[bigcat32]

I explained why Catholics get "ripped on" by other Christians. A discussion about "sola scriptura" is another topic. I can give you specific scripture regarding praying to statues or other objects. Can you direct me to where scripture advises to pray to Mary or other people?

[RobbyS]

You beg the question about Sola Scripture, which asserts that the literal text of Scripture must be cited for each doctrine. However, the doctrine of the saints in heaven is taken for granted in the Apocalypse(Revelations), where the martyrs demand justice. To explain this away, Protestants have to resort to the doctrine of the "Great Sleep," where the death lie unconscious until the Resurrection, and the events that John relates apply only to the End Times. But even they do not deny that the relations we share with one another disappear with death. If I can ask my mother for help, and to pray for me when I am away from her, why not after she is is with God?

[wagglebee]

How is asking the Mother of God to pray for US construed as praying to Her? Haven't you ever asked someone to pray for you?

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Can you direct me to where scripture advises to pray to Mary or other people?"

Offhand, no. So?

[Mrs. Don-o]

There are a lot of legitimate practices which are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, but which are compatible with what God has revealed to us, and can be derived from Scriptural principles.

Just as an example of how these "derived principles" can work: most Christians would agree that Christian marriage is monogamous, not polygamous. We agree even though almost all of the famous marriages of the O.T. patriarchs and kings were polygamous, and even though there is no verse in the N.T. which specifically condemns or bans polygamy.

We reach this conclusion, not by simple proof-texting, but by looking at the overall truths taught by Jesus about men, women, and marriage; by making reasonable inferences from these truths; by realizing that, historically, the Church has always held and taught monogamy; and by observing the laws of the Church concerning marriage.

How does this apply to the question of whether we can ask those in Heaven for their intercessory prayers?

This is how: we know that those who have "passed through death to life" before us are actually still living in Christ; we know that all who are "in Christ," both in heaven and on earth, are members of the Body of Christ; and so we know that as members of one Body we are still interconnected and we can still help one another.

Thus the idea of asking those who are already in heaven to pray for us is richly Biblical; it is a reasonable inference from what St. Paul taught about being members of the Body of Christ; and it is something which, historically, the Church has always taught and practiced.