"Prayer" is merely "asking for something". In fact, in some languages, German for example, the words for "pray" and "ask" are the same.
I know of no Scripture verse that says a Christian can only ask for things from God. Do you know of one?
according to the Scriptures that the RCC claims to have written, there is ONE intercessor between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Except that that's not what the Scripture says. Read it in the Greek. It says that there is "one (Gk heis, one, unique, primary; not monos, one and only one) Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus". This is immediately AFTER -- read the context -- Paul commands intercessory prayer by his readers, through Christ the Mediator, and on behalf of the whole world.
If Christ is the only intercessor, that doesn't makes sense. Neither does it make sense for Paul to ask others to pray for him, which he does in several places. Neither does it makes sense for people in your church to ask for prayers, but I'll bet they do it anyway.
Neither does it makes sense for people in your church to ask for prayers, but I’ll bet they do it anyway.
It’s probably likely that ol’ Hoss has asked others for prayers sometime...hopefully he wrote a post to himself about how messed up that is...
Really? How about when Jesus said:
"And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name...."
Luke 11:2a
Seems like when Jesus prayed, he prayed to The Father....not anyone else.
Besides... no one else is God.... Since God said that we are to place any gods before him, it seems to me that when we pray to anyone/anything other than God, we're putting what/who we're praying to before God and thus violating his commandments.
Except that that's not what the Scripture says. Read it in the Greek. It says that there is "one (Gk heis, one, unique, primary; not monos, one and only one) Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus". This is immediately AFTER -- read the context -- Paul commands intercessory prayer by his readers, through Christ the Mediator, and on behalf of the whole world.
You almost owed me a new laptop.... did you read what you wrote? "Heis" is one, unique, primary... Really? What does UNIQUE mean? Doesn't that mean like no other? Intercessory prayer is perfectly fine... if one prays to GOD ALMIGHTY. No one else can hear prayer.... God doesn't share his uniqueness of omniscience or omnipresence with mere created beings such as us....
If Christ is the only intercessor, that doesn't makes sense. Neither does it make sense for Paul to ask others to pray for him, which he does in several places. Neither does it makes sense for people in your church to ask for prayers, but I'll bet they do it anyway.
What doesn't make sense is what you just wrote. Intercessory prayer is fine; I've never said that was bad. I do covet prayer from others -- when they pray to GOD ALMIGHTY. They are praying for me TO GOD. He is the only one that can do anything for me! Mary can't; she's like all the others who have died and gone to heaven -- she's worshipping God. She has NO idea what goes on down here....
It doesn't make sense for Christ to be the only intercessor? Why? He is the ONE who gave his life for us on the cross; he's the only one who shed his blood for the remission of our sins. He is the only perfect person ever to exist on this earth without sin.... (and yes -- Mary was a sinner. Sorry. But she was). And why can't it make sense? God's inspired and inerrant word says it's so:
1 Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"
So... by your logic, when it says there is "one God", there is not really one and only one God... right? So, "one mediator" doesn't mean what it says? Isn't heis used in both places, once to describe God and once to describe Christ as the one intercessor? So, according to your logic, there is one unique God, but not just one and only one God....
Wow.
Roman Catholicism is really, really screwed up.
I'll be praying FOR YOU... but I'll be praying to God Almighty for you. Not wasting time on Mary or anyone else who can't do you any good.
Hoss