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The historical and exegetical basis for seeking the intercession of Saints is beyond dispute. The Catholic Church you must understand is the sole repository of the Truth of Christ on earth as given in the Great Commission to St. Peter, the Apostles and their disciples. The rest is all heretical. You cannot have several Truths. This is and continue to be the curse of the Reformation. Thankfully, many Protestants have seen the error of their ways and converted. The greatest Protestant and Lutheran theologian and founder of New Things, John Neuhaus converted to Catholicism.

The historic Christian practice of asking our departed brothers and sisters in Christ—the saints—for their intercession has come under attack in the last few hundred years. Though the practice dates to the earliest days of Christianity and is shared by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, the other Eastern Christians, and even some Anglicans—meaning that all-told it is shared by more than three quarters of the Christians on earth—it still comes under heavy attack from many within the Protestant movement that started in the sixteenth century.

Can They Hear Us?

One charge made against it is that the saints in heaven cannot even hear our prayers, making it useless to ask for their intercession. However, this is not true. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen, for example, in Revelation 5:8, where John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers. They are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us.

Some might try to argue that in this passage the prayers being offered were not addressed to the saints in heaven, but directly to God. Yet this argument would only strengthen the fact that those in heaven can hear our prayers, for then the saints would be aware of our prayers even when they are not directed to them!

In any event, it is clear from Revelation 5:8 that the saints in heaven do actively intercede for us. We are explicitly told by John that the incense they offer to God are the prayers of the saints. Prayers are not physical things and cannot be physically offered to God. Thus the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God mentally. In other words, they are interceding.

One Mediator

Another charge commonly levelled against asking the saints for their intercession is that this violates the sole mediatorship of Christ, which Paul discusses: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

But asking one person to pray for you in no way violates Christ’s mediatorship, as can be seen from considering the way in which Christ is a mediator. First, Christ is a unique mediator between man and God because he is the only person who is both God and man. He is the only bridge between the two, the only God-man. But that role as mediator is not compromised in the least by the fact that others intercede for us. Furthermore, Christ is a unique mediator between God and man because he is the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15, 12:24), just as Moses was the mediator (Greek mesitas) of the Old Covenant (Gal. 3:19–20).

The intercession of fellow Christians—which is what the saints in heaven are—also clearly does not interfere with Christ’s unique mediatorship because in the four verses immediately preceding 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul says that Christians should interceed: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something “good and pleasing to God,” not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

“No Contact with the dead”

Sometimes Fundamentalists object to asking our fellow Christians in heaven to pray for us by declaring that God has forbidden contact with the dead in passages such as Deuteronomy 18:10–11. In fact, he has not, because he at times has given it—for example, when he had Moses and Elijah appear with Christ to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3). What God has forbidden is necromantic practice of conjuring up spirits. “There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. . . . For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed” (Deut. 18:10–15).

God thus indicates that one is not to conjure the dead for purposes of gaining information; one is to look to God’s prophets instead. Thus one is not to hold a seance. But anyone with an ounce of common sense can discern the vast qualitative difference between holding a seance to have the dead speak through you and a son humbly saying at his mother’s grave, “Mom, please pray to Jesus for me; I’m having a real problem right now.” The difference between the two is the difference between night and day. One is an occult practice bent on getting secret information; the other is a humble request for a loved one to pray to God on one’s behalf.

Overlooking the Obvious

Some objections to the concept of prayer to the saints betray restricted notions of heaven. One comes from anti-Catholic Loraine Boettner:

“How, then, can a human being such as Mary hear the prayers of millions of Roman Catholics, in many different countries, praying in many different languages, all at the same time?

“Let any priest or layman try to converse with only three people at the same time and see how impossible that is for a human being. . . . The objections against prayers to Mary apply equally against prayers to the saints. For they too are only creatures, infinitely less than God, able to be at only one place at a time and to do only one thing at a time.

