Why do Roman Catholics and some Orthodox Religions pray to everyone but God?

Question

It seems that these religions pray to Saints instead of God. Isn't it God that answers prayers, not St. Jude or The Virgin Mother?

The answers so far are quite enlightening. It is quite amusing to see how defensive people get when it was just a simple question. I'm not Catholic, so I was just wondering. I have been to Catholic services, and not once did they pray to God. It was to the Holy Mother and, was recited out of a prayer book. So, from what I've seen, Catholics don't pray to God directly.
However, if you are going to go on a rant, then maybe you should change your profile so that you can recieve mail. It's only fair.

Answer 1

I'm not Catholic, but I do know that they pray to God. As far as why they pray to other people, it is because they believe that the dead saints in heaven can hear them. They believe that the dead saints have power because God would do whatever they asked.

I personally think this is one of the small ways the devil tries to destroy any church from inside. Sorry if that makes anyone mad, it is just my personal opinion. I know very good people that are Catholic, and I don't think that they are intentionally walking the wrong path, but they may be mislead about a few things. I think we should worship God, and God alone.

Let's face it, the church claims the word of the Pope is infallible. History pretty clearly shows Pope's haven't always been infallible, in fact they have stooped as low as offering sins for sale, putting a price on the forgiveness of each and every sin, even payable before doing the deed. So if someone gave the church enough money, they could kill someone without sin. Brilliant.

I would say the Catholic church is founded in Truth, being Jesus Christ, but they have followed men, who aren't always reliable. The Catholic church should adopt the 'scripture alone' doctrine of reformed Christians. But then they wouldn't be Catholic, would they.

Answer 2

You say you went to a Catholic service and not once did they pray to God. I think you must be confused every Mass in the world is conducted in the same way and they are chock full of praise and prayers to God.

As to your question about praying to saints. To pray means to ask, we ask the saints in heaven to join with us in prayer to God, just like you may ask someone at your church to pray for you it is called intercesory prayer.

Here is an article you may find helpful http://www.catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp

Answer 3

First of all, you're wrong. Orthodox Christians (of which I am one) and Roman Catholics (of whom I know several) do pray to God, and frequently. We also pray to Saints, but the type of pray to Saints is different from the type of prayer to God, just as the type of honor we give to the Saints is not the same as the worship we give to God.

In order to understand this, a Protestant would probably have to unlearn many incorrect things that he or she has learned. For example, they would have to abandon the idea that people who die are basically non-existent, or in some kind of state of suspended animation with no consciousness, until the Last Judgment. But don’t take my word for it – read your Bible. If the dead have no consciousness, how is it that at the Lord’s transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, Moses and the Prophet Elijah appeared in the light of his glory talking to him about his upcoming crucifixion? And speaking of the Prophet Elijah, we know from the Old Testament that he was carried off into the heavens on a fiery chariot without dying – so even if the dead were to have no consciousness until the Last Judgment, what’s the reason not to be able to communicate with someone living?

Many of the respondents to this question have talked about how only Jesus can forgive sins and so forth. Well, apparently they don’t know their Bibles as well as they would have us believe. If they did, they would have come across the part that says that Christ sent the Apostles out and gave them the power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, forgive sins, etc. What about statements like, “whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven”? Is it reasonable to believe that the Apostles were given the power to forgive sins only on earth, but now that they have “run the race” and been made worthy of eternal life in the heavenly kingdom, that they have no powers at all? With that kind of thinking, the earthly life would be advantageous over the heavenly life. How can that be? Question your assumptions.

There are many things that could be said on this subject, but the few things mentioned above are probably enough to make the point. If you are someone who really “has ears to hear”, and wants to use your God-given mind to really think seriously about these things instead of just taking the easy and superficial approach, you will find that there is more to this subject than meets the eye. I hope you are willing to open your eyes to see.

Answer 4

You seem to have a misconception about the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They don't pray to saints, but ask saints to pray for them. If you know the Rosary, the Hail Mary says 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners'. That's proof enough Catholics and Orthodox are asking saints to pray for them. It's the same thing as you asking your friends to pray for you when you're sick. 'These religions'? What exactly do you mean by that? They're not 'religions', they're denominations of a religion. Is Baptist Christianity now its own, independent religion as well? No, it's just a denomination of Christianity just as Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are. Oh, and Catholics and Orthodoxy pray to God far more often than you think.

Answer 5

They believe that saints are connected to god. My family is Roman Catholic, so I've sat through many Masses, and believe me, they pray to god more than anyone.

Answer 6

Nice. The saints were sinners saved by grace like everyone else. They were people of great faith, but in no way were they like Jesus. Only Jesus died for our sins. Only Jesus is worthy of our prayers. Anything else is idolatry and God hates it. Commandment #1: You shall have no other gods before me. Commandment #2: You shall not bow down to any graven image. Food for thought: Why do you think that their is really no description of Jesus' physical description written in the Bible? Probably because God knew man would make that description into an image and bow down to worship it.

Answer 7

I have no idea why they would rather talk to a dead human than talk to God, the only one that has the power to answer prayer and forgive sins. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where Jesus taught us to pray to anyone other than God ...
can you? Only Jesus intercedes for us ... only Jesus.

Answer 8

Very good question, I'd like to see the answers. I pray to god Myself. In Jesus' name because what he has done for us.

Answer 9

We pray to God and we also stay in touch with those who are closer to him than we are.

That's OK with him, because he wants to give us every advantage.

Also, all those holy folks up there are our close relatives and friends. Why shouldn't they help?

Why do non-Catholics often have such a myopic view of things? Is it from concentrating on the Bible so much that they can't conceive of anything else?

Answer 10

I'm a Roman Catholic and we do pray to god.Your wrong.