Expand on your explanation that praying to dead people ISN’T expecting them to do what only Christ can do. Saying ‘no it doesn’t’ doesn’t bolster your claim.
Regarding Luke 23:43, there was no punctuation when the Bible was first written and the comma should have been after the word ‘today’...reading...Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.” This makes more sense as the remainder of the Bible supports that no one is in Heaven yet and won’t be until the Day of Judgement. Read below:
1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thessalonians4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
See my #57.
"This makes more sense as the remainder of the Bible supports that no one is in Heaven yet and won’t be until the Day of Judgement."
True enough; however, I think it unwise to view things in a strictly temporal context. If eternal life is indeed eternal, it is without beginning and end and transcends all time as we view it. Similarly, where are Enoch and Elijah when the Old Testament tells us they were taken up to Heaven, and you render the unqualified statement that, "no one is in Heaven yet"?
joe — note that arguing with an Adventist is a waste of time...