“How, then, can they listen to and answer thousands upon thousands of petitions made simultaneously in many different lands and in many different languages? Many such petitions are expressed, not orally, but only mentally, silently. How can Mary and the saints, without being like God, be present everywhere and know the secrets of all hearts?” (Roman Catholicism, 142-143).

If being in heaven were like being in the next room, then of course these objections would be valid. A mortal, unglorified person in the next room would indeed suffer the restrictions imposed by the way space and time work in our universe. But the saints are not in the next room, and they are not subject to the time/space limitations of this life.

This does not imply that the saints in heaven therefore must be omniscient, as God is, for it is only through God’s willing it that they can communicate with others in heaven or with us. And Boettner’s argument about petitions arriving in different languages is even further off the mark. Does anyone really think that in heaven the saints are restricted to the King’s English? After all, it is God himself who gives the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Surely those saints in Revelation understand the prayers they are shown to be offering to God.

The problem here is one of what might be called a primitive or even childish view of heaven. It is certainly not one on which enough intellectual rigor has been exercised. A good introduction to the real implications of the afterlife may be found in Frank Sheed’s book Theology and Sanity, which argues that sanity depends on an accurate appreciation of reality, and that includes an accurate appreciation of what heaven is really like. And once that is known, the place of prayer to the saints follows.

“Directly to Jesus”

Some may grant that the previous objections to asking the saints for their intercession do not work and may even grant that the practice is permissible in theory, yet they may question it on other grounds, asking why one would want to ask the saints to pray for one. “Why not pray directly to Jesus?” they ask.

The answer is: “Of course one should pray directly to Jesus!” But that does not mean it is not also a good thing to ask others to pray for one as well. Ultimately, the “go-directly-to-Jesus” objection boomerangs back on the one who makes it: Why should we ask any Christian, in heaven or on earth, to pray for us when we can ask Jesus directly? If the mere fact that we can go straight to Jesus proved that we should ask no Christian in heaven to pray for us then it would also prove that we should ask no Christian on earth to pray for us.

Praying for each other is simply part of what Christians do. As we saw, in 1 Timothy 2:1–4, Paul strongly encouraged Christians to intercede for many different things, and that passage is by no means unique in his writings. Elsewhere Paul directly asks others to pray for him (Rom. 15:30–32, Eph. 6:18–20, Col. 4:3, 1 Thess. 5:25, 2 Thess. 3:1), and he assured them that he was praying for them as well (2 Thess. 1:11). Most fundamentally, Jesus himself required us to pray for others, and not only for those who asked us to do so (Matt. 5:44).

Since the practice of asking others to pray for us is so highly recommended in Scripture, it cannot be regarded as superfluous on the grounds that one can go directly to Jesus. The New Testament would not recommend it if there were not benefits coming from it. One such benefit is that the faith and devotion of the saints can support our own weaknesses and supply what is lacking in our own faith and devotion. Jesus regularly supplied for one person based on another person’s faith (e.g., Matt. 8:13, 15:28, 17:15–18, Mark 9:17–29, Luke 8:49–55). And it goes without saying that those in heaven, being free of the body and the distractions of this life, have even greater confidence and devotion to God than anyone on earth.

Also, God answers in particular the prayers of the righteous. James declares: “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit” (Jas. 5:16–18). Yet those Christians in heaven are more righteous, since they have been made perfect to stand in God’s presence (Heb. 12:22-23), than anyone on earth, meaning their prayers would be even more efficacious.

Having others praying for us thus is a good thing, not something to be despised or set aside. Of course, we should pray directly to Christ with every pressing need we have (cf. John 14:13–14). That’s something the Catholic Church strongly encourages. In fact, the prayers of the Mass, the central act of Catholic worship, are directed to God and Jesus, not the saints. But this does not mean that we should not also ask our fellow Christians, including those in heaven, to pray with us.

