What a splendid, God-glorifying, Biblically-sound post.
Isa 8:19-20 : 19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. (No light unless according to God's word.)
Great find from Isaiah. Not only does it testify to the truth of God's word and will, but it denounces prayers to "the dead on behalf of the living."
The believing Jews of the OT knew idolatry when they saw it.
To your excellent offering of Scripture, we can add...
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." -- Deuteronomy 11:18-21
"Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word" -- Jeremiah 26:2
"Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day." -- Jeremiah 36:2
"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." -- Luke 21:33"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" -- John 5:46-47 "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
And how do men understand the words of God? By the indwelling Holy Spirit who quickens our dead hearts and renews our rebellious minds to know the truth and believe.
"But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." -- John 14:26 "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." -- John 6:63
Praying to the Saints is not “consulting the dead.”
Consulting is a two-way communication, and the Saints are not dead.
And the Holy Ghost has done so, through the Catholic Church for more than 1970 years.
Yes they certainly did, and there are tons of examples. Unfortunately, many of those example look all too familiar in today's world.
To your excellent offering of Scripture, we can add...
AMEN to your additions, Dr. E. Thank you. :) Those are all right on point. It seems to me that when I consider whether Sola Scriptura is proclaimed in the Bible it is not so much a matter of accepting it, but whether I choose to reject it. It's kind of like considering whether or not we are breathing air. It doesn't really occur to us "should I accept this statement?". It only comes up when for whatever reason someone or some people decide that they are not in fact breathing air and are doing something else instead. Very strange. :)