You don’t know if some Protestants believe in praying to saints in heaven? Yet you condemn the practice as a Catholic affront to God? If Protestants believe this too, where does that leave your argument?
Where do you believe people who are saved go when they die? I thought that was the point of being saved, to be sure you would go to heaven when you die.
If anyone had bothered to read the article, you would see that Catholics take the wedding at Cana story as an example of a way to ask Jesus for help. Because that is exactly what it portrays. Mary alerted Jesus to a problem (which He already knew about, of course) and He solved it. Would He have done it otherwise, would the wine steward or whoever have approached Jesus personally?We don’t know. What we have is a story of Mary interceding with Jesus on behalf of someone else, and that person received the benefit of a miracle from Jesus. Of course we go directly to Jesus, but sometimes we also go through Mary and the saints, just as in this scripture clearly shows.
Just as Jesus gave the disciples power to heal and perform miracles in His name, we believe the saints in heaven have been given this power, too. There is nothing in scripture that says this is not possible and it in no way diminishes God’s power.
Heaven is the condition of being united to God as part of the Body of Christ. Why would being given a part of God’s power when you are part of God be so hard to believe?
Love,
O2
Um, no, the article makes several assertions which are specious, at best. The words recorded in the Bible that Mary used to direct the servants are not prayers, and the statement she made to her son is not prayer. Nut the author repeated that claim three times by my count. Mischaracterizations seem the norm in catholiciism.
No, I don't because I don't know every single Protestant in the world and don't know what each and every one of them believes.
And if they did believe it, I'd tell them the same thing.
Praying to saints is an affront to God because it's disobeying Him and it's demonstrating a lack of trust in His promises. It's declaring that the person does not find God trustworthy.
There are three important things that the Bible and Jesus show us about His mother, Mary.
Two of them happened at the wedding.
Mary noticed the wine was consumed, so said to her Son Jesus, “They have no wine.”
What did Jesus do?
He admonished her by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Notice he addresses her with the common term, “woman.”
The last thing that Mary said in recorded scriptures was “Do whatever he tells you.”
She said this to the servants at the wedding.
It’s very interesting that Mary said do whatever HE tells you.
Very important, we can take that to the bank.
We are to do whatever Jesus tells us to do.
He is The Word became flesh, the Word of God is Jesus.
We have the Holy Spirit God breathed scriptures to guide us.
If we are to take Mary’s words to heart, we should listen to Jesus through His Word, and do as that Word of God tells us.
Mary NEVER made it all about her.
In fact she made it very clear with her last words that it was NOT about her, but about Jesus.
This becomes even more clear when someone told Him your mother and brothers are outside, and want to talk to you.
His response?
Who are my mother and brothers?
Then He said, pointing to His disciples, here are my mother and brothers.
He added that whoever does the will of My Father who is in Heaven he is my mother and my brother and my sister
On the cross the last time while Jesus was alive Mary was there.
Did Jesus lift her up as someone to be treated more special than other believers?
No.
He made sure she was taken care of by John, the disciple that Jesus loved.
He told her, woman here is your son.
Pretty simple.
All paraphrased from scripture, chapter and verse viable upon request. I imagine most of you are familiar with the descriptions of these events in the Bible.