In addition to our prayers directly to God and Jesus (which are absolutely essential to the Christian life), there are abundant reasons to ask our fellow Christians in heaven to pray for us. The Bible indicates that they are aware of our prayers, that they intercede for us, and that their prayers are effective (else they would not be offered). It is only narrow-mindedness that suggests we should refrain from asking our fellow Christians in heaven to do what we already know them to be anxious and capable of doing.

In Heaven and On Earth

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, “Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!” (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!” (Ps. 148:1-2).

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, we read: “[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God” (Rev. 8:3-4).

And those in heaven who offer to God our prayers aren’t just angels, but humans as well. John sees that “the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8). The simple fact is, as this passage shows: The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

The historical and exegetical basis for seeking the intercession of Saints is beyond dispute.

Which is an example of the sophistry involved in trying to defend praying to departed saints (PTDS ), as the issue is not whether seeking the intercession of saints is Scriptural, but whether believers exist in two classes, saints and non-saints, with some in Heaven and others in purgatory, and that the former are to be prayed to.

First, believers in general are called "saints" in general, (Acts 9:41; 26:10; Rm. 8:27; 12:13, etc.) and verses which clearly speak of a N.T. believer's postmortem condition (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; 1Cor. 15:52; 2 Cor 5:8; 1 Th 4:17; 1Jn. 3:2) show it is with the Lord, in whose presence there is fulness of joy, (Ps. 16:11) NOT in purifying torments commencing at death until he/she becomes good enough to enter glory. Second, among the multitude of prayers in Scripture, the Holy Spirit provide absolutely zero examples of any believer praying to anyone in Heaven but the Lord, or in any instructions on who to pray to in Heaven ("our Father who art in Heaven, " not "our mother," etc.). .

Extrapolating asking others to pray for you on earth into praying to those in Heaven means those in Heaven have an attribute of Deity, able to hear almost infinite amounts of prayer which Scripture does not support, and that this ability or position in Heaven is not restricted to God.

Moreover, PTDS saints infers that some insufficiency exists with Christ in either accessibility or ability that would advantage praying to others in Heaven.

In addition, in Scripture, communication btwn created beings from their respective realms required both being in either earth or heaven.

The Catholic Church you must understand is the sole repository of the Truth of Christ on earth as given in the Great Commission to St. Peter, the Apostles and their disciples...

If she does say so herself. You must understand you simply are posting an argument by assertion, and your full assurance rests upon the premise of Rome's assured infallibility, which she has "infallibly" defined herself as having, and the only interpretation of Tradition, Scripture, and history that have any authority are those that come from Rome. We are not impressed.

The historic Christian practice of asking our departed brothers and sisters in Christ—the saints—for their intercession has come under attack in the last few hundred years.

While posting borrowed RC polemics without attribution may be encouraged by some RCs, we are supposed to credit sources, yours being Catholic answers, http://www.catholic.com/tracts/praying-to-the-saints

As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen, for example, in Revelation 5:8, where John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers.

Once again, even if they have omniscience regarding things on earth, this does not teach that believers are to pray to the departed, which only pagans are recorded as doing in Scripture, (Jeremiah 44:17) while the conclusion does not follow that offering prayers to God means they must be aware of all the detailed contents of the "golden vials full of odours," any more than a courier carrying a letter must be, much less be the object of prayer and thus making precise intercession on their behalf.

And for the relatively little fallible value it is worth, early patristic commentators on Revelation 5:8 refer to the prayers as being offered to God, not to the elders, (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4:17:6-4:18:1;, Origen, Against Celsus, 8:17;, Methodius, The Banquet of the Ten Virgins, 5:8), and even this is not showing them being objects for intercession, even if they were departed saints, which itself is speculation. Meanwhile, Irenaeus wrote:

“Nor does she [the church] perform anything by means of angelic invocations, or by incantations, or by any other wicked curious art; but, directing her prayers to the Lord, who made all things, in a pure, sincere, and straightforward spirit, and calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..(Against Heresies, 2:32:5, 4:18:60)

In any event, it is clear from Revelation 5:8 that the saints in heaven do actively intercede for us...Prayers are not physical things and cannot be physically offered to God. Thus the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God mentally. In other words, they are interceding.

