Pray (?), n. & v. See Pry. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Pray (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Prayed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Praying.] [OE. preien, OF. preier, F. prier, L. precari, fr. prex, precis, a prayer, a request; akin to Skr. prach to ask, AS. frignan, frīnan, fricgan, G. fragen, Goth. fra\'a1hnan. Cf. Deprecate, Imprecate, Precarious.] To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.
And to his goddess pitously he preyde. Chaucer.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Matt. vi. 6.
I pray, ∨ (by ellipsis) Pray, I beg; I request; I entreat you; -- used in asking a question, making a request, introducing a petition, etc.; as, Pray, allow me to go.
I pray, sir. why am I beaten? Shak.
Syn. -- To entreat; supplicate; beg; implore; invoke; beseech; petition.
Pray, v. t.
1. To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.
And as this earl was preyed, so did he. Chaucer.
We pray you . . . by ye reconciled to God. 2 Cor. v. 20.
2. To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
I know not how to pray your patience. Shak.
3. To effect or accomplish by praying; as, to pray a soul out of purgatory.
Milman.
To pray in aid. (Law) (a) To call in as a helper one who has an interest in the cause. Bacon. (b) A phrase often used to signify claiming the benefit of an argument. See under Aid.
Mozley & W.
PRAY, v.i. [L. precor; proco; this word belongs to the same family as preach and reproach; Heb. to bless, to reproach; rendered in Job 2.9, to curse; properly, to reproach, to rail at or upbraid. In Latin the word precor signifies to supplicate good or evil, and precis signifies a prayer and a curse. See Imprecate.]
PRAY, v.t. To supplicate; to entreat; to urge.
Acts 8.
[In most instances, this verb is transitive only by ellipsis. To pray God, is used for to pray to God; to pray a prohibition, is to pray for a prohibition, &c.]
To pray in aid, in law, is to call in for help one who has interest in the cause.
I didn't know St. Paul was an idol worshiper...how about that??!!
When you can pray directly to God through Jesus, praying to dead mortals isn't worship; just a waste of time.
I suppose if you think that God is not capable of knowing your needs or hearing your prayers, you might feel the need to ask someone else.
Intercessions of and Prayers to Dead Saints
“The ‘treasury of the Church’ ... is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ’s merits have before God. ... This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immesne, unfathomable and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body. ... The union of the living with their brethren who have fallen asleep in Christ is not broken. ... Now that they are welcomed in their own country and at home with the Lord, through him, with him and in him they intercede unremittingly with the Father on our behalf, offering the merit they acquired on earth through Christ Jesus. ... Their brotherly care is the greatest help to our weakness” (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, chap. 2, 5, pp. 76,77).
“In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honoured with great respect the memory of the dead ... she has always venerated them, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels, with a special love, and has asked piously for the help of their intercession. ... When, then, we celebrate the eucharistic sacrifice [the Mass] we are most closely united to the worship of the heavenly Church; when in the fellowship of communion we honour and remember the glorious Mary ever virgin, St. Joseph, the holy apostles and martyrs and all the saints” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, I, 52,53; II, 59, pp. 375,377).
“Holy Mother Church is extremely concerned for the faithful departed. She has decided to intercede for them to the fullest extent in every Mass and abrogates every special privilege in this matter” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, chap. 8, V, Norms, 20, p. 87).
http://www.wayoflife.org/index_files/c72a4a4b83acc204f4f237bf25ec3792-215.html
Here’s a novel idea. Use Jesus’ example. What “saints” did He pray to? Follow the Ten Commandments. Jesus did away with none of them. And before posting scripture as evidence use a Strongs. And go to the original Greek or Hebrew in Matthews case. The early church “fathers” incorporated
Some teachings that are found nowhere in scripture. The popes have made statements that indicate they consider themselves above and able to change scripture at their will. Google it.
I thought the saints in Christ were still sleeping unless of course we are in the last day.
If they are sleeping would they even hear us?
1Thess. has no relation to praying to dead sinners like you and I. Dead men and women cannot answer prayer even if they were to hear it.
The Thessalonian Church having been newly planted, the ministers were necessarily novices ( 1 Timothy 3:6 ), which may have been in part the cause of the people’s treating them with less respect. Paul’s practice seems to have been to ordain elders in every Church soon after its establishment ( Acts 14:23 ).
All Christians are considered saints.
1 Corinthians 1:2
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
Ephesians 4:12
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Worship? Depends, COULD be. In any case it’s just silly. Why would you go to “an” (one of many) assistant coach, when you can go right to THE (One and only) head coach?
“What would Jesus THINK?”, “What would Jesus FEEL?”, if you bypass Him for a mere mortal? Jealousy?
Exodus 20:5 “....for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God....”. Deuteronomy
4:24 “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Deuteronomy 5:9
Deuteronomy 6:15
Deuteronomy 32:21
Joshua 24:19
Nahum 1:2
Exodus 34:14
Why WASTE a prayer to a saint, when you are supposed to go to God Himself? For what reason would you pray to a saint? Saints after all, are mere mortal men.
It could appear to be “worship” in the light of how Catholics worship Mary. (about Mary worship, there is NO DOUBT, just denial).
I would say... Pray/worship, to others than God, at your own risk.
Pray only to God. Jesus is God, and He is the only way.
1 Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
I Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
When Jesus was asked by the Apostles how to pray, he did not instruct them to call on Moses, or the angles, or any of the prophets in the old testament. What Jesus taught was to pray directly to God.
Given the choice between following Jesus’s teaching and some other man made tradition, I will follow Jesus.
>> “Does Praying to Saints Equal Worshiping the Saints?” <<
.
Yes, of course it does, but the real point is that most of them are not saints anyway, they burn in hell as you pray to them.
Necromancy is a sin.
The council of Trent in 1545 tipped the hand of the catholic church and its attempt to convince men that the pope and church ( humanist ) doctrine ( praying to dead people as an example) has dominion over Gods word.
CANON 9: “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”
Gods word however gives us the truth.
Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
This Roman Catholic only prays to Christ, nothing else.
Regarding prayer, I keep things simple by noting that the Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father.”
Does praying to the sun mean you are worshiping the sun?
Possibly, but it certainly leads to it based on the Catholic prayers I see online.
I pray to Saint Martín Luther every day.
Judge them by the results, and results have been seen, investigated, proven or disproven and documented, unlike the “miracles” by the domestic fundamentalist TV preachers, various billy grahams, pat robertsons and paul crouches.