How about showing me in scripture where God says that anyone other than he himself DOES hear prayer? In fact, why not revisit Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal. Who did Elijah pray to? Adam? Eve? Seth?
Who did Christ pray to in the Garden of Gesthemene? Moses? Abraham? His mother? No. He prayed to God. God answers prayer, no one else. God hears prayer. He doesn’t say, “I and the certain saints hear prayer, “ or, “I and Mary and the saints hear prayer.”
Show me where God says anyone but himself hears prayer and then you can show me also that someone other than God answers prayer. My bet is you won’t find it.
Your comment on Protestants is rather a broad brush and very non-specific. God IS sovereign. God is sovereign according to HIS will. Not Protestant will or Catholic will. So, why assume that God allows saints to hear and answer prayer when He doesn’t say? But, He DOES say that we are to worship HIM alone; to do otherwise is idolatry. And, to me, praying to anyone or anything other than God is practicing idolatry.
Hoss
You said: How about showing me in scripture where God says that anyone other than he himself DOES hear prayer?
It does not work that way. You are the sola scriptura believer. Where does it say only God can hear us?
I reject sola scriptura as the heretical recent man-made tradition that it is.
Sacred Tradition, that has been around for over 2000 years, vs. the recent protestant invention of sola scriptura, teaches the ability of the saints to hear us and pray for us the same way I might pray for you.
You said: And, to me, praying to anyone or anything other than God is practicing idolatry.
Another self-anointed magisterial interpretation of Holy Scripture which makes individuals the final arbitrator of Truth instead of God through His Church. If you put that kind of exegesis in place you end up with chaos, division and ever-expanding numbers of competing interpretations of scripture....hmmm..sounds like protestantism.
You are conflating prayer with worship.
In the New Testament, we see in Matt. 17:1-3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30-31, the deceased Moses and Elijah appear at the Transfiguration to converse with Jesus in the presence of Peter, James and John (these may be the two “witnesses” John refers to in Rev. 11:3). Nothing in Scripture ever suggests that God abhors or cuts off communication between the living in heaven and the living on earth. To the contrary, God encourages communication within the communion of saints. Moses and Elijah’s appearance on earth also teach us that the saints in heaven have capabilities that far surpass our limitations on earth.
In the Old Testament, we read in 2 Macc. 15:12-16, that the high priest Onias and the prophet Jeremiah were deceased for centuries, and yet interact with the living Judas Maccabeas and pray for the holy people on earth. Perhaps that is why Luther removed this book from his Bible.