worship", which has been severely restricted and redefined by Protestant teachers and [[Apologetics|apologists]] since the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] as being strictly limited in meaning to "adoration" only, as has the word "prayer", which broadly meant simply "petition", but has become restricted by them to [[Connotation|connoting]] solely the worship of God or a god, both cases representing examples of ''semantic shift'' and a consequent narrowing of the modern ''semantic field'' of related terms in the 20th and 21st centuries. This is misleading.

Many [[Protestantism|Protestants]] have been taught that Orthodox and Catholic Christians worship Mary as God or Goddess apart from or greater than Jesus Christ and above God the Father, and worship all the other saints as a [[pantheon]] of gods, and that they commit [[idolatry]] in reverently showing them respect by bowing to them, to their images and pictures and [[icon]]s, and praying to them for their [[intercession]]. The Protestant teaching that this is all pagan idolatry is based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of the word "worship", which has been severely restricted and redefined by Protestant teachers and [[Apologetics|apologists]] since the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] as being strictly limited in meaning to "adoration" only, as has the word "prayer", which broadly meant simply "petition", but has become restricted by them to [[Connotation|connoting]] solely the worship of God or a god, and the word "intercession" also being strictly limited and restricted by them to mean only "mediation",<ref>Compare 1 Timothy 2:1-6.</ref> cases representing examples of ''semantic shift'' and a consequent narrowing of the modern ''semantic field'' of related terms in the 20th and 21st centuries. This is misleading.

The word "worship" has undergone a change in meaning in English. It comes from the [[Old English]] ''weorthscipe'', which means the condition of being worthy of honor, respect, or dignity. To worship in this older, larger sense is to ascribe honor, worth, or excellence to someone, whether a sage, a magistrate, or God.  

The word "worship" has undergone a change in meaning in English. It comes from the [[Old English]] ''weorthscipe'', which means the condition of being worthy of honor, respect, or dignity. To worship in this older, larger sense is to ascribe honor, worth, or excellence to someone, whether a sage, a magistrate, or God.