Even though this point has been raised ad nauseum on this thread (I’m sure) and elsewhere, I simply can’t resist asking you the following question: do you not see any value at ALL in intercessory prayer, or do you only do it because the Bible tells you to pray for others?
I ask because I honestly can’t believe you just wrote the following:
“’Hey, so and so, ask God for me.....’
“What an appalling lack of trust in God to do what is right and lack of faith in the promises Jesus made about prayer and the Father.”
Now I’m going to guess you will say something like: “Of course I’ll ask someone ALIVE to pray for me” or “the people in heaven can’t hear your requests for intercessory prayer”, or something like THAT, which will just go to prove conclusively what I claimed in the post of mine to which you offered a reply.
Note: that’s a GUESS as to what you aware going to reply back to me. I can’t know for SURE since I can’t read minds. But I’m pretty sure I’m right. :).
I don’t have to call on the dead who are supposed to have special powers to bend God’s ear when I ask someone alive to pray for me.
The whole premise of PTDS that they have some special power that other mere mortals don’t.
Paul in his epistles asked for prayer for himself from others. That’s not a problem. The problem is going to those whose bodies have died because somehow someone thinks they have better access to God because they are REALLY righteous.
Asking someone to pray for you is not praying to them FOR things. The semantics that Catholics use to justify praying to those considered dead in Christ, are just word games.