[DannyTN]

I'm Southern Baptist..here's my take...

The Saints who have passed aren't dead. Neither are they asleep in the ground. Corrinthians 5 says that to be absent the body is to be present with Christ. It doesn't make sense that we would sleep in the ground when there is no condemnation against us.

Scripture is very supportive of enlisting others to prayer. "where two or more are gathered.." And that's what I understand Roman Catholic theology is basically advocating.

But are the saints omnipresent that they can hear our prayers? or omniscient that they can know our thoughts if the prayer is not voiced? Because if they aren't, then for the saints to hear the prayers, then the Holy Spirit is going to have to pass the prayers to them in order for them to hear.

So without looking down on the catholic practice of praying to the saints, it always made sense to me, to just go straight to the source, to "boldly enter the throne room" and lay our petitions before Him. Or to enlist the help of living saints, rather than enlist the help of past saints which may or may not be able to hear or which might be inundated.

[LostInBayport]

I'm Southern Baptist..here's my take...

So without looking down on the catholic practice of praying to the saints, it always made sense to me, to just go straight to the source, to "boldly enter the throne room" and lay our petitions before Him.

I'm Catholic, but I completely agree with you. I may mention to Him a promise or event involving a saint, but my communication is with Him. I have gained comfort and inspiration from the lives of many saints, but when I pray I speak to my Father.

[NYer]

Hi Danny, and thank you for your ping and comment. You note:

I'm Southern Baptist..here's my take... [snip] The Saints who have passed aren't dead. [snip] Scripture is very supportive of enlisting others to prayer. "where two or more are gathered.." And that's what I understand Roman Catholic theology is basically advocating. [snip] Or to enlist the help of living saints, rather than enlist the help of past saints which may or may not be able to hear or which might be inundated.

Apologies for the snipping but I wanted to trim down your comment. To answer your question, I am going to refer to a fairly recent event (2001-2006) that occurred with a Baptist man, like yourself. This is from the mainstream media, link posted below for the full text:

Phil McCord was not a religious man.

So it was strange when the Baptist caretaker who called himself a “man of science” entered an empty Catholic church one fateful January day in 2001 and offered up an urgent prayer.

“God, you’ve probably heard about my eye problems,” McCord began. His cornea was dying in his right eye, leaving him legally blind. He faced a risky and possibly disfiguring surgery. He had nowhere else to turn. And that’s when he mentioned her — the pilgrim who had established the church where he worked. The nun who had been dead for over a hundred years. And the woman who was in the early stages of canonization.

“Well, Mother Theodore, this is your house. And I am your servant,” he said. “If you have God’s ear. I would appreciate it.”

When he awoke the next morning, he found that the redness in his right eyelid had all but disappeared. His eye no longer drooped. He could see. “Is this real?” he asked himself. After 83 days of nonstop misery, he was finally feeling better.

It was miraculous, McCord thought — and the Vatican agreed, pinning Mother Theodore’s bid for sainthood on this “miracle,” thereby making her only the eighth American to become a Roman Catholic saint. FULL TEXT

BTW, Phil McCord was present at the canonization of Mother Theodore at the Vatican. He has remained Baptist and his story has since been written in a book:

, available through Amazon.com.

So, Danny, you have understood how "prayer" works, albeit when we call upon our friends who are already in the presence of God.

[Elsie]

Corrinthians 5 says that to be absent the body is to be present with Christ.

No; it does not.

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 2 Corinthians 5:6-8    King James Version (KJV) 

⁶ Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

⁷ (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

⁸ We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

Paul says that's what we WANT to happen; not that it DOES happen.

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[daniel1212]

Scripture is very supportive of enlisting others to prayer. "where two or more are gathered.." And that's what I understand Roman Catholic theology is basically advocating. But are the saints omnipresent that they can hear our prayers? or omniscient that they can know our thoughts if the prayer is not voiced? Because if they aren't, then for the saints to hear the prayers, then the Holy Spirit is going to have to pass the prayers to them in order for them to hear.

So without looking down on the catholic practice of praying to the saints, it always made sense to me, to just go straight to the source, to "boldly enter the throne room" and lay our petitions before Him. Or to enlist the help of living saints, rather than enlist the help of past saints which may or may not be able to hear or which might be inundated.

Well said. It simply has no actually support, only Cath attempts to extrapolate it out of earthly relations, which ignores the seperation of realms only God is shown able to ignore.

It is the psychological seduction of a Heavenly Mother that the pagans also found attractive.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Your remarks seem well-thought-out and well-intended. I appreciate that -— man, it’s like water in the desert.