Posted on 04/20/2015 1:46:59 PM PDT by NYer
My friends/relatives are living. A huge difference.
So are the saints home with God. Alive forever or in eternity.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, one of the meanings of the word pray is "to seriously ask (someone) to do something". When you ask your friends to pray to God for you, essentially you are praying to them.
Most Protestants find the subject superfluous
Why pray to a Saint
when one has a straight connection to G.D
I do not think so ...1st the "saints" Catholics pray to are physically DEAD ...so you have no way knowing if they are in heaven or hell, or if they can even hear your prayer...
Do you have a biblical example of any one praying to the deceased ? ANY ??
Websters has a definition of the english word used a few hundred years ago to convey a concept. According to Strongs concordance, pray:
to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship:—pray (X earnestly, for), make prayer
(this is ‘pray’ used in Matt 6, ‘teach us to pray’ and ‘pray like this’ when Jesus directed His followers to pray to His Father)
Many Catholics have rightly denied that we worship saints, but I have never seen a Catholic deny that we pray to them, and I have participated in many a Religion Forum threads for 17 years.
But since you say they've been doing it for years, it will be easy for you to find me an example.
Please send a link. I'll go get 'em with some Remedial Catechism.
Apparently, you neglected to read the article. The first argument presented is that the saints in heaven are not dead.
But the first premise -- that the faithful departed are dead -- is false, and directly contrary to Scripture. Jesus actually denounces this view as Biblically ignorant (Mk. 12:24). He reveals the truth about the Saints when He says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). And in response to the Sadduccees, He says (Mark 12:26-27):And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.” So the Protestant view that says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are “dead” is “quite wrong.”
It helps to read an article before posting attacks.
I’ve never prayed to a saint, but I have have asked the saints to pray for me.
(1 Corinthians 6:1-2; 1 Corinthians 16:1,15; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 13:13; Ephesians 1:1,15,18, etc.)
This is a good question, WayneS. Do you pray for others? Do you ask others to pray for you? If so, why? --- because your question about praying to saints in heaven would have the same answer as the question, "Why do we ask anyone for intercessory prayer?"
I'd be interested in your answer.
Thank you.
I pray to God, Jesus, Mary, and a ton of Saints. I am covered. Heaven should just give me an express pass so I don’t have to stand in line waiting for the St. Peters to allow me to enter pearly gates. Yep I am that good. lol.
Shouldn’t you include Buddha, Krishna, Vishnu, Imhotep and the Big Kahuna just to play it safe?
That's not true in the case of canonized saints. Their presence in heaven is frequently confirmed by miracles: and that would be God's own testimony.
Sorry, buy that interpretation is nothing short of blasphemy. Jesus Christ is the judge of the living and the dead, and He alone decides who receives salvation. He didn’t delegate that out to your church.
“The Apostles passed this authority on, down through the millennia to their successors through the laying on of hands.”
When your “successors to the Apostles” can demonstrate that they actually hold the power of apostles, by say, raising the dead, or something of that nature, I might believe it.
Then I'll ask you, too, Gamecock. Can you send me the name of one Catholic FReeper who denied that we Catholics pray to saints? A link would be nice.
“shameless popery”
No bias there, eh?
“The saints are closer to God since they stand in His presence, unlike your friend on earth.”
God is present WITHIN every Christian on earth. It doesn’t get any closer than that.
But God has so composed the Body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.If one member of suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Those who have gone before us into heaven are still members of the One Body.
< “The saints are closer to God since they stand in His presence, unlike your friend on earth.” >
God is present WITHIN every Christian on earth. It doesn’t get any closer than that.
The curtain concealing the “Holy of Holies” was torn in half after Jesus died on the cross eliminating the need for an intercessor.
We must go directly to Him.
“Their presence in heaven is frequently confirmed by miracles: and that would be God’s own testimony.”
Satan also can perform miracles, so it isn’t wise to rely on such things as testimony from God. Better to rely on the certain testimony contained in God’s Word.
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