It says here:Well, in the first place commons sense tells us that if the Catholic position violates it, so does the Protestant practice of praying for others.
And that is a total lie.
Remember what I asked? WHERE DOES THE BIBLE TELL US TO PRAY TO DEAD PEOPLE?
And it doesn't, does it?
The Bible DOES tell us to pray FOR each other.
If a person cannot tell the difference between praying for each other and praying TO each other, especially when one of the people is dead, that is insanity, not Scripture.
(Luke 2:37 KJV) And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
WHAT DEAD PERSON DID SHE PRAY TO?
(Acts 10:4 KJV) And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
BEFORE WHO? WHAT DEAD PERSON?
(Rom 1:9 KJV) For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
It is clearly Biblical to pray FOR someone, not TO A DEAD PERSON
(Rom 15:30 KJV) Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
PRAYERS TO GOD, NOT TO DEAD PEOPLE, RIGHT?? And he prayed FOR someone, right? Did he pray to a dead person or did he pray to God?? What does the verse say??
(Eph 1:16 KJV) Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
(Col 4:12 KJV) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
(1 Th 1:2 KJV) We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
(1 Tim 2:1 KJV) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
FOR ALL MEN, right? Isn't that what it says?? (1 Tim 5:5 KJV) Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
(2 Tim 1:3 KJV) I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
(Phile 1:4 KJV) I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
(Heb 5:7 KJV) Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Who did Jesus Pray to? To any dead men?
(1 Pet 3:12 KJV) For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
WHOSE EARS ARE OPEN TO THEIR PRAYERS??
This man, whatever his agenda is, totally ignores what the Bible says and just what the argument is. PRAYERS TO DEAD PEOPLE vs PRAYERS TO GOD.
NOWHERE are people in the Bible ever seen,
heard,
spoken of,
hinted at,
or ever led to believe that prayers to DEAD PEOPLE will ever be heard.
But as I showed you, from just the New Testament, that your author is dead wrong to even try to compare prayers to dead people to prayers FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE and that GOD COMMANDED US TO PRAY FOR.
Dont you see it yet? Each time someone from the RCC tries to make a point about their doctrine, it almost ALWAYS is against Scripture? ALMOST EVERY Time?
This is why people leave the RCC when they start to read the Bible for themself, it is because the simple reading of God's Word will cause people to leave the RCC.
There are no dead people.
Matthew 22:29-32 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'[Exodus 3:6]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
Luke 23:42-43Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
"Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 16:27-28"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'"
Where's the dead people?
---Dont you see it yet? Each time someone from the RCC tries to make a point about their doctrine, it almost ALWAYS is against Scripture? ALMOST EVERY Time?---
----If a person cannot tell the difference between praying for each other and praying TO each other, especially when one of the people is dead, that is insanity, not Scripture.---
I am searching for the Truth just as much as you! I will respond "where is the Canon of Scripture to be found in the Bible?" If it is not defined, then how do you know you are reading the TRUE Bible, the inspired Word of God? The Canon is not listed, Race! So, you end up in a circular argument. It is the full governing principle of ALL your beliefs, Sola Scriptura, and yet it doesn't list its own contents anywhere!
Perhaps you should read the book, "Theology and Sanity" by the real Frank Sheed. He may answer some of your questions. Or perhaps try "The Catholic Verses" by Dave Armstrong.
S/F
Frank
The saints, including Jesus' mother, are not "dead."
As Jesus himself said, God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He is not a God of the dead but of the living.
Jesus testified that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were alive, though physically dead.
You adopt the Sadducees position on this issue - not the Biblical one.
(2) Asking someone to pray for you is not prayer "to" them. As has been pointed out to you many times, Catholics ask saints to pray for them, they do not pray "to" saints they way one would pray to God.
You continue to build a straw man.
Simply because you labor under the delusion that saints who are physically dead cannot be alive in Christ and therefore cannot pray for us, does not mean that the Bible teaches such a self-contradictory doctrine. Mary is as alive today as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were alive in Jesus' day and I will take His testimony on the matter of whether saints like Abraham or Mary are dead.
I have read the Bible for myself, that's why I stay.