Catholic's?

Question

Why do Catholic people pray to Saints (all Christians are Saints) like Paul, Mary, Jude, Christpher......instead of praying to God through Jesus.......Jesus says that no man shall enter heaven but by him.

These PEOPLE who are prayed to were and are not diety......why pray to them when in the Bible (Acts) we all are considered Saints.

The Conduit between man and God is Jesus (New Testiment) For without him we cannot stand in the presence of God (We are in sin) No other intercessor will do, no matter how hard the Catholic Church trys to place their Priest in that position. Evidence recient scandles involving priests. They like us are mere men.

Pasteur30 - By saying that they were closer to God than us mere mortals you have elevated them to Diety....Same level as Jesus.

Ok.the Catechism is not a book of authority...only the bible.
and yes we are all Saints...read the Bible instead of the Catechism.

Answer 1

They are wasting their prayers. The only one that can hear or answer prayers is God and Jesus.
Catholics break all sorts of God's rules. He said for us not to worship idols, but they pray to stautes of Jesus, joseph and Mary. They say that the nuns are married to Jesus, and that's a lie. No where in the bible does it say that priests can't marry and have children. But at the catholic school I attended it didn't stop the nuns from having sex wtth the priests and then aborting the babies and burying them behind the rectory. What every happend to thou shalt not kill? Or what about the boys the priests molest? It's rediculous. I use to be a catholic. Thank God I am a Christian now.

Answer 2

Why does anyone go to any assembly to pray and worship and listen to the minister? It is the same reason. Just like anyone else knows they can use a little help in spiritual matters (being just a mere mortal) Catholics who believe in the after life (therefore the saints do exist there), believe Godly guidance isn't restricted just because that Champion of the faith has deceased. What a contradiction to say that you can live in the after life when you die and go to heaven but the ones who wrote the book can't. Didn't Jesus Himself speak with dead saints at the transfiguration? Isn't He our example? Are we really following Him?

Answer 3

I have no idea. I'm not catholic so i don't know. And all you catholic people I'm not trying to dis you or anything but I don't think that God cares how many people are praying his answer will still be the same. And I think the person who's asking the question is right a christian is a christian so you might as well pray to me. Oh and by the way, I'm not completely sure (I'll have to check) but I don't think that people that died can hear you since they're not supposed to communicate with us. Again I'm not completely sure but I think that's right.(oh and hey guys give the guy a break he's asking a question he can't know that you don't pray to saints unless he asks)

Answer 4

We don't pray TO them...we ask them to help intercede to the Father. Saints, in the Catholic tradition are guides--examples for us. They lived very Christ-like lives and loved God so much they devoted themselves to furthering His Kingdom on Earth.

They are NOT revered as Gods. They do not take the place of God...

Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. Many people don't seem to understand this.

PS-to the person who answered before me:
WE DO NOT PROTECT CHILD MOLESTERS.

YOU CANNOT FAULT THE ENTIRE CHURCH FOR THE SICK AND TWISTED ACTIONS OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS. There are plenty of us who are VERY upset about this scandal. 2 of the churches I have attended had a priest accused of this and plenty of people come forward. This is something so heinous and so hurtful. This has tested the devotion of the faithful and has broken the hearts of many. It has taken years to get to where we have ended up. We are still healing.

What you don't seem to realize is this: The Catholic Church is greater than these evil individuals--GOD is greater than these individuals. I am CERTAIN they will be brought to justice and the Church will be cleansed--and freed from these evil predators. I just hope that those affected by this can find peace. This has hurt us all.

Sorry for the rant. I just get really upset when people lump all of us together. We are more than the bad apples. In thinking along the lines that people judge us by, I could say plenty about Christianity in general--about hate-mongers and racists, but you cannot judge an entire group of people by those radical idiots who make everyone else look bad.

Answer 5

I am not a catholic but I am not as ignorant as you,
They do not pray to Saints instead of God they pray to saints As well as God, Each Saint is the patron saint of something
St Jude the patron saint of lost causes and policemen etc

Before coming up with absolute rubbish read a little outside of Christian insults for beginners

Answer 6

We pray to saints because they were people who, in life, were closer to God than us ( mere mortals ) and we ask them to intercede to God for us.
The idea of all Christians being saints is absurd. You can only be declared a saint after your death, under especial conditions.
By the way, we also pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. For Jesus ( obviously ) His Mother was especially important for Him. Remember the weddings of Cana ?
Besides, WE DON'T FORGET Jesus' role in this.
The way you say it, looks like we forget Jesus.
We don't. We pray to Him too and we know that He is God.
About the scandals, those things happen, sadly, in all human groups. I have read that they have happened in other congregations too, but the media in this country makes it look like it happened only within the Catholic church.
There seems to exist a bias in this country against the Catholic Church

Answer 7

I agree with the previous answerer......Catholics don't pray to these saints, they ask for intervention from these saints. The saints are kind of like the 'conduit' between man and God.

Answer 8

Catholics and many other Christians believe in the Communion of Saints where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints. You, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

With love in Christ.

Answer 9

It was explained to me this way. in very lay men's terms...

Logic of the catholics goes like this...

1. God, since the time of Adam's fall has been very angry with humanity, and can't even look on the evil / bad things they do.

2. Jesus died on the cross and returned to heaven. While the action of redemption has been done, God and now Jesus are far and distant from us, angry and can't fellowship with who and what we are.

3. Some people, very religious people, have somehow won the approval of God. These 'saints' go straight to heaven, to be closer to God, -and not sent to 'limbo' (hades or maybe purgatory). With God's approval of them and their proximity to him, Catholics think that "certainly another fellow human being (the dead saint) in heaven can listen to my prayers, and then petition our 'angry' God the Father day and night to answer my prayer." I don't think that it's prayer of eternal salvation, but for favors, protection, praying for a shorter limbo period, etc.

That's why catholics name their kids "Mary" etc., I guess they hope that the prayers to the Virgin Mary will get a higher 'priority' to Mary, she can related to the same first name.

Me?? -I was raised somewhat catholic & somewhat Orthodox, but am now evangelical / protestant.

Answer 10

The saint's intercede for us. We do mostly pray to Jesus and God.