“What do you think “praying to saints” means? It means exactly that: asking a fellow “saint” to pray to God! God does the healing. Surely you know that. “
1. No verse in the Bible encourages asking departed saints to pray for us.
2. No evidence exists [that I’ve seen] that this was an Apostolic practice during lives of the original Apostles.
3. No evidence exists that departed saints can hear you when you give them a shout.
As such, I can only conclude this is an accretion, added hundreds of years later, but was never part of the Church.
best,
ampu
And as for evidence: ... whew, lots! But more later, I'm outta here to eat some pork. Blessings and BBQ, friend.
Contemplate the tagline. Nobody ever said we stoip being part of the Body when we are... ahem... departed saints. That means we haave a living connection to each other! Always! Love ya!