“Whether someone laid out the evidence first or the other way around is beyond our answering, since we weren’t there.”
There is no record in Holy Writ of any Christian praying to a departed saint.
No commands to pray to departed saints.
No exhortation to pray to departed saints - or angels either.
No non-Biblical, but Christian writings during the first 100 years of the Church of praying to departed saints.
No secular writings of the era reporting that Christians practiced this.
No sacred art depicting such a practice.
No secular art depicting such a practice.
It is a total argument from silence until you see pagan practices appear between 100-200 ad.
So, no, it is not beyond our answering, if we can read Scripture and history.
bump
I, of course, am talking about the passages they use in Revelation. Those have existed since John wrote them.
Historical writings are not God-breathed. The only God-inspired writings are Old & New Testaments in my view.