“6. There is no record that any Apostle or 1st century Christian prayed to a departed saint.”
There was no New Testament (i.e. no Christian Bible) when the Apostles and the earliest Christians walked the earth. The Gospels were written sometime between 60 A.D. and 100 A.D. Therefore the earliest Chistians couldn’t have been practicing according to the precise dictates of the Gospels, letters of Paul, etc. Were they practicing incorrectly also?
Catholics believe that souls of the faithfully departed reside in heaven. We don’t worship saints or Mary, but we ask those souls to join us in prayer. The fact that it isn’t mentioned in the Bible is a doesn’t make it invalid.
“The Gospels were written sometime between 60 A.D. and 100 A.D.”
This is basically a denial that the Gospels were written by the Apostles or their close associates, since most of them were dead before or at 64-65AD. Paul’s works are dated all before 60AD, and yet he quotes the Gospel of Luke. Other epistles quote each other, or are related in style or theme, all placing them as being written by the same author.
The only Gospel that could have been written after 70AD would have been John’s, since the early writers, who claimed some connection with John, mention that John took it upon himself to “finish” it with his own work.
Luke and John written shortly after 70 A.D.
Matthew and Mark written shortly before 70 A. D. I’ve read as early as 50 A.D.
“There was no New Testament (i.e. no Christian Bible) when the Apostles and the earliest Christians walked the earth. The Gospels were written sometime between 60 A.D. and 100 A.D. Therefore the earliest Chistians couldn’t have been practicing according to the precise dictates of the Gospels, letters of Paul, etc. Were they practicing incorrectly also?”
Of course not. The apostles were alive and teaching and writing and their epistles and Gospels were circulating. Even their errors were being corrected - just read Corinthians...
“Catholics believe that souls of the faithfully departed reside in heaven. We don’t worship saints or Mary, but we ask those souls to join us in prayer. The fact that it isn’t mentioned in the Bible is a doesn’t make it invalid.”
Total crapshoot. See #8 on this thread.