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The rich man prayed to "Father Abraham."

In the parable the rich man did communicate and plead with Abraham, yet Abraham was not at that time in Heaven. To compare the mere communication and entreaty showcased within the parable as being truly prayer, to extent that that communication be indistinguishably interchangeable with "prayer", and could be passed on to God through secondary actors YET STILL BE ACCEPTABLE, by God, would be to rely too much upon less-than well-founded speculations as foundation, thus be form of lower order mistake (no pun intended).

That the prayer not be directed to anyone considered to be residing in Heaven renders the continual referencing towards your own reply at #61 superfluous, when considered in wider context of not only what you had replied to from #9 that had also contained this premise;

"5. No teaching in Scripture that a departed saint can hear a prayer from earth."

More to the point would be to say; "no teaching in scripture recommends praying to anyone other than Our Father in Heaven", as Christ himself did explicitly instruct.

It matters that in the context of this thread's original posting, reply #9 was posted to the OP's opening comment, #1. That greatly nullifies the [below italicized] escape clause you had created;

aMorePerfectUnion did not qualify the assertion with "to anyone in heaven" so your assertion is false

The statement made by aMorePerfectUnion, although not explicitly qualified to be restricted to "anyone in heaven" was still within context of --prayers to departed saints-- including prayer directed to "Mary" herself. Which is the subject matter of this thread, thus would not necessarily require the stipulated qualification.

Would you care to now concede the point, provided; if the qualification were to be explicit? Yes, or no?

The wider context I'm pointing towards here, was also made clear enough by daniel1212 having said in reply #88

The issue is not communication in this realm, but that of praying to created beings in Heaven, which nowhere exampled or taught, despite the Holy Spirit choosing to record approx. 200 prayers in Scripture.

Perhaps you'd concede that point, when worded as daniel1212 had put it? Yes, or no? Choose one.

In regard to your own comment @ reply #61 (and to whatever it was you were trying to establish) where does that leave us now?

Answer: That there was a parable used as teaching tool by Jesus Christ himself, that included there having been communication between individuals in differing realms ---within Sheol.

Since the OP made this an Open Discussion Thread, I will add a comment also:

1. 200-300 is about when many of the pagan customs were incorporated into Catholicism.
2. No Jewish or Christian prayer is ever recorded in Scripture that addresses anyone but God.
3. No record of an Apostle or church leader before 100 AD ever praying to Mary or a departed saint.
4. No command to pray to a departed saint exists in Scripture.
5. No teaching in Scripture that a departed saint can hear a prayer from earth.
6. No evidence in Christian writings or secular writings or art can demonstrate any believer did this before 100 AD.

9 posted on 4/29/2017, 11:52:36 AM by aMorePerfectUnion

Point 2 is still false, as demonstrated in post 61.

It seems to me you either believe it is true or are unwilling to admit it is false and so must rewrite it into other language to try to make it true.

You still have not answered these other two questions.

The beggar Lazarus, the unnamed rich man, and "Father Abraham" were real men and not a fable concocted for the Pharisees ?
Abraham is a departed saint ?

Would you care to now concede the point, provided; if the qualification were to be explicit? Yes, or no?

Well, it was a tall order but I already answered such a qualification in post 198.