[metmom]

Anything that comes from our petitions is from God.

Then why not ask God yourself?

Why have someone else ask for you?

Do you not think that God would answer you Himself?

[Al Hitan]

Then why not ask God yourself?

Why would you assume I don't. I do.

Why have someone else ask for you?

I have others ask with me.

Do you not think that God would answer you Himself?

Indeed, he does.

[boatbums]

>>Anything that comes from our petitions is from God.<<

Then why not ask God yourself? Why have someone else ask for you? Do you not think that God would answer you Himself?

Because that isn't how some religious people think about God. They see Him as the stern judge and their need to appeal to those who they think have found favor with Him. This is a line of thought that goes back centuries and demonstrates the deception that has crept into Christian doctrine. Martin Luther voiced some of the reasons why prayers to Mary and "saints" was thought effective over any direct appeal to our loving and merciful heavenly Father:

In the Augustinian monastery, meditation on the blessed mother was also a unique channel to make the heart fertile for divine grace. Mary was crowned with a special degree of glory that surpassed others in the divine realm. Bernard of Clairvaux had popularized her through his sermons. He had expounded the degrees of salvation, with Mary at the highest point. Jarislov Pelikan points out, “She was at the same time the personal embodiment of the supreme virtues of which humanity was made capable through the gift of grace: in her, as Bernard said, ‘is every goodness found in any creature.’”[12]

Luther’s frequent mentioning of Saint Bernard speaks of his fondness and familiarity with his writings. Later recollecting Bernard’s influence on his own Mariolatry, Luther looked back on the years before his break with Rome and said,

St. Bernard, who was a pious man otherwise, also said: ‘Behold how Christ chides, censures, and condemns the Pharisees so harshly throughout the Gospel, whereas the Virgin Mary is always kind and gentle and never utters an unfriendly word.’ From this he inferred: ‘Christ is given to scolding and punishing, but Mary has nothing but sweetness and love.’ Therefore Christ was generally feared; we fled from Him and took refuge with the saints, calling upon Mary and others to deliver us from our distress. We regarded them all as holier than Christ. Christ was only the executioner, while the saints were our mediators. [13]

He also recollected, “Christ in His mercy was hidden from my eyes. I wanted to become justified before God through the merits of the saints. This gave rise to the petition for the intercession of the saints. On a portrait St. Bernard, too, is portrayed adoring the Virgin Mary as she directs her Son, Christ, to the breasts that suckled Oh, how many kisses we bestowed on Mary”![14] Luther concluded though, that even in St Bernard’s incessant praise of Mary as she directs the sinner toward Christ, Bernard left out Christ completely: “Bernard filled a whole sermon with praise of the Virgin Mary and in so doing forgot to mention what happened [the incarnation of Christ]; so highly did he… esteem Mary.” [15] Thus, young Luther partook in Mariolatry, but the mature Luther looking back saw only the excesses of medieval devotion and teaching on Mary. He saw that she had been adorned with attributes that only belonged to Christ. https://web.archive.org/web/20140803220104/http://tquid.sharpens.org/luther_mary1.htm