Do you believe that veneration of Saints is the same as idol worship?

Question

In other words, when people pray to patron saint of whatever for help, is it not the same as our ancestors praying to a specific god?

Answer 1

Yep.
BINGO!
One of the KEY reasons why I left the Christian faith and converted to Judaism.
Do you think Jesus would have worshiped saints or an image of a cross?
Nope.
He would have followed the Second Commandment, to the letter.

Answer 2

It may not be the same, but there certainly is a resemblence.

In the Old Testament people prayed to God. The only time there was a "I pray thee" for others was because the King James expression was the same as saying "I ask you". In the New Testament, Jesus prayed to God, calling Him His Father. He met with Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9) and Peter suggested setting up three memorials and a voice from Heaven said, "This is my beloved Son: hear him" (Luke 9:35, compare with Matthew 17:5 and Mark 9:7). I sort of figure that tells me something too. There was, however, this one little passage, "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance" (2 Peter 1:14-15). So while Peter hoped to have some influence on our behalf, it doesn't say it did. We do have passages like Revelation 5:8 that make "the prayers of saints" into a sort of perfume before God.

I won't say it is idol worship, because its not like we are worshiping other gods, just speaking to former great followers of Christ, supposedly so they, like Peter, might have some influence in heaven. There may be similarity of the Greek demi-god, but no one is deifying these. But I don't see much to support the practice in the Bible. The Bible does speak of "one mediator", but it is always Jesus (Galatians 3:19-20; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:5, 9:15, 12:24, see also 1 John 2:1). While I don't pray to any but Jesus, His Father, and the Holy Spirit, I'm not going to fuss too loud while well-meaning souls do the equivalent of saying "have my people call His people about this problem." Its a cultural thing like crossing one's self or saying stuff like "for Pete's sake".

Answer 3

People do not pray to saints because they believe the saints have the power to help them. People pray to saints and ask the saints to pray to God for them because if they are truly saints and in heaven, they are much closer to God than we are. It is not the same as idol worship.

Answer 4

The Catholic church has the whole saints thing wrong according to the Bible. Anyone who believes in Jesus is considered a saint and saints were not ever meant to be prayed to or worshipped. Only Jesus through God can answer our prayers, and to pray to a person is not what He intended.

Answer 5

Yes I do believe that is true. Praying to a patron saint is to me like praying to an idol. That saint didn't do anything that Jesus did or continues to do. Only Jesus Christ is worthy of our prayer and adoration.

Answer 6

Absolutely. To venerate the creation instead of the creator is the most dangerous extreme. "Saint" means without sin and there is only ONE that is perfect in every way and makes no mistakes.

Answer 7

Kind of it.
Jesus said that we have to pray to the Father in His name (Jesus).
So, anything that takes His place is an idol.

Answer 8

I agree with that - praying to any being is worshipping them. Even going through someone to get to someone higher is still using an intermediary - and God is above that. He needs us not to have any intermediaries, for He is closer to us than our jugular veins. We should just worship Allah without associating any partners with Him.

Answer 9

Yes. It's also the same as treating some silly old book as if it were the word of god.

Answer 10

Yes, we are not to worship anyone but God.