Again, the Catholic cannot find any example of prayers being made to departed saints, while what the RC sees as "clear" is a forced interpretation, for what the text says is that the elders brought "golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints," not that they knew all the contents and were mentally reciting all the prayers to God.

It clearly does interfere with Christ’s unique position of mediatorship, as the Lord is the only object of prayer to Heaven, with His Spirit interceding directly to God on behalf of believers, (Rm. 8:27) with Christ being set forth by the Holy Spirit as the only intercessor btwn the Father, who he ever liveth to make intercession for them in Heaven, (Heb. 7:25) being uniquely qualified and able. (Heb. 2:17,18; 4:15,16) Like the high priest in the holy of holies, believers in Christ have direct access to God, (Heb. 10:19,20) not thru secretaries.

But which was a personal encounter in which heavenly beings came to earth, as in other communications btwn created beings in heaven and those on earth then they both were in either of the two realms. God is the only being in heaven ever shown being prayed to. Meanwhile, the only example of PTDS is pagan: “But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her“ (Jeremiah 44:17)

A mortal, unglorified person in the next room would indeed suffer the restrictions imposed by the way space and time work in our universe. But the saints are not in the next room, and they are not subject to the time/space limitations of this life.

Being not subject to the time/space limitations of this life at all is an assertion which itself does not go far enough, as it must extend to having no limitations on communication btwn created beings in both heaven and earth, either by Divine ability or sanction, which is contrary to what the Holy Spirit reveals.

Ultimately, the “go-directly-to-Jesus” objection boomerangs back on the one who makes it: Why should we ask any Christian, in heaven or on earth, to pray for us when we can ask Jesus directly?

Because has so constituted believers on earth that they must communicate with each other by material means, not ESP or as gods, and they must respect the distinctions btwn the earthly and heavenly realms, and in which only the Lord is the direct immediate object of prayer from the former to the latter. That is all Scripture actually teaches, and trying to extrapolate PTDS based on earthly interaction ignores the distinctions btwn the two and has no actual support. Saints in heaven do not marry either.

It is only narrow-mindedness that suggests we should refrain from asking our fellow Christians in heaven to do what we already know them to be anxious and capable of doing.

The Catholic "knows" how to present assertions as arguments, which the Holy Spirit failed to give even one sanctioned example of any believers praying to the departed, or of them being able to hear multitudinous prayers and intercede and solicitous of them .

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, “Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

Rather, this is not a prayer to them to heaven, anymore than what follows is, "Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion," (v. 22) or "Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light " (Psalms 148:3) is, but such are poetic exhortations by the Holy Spirit ascribing worthiness of universal worship of God by all creation, not men on earth literally praying to such. "Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. " (Psalms 148:13)

Once again Catholics have shown how they can abuse and disrespect Scripture in order to support their traditions of men.

Once again, there is nothing here that teaches the angels were prayed to, or even knew all the contents of the golden censer. The offering up of incense was an O.T. ordinance, and in Rev. 8:3,4 it appears to be a memorial unto God, and does not signify that the prayers needed an angelic postal service, much less heavenly secretaries, nor do the finite saints under the altar inquiring about the day of judgment (Rev. 6:9,10) support the Roman Catholic position.

The Catholic has already tried this, and is refuted above, and once again it fails to provide the support the Catholic premise of PTDS so desperately needs.

Despite having zero examples of any believer praying to anyone in Heaven but the Lord, amidst the multitudinous prayers in Scripture , or in instructions on who to pray to in Heaven, and despite what is revealed concerning communication btwn created beings in heaven and earth, respectively, Catholics vainly try to support this pagan tradition from Scripture, and end up adding to it.