I not only pray to God - as a person who knows the meaning of the word prayer - I pray to Mary, the saints, and to my fellow Christians. When a Catholic prays TO Mary it is almost the same as when a lawyer in England prays to a judge. It is a request. We are asking her to do something.
“When a Catholic prays TO Mary it is almost the same as when a lawyer in England prays to a judge. It is a request. We are asking her to do something.”
ALMOST. Except lawyers in England are not the standard for Christian practice and truth.
You can ask Mary anything. There is not support that she can hear you.
And where do you see in Scripture believers being split into two classes, one called saints, and the other being just believers, brethren?
And where do you see saints having the ability to hear and personally respond to almost infinite amounts of prayer addressed to them in Heaven?
And where do you see anyone praying to anyone else in Heaven by the Lord, in the multitudinous prayers the Holy Spirit inspired and records for us? Except for pagans? (Jer. 44)
Where do you see OT believers praying to angels in Heaven?
And where do you see any believer bowing down and making supplication to another believer?
And where do you see any instructions on prayer to Heaven that teaches addressing someone else but God ("our mother who art in Heaven")?
Why RCs attempt to support this from Scripture when Prayer to Departed Saints (PTDS ) was a post apostolic practice, influenced by the "cult of the angels"
Do not attempt to extrapolate support from human relations on earth, as that is not the same as multitudes mentally praying to the same person, and ignores the divide btwn realms, that requires created beings to be in either one in order to converse (even if via a vision).
Do the saints also take up collections for the believers on earth, etc.?
And that is NOT the way Jesus taught us how to pray. Since it is your salvation that is at risk, and since the scriptures tell us to workout our salvation with fear and trembling, it is your choice. Add to the scriptures as much as you want. Follow all of the traditions of man that you want. Just don't expect others to follow you (or the Catholic Church) as long as you are NOT following the teachings of Jesus.