As I have said more than once on these threads, the word "pray" is equivocal. IN it's root meaning it just means to request. It is used so in some court documents to this day.
Another sense includes activities which are not petitionary, but might include meditation on a biblical text, thanksgiving, songs of praise, and more. In this sense the word is used about communication between folks in this here empirical vale of tears and God.
Now, it seems that to make a request of anyone is not intrinsically wrong. And to ask someone to pray for one is not wrong, to judge by the requests for prayers one hears Protestants make as much as Catholics.
So the problem seems to be when one "prays" to a person who has shuffled off the mortal coil for that person's prayers, or praises that person for his or her former support through prayer or for other excellences.
The Luke citation is only about a gulf which does not prohibit communication between the rich man and Abraham, but is, within the framework of the parable put there to prevent travel from the rich mans' side to Abraham's or vice versa.
So even if that gulf were shown to be between us and Abraham's side, there would seem to be no argument against communication being able to cross the gulf. But the gulf, as has already been pointed out, is not between US and Lazarus but between the good guy dead folks and the bad guy dead folks, so it's not clearly relevant, t least not that I can see.
I made this argument without help from the magicsterical, by the way.
And finally, we KNOW what you assert. We differ, and we see no argument which addresses what we profess and shows it to be wrong. We see plenty which address slanders about us, and things which we ourselves repudiate. Assertions are not conclusive or dispositive.
What may look like facetious references to the "mortal coil" and the "vale of tears" are in fact efforts to avoid using descriptive terms for "dying" or "this plane of existence" which might turn out to be prejudicial one way or another to the argument.
Thank you for your clarifications.
Don’t think I have a lot to add.
I still find, believe and have observed that it is spiritually hazardous to focus ANY prayers on ANYONE OR ANYTHING
other than
THE TRINITY.
I don't at all understand the motive for "Catholic bashing." I do understand that to be on the receiving end of it can be quite painful. It fills me with sorrow to find co-religionists quarrelling instead of supporting one another, as God has asked us to do. 'Nuff said.