so ive noticed when asking about catholic practices that...?

Question

none of them EVER answer the question directly, they all beat around the bush,

and i have yet to see a valid verse to back up their practices of speaking with the dead. the bible even says this is wrong to do

sorry folks, mary is not on the earth, thus she is dead.
so is there any well professed catholics out there that can point out a verse or two about how its ok to A: speak with the dead, or B: pray to mary?

(note: mary is not the mother of god, god was before mary. also, why not ask marys mother to pray for us, she was holy enough to give birth to mary who was holy enough to give birth to jesus.....)

Good answer Father K, u support my question with your lack of answer!

Answer 1

i hear you dude i have an open question to catholics asking them to give me a rundown of their beliefs as it's been a long time since i've been to a catholic church and i didn't get much you can check it out if you would like it's in my profile

Answer 2

First of all, Mary was assumed into Heaven, and if you believe in the Trinity (a basic for ALL Christians, Catholic and Protestant), then you believe that Jesus was not only the Son of God, but also God (God the Son). Therefore, it doesn't take much reasoning to conclude that Mary was in fact the mother of God (the Son), who took the form of man so that he may pay the debt of our sinfulness.

As far as praying to Mary (or any other saint for that matter), it is a common misconception that even some Catholics don't get. One only prays to and worships GOD. When offering an intention to Mary or anyone else, you are requesting their help in praying to our Lord on your behalf. It's actually no different than a 'prayer chain' which virtually every Christian Church has. Take the last line of the 'Hail Mary" ...

..."Holy Mary, Mother of God, PRAY FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death."

We are not asking her to do anything other than to PRAY FOR US ... just as you would ask a friend or relative to do for you if you were under some kind of distress. And, by the way, Catholics dont have the corner on this market. Orthodox (Eastern Rite) Christians do this as well.

As far as speaking with the dead, have you heard that we have seances or conversations with the dead? If you have, that's ridiculous! Asking one who has passed to pray for you is far different than speaking to the dead. Go to your local Tarot card reader for more info on that which am unable to give.

Hopefully, this is a direct enough answer to your question. I don't like beating around the bush either.

Answer 3

Chippy 108, I guess I am a little confused....what is your question? Why you don't get the answer you want? If that is your question, my answer is I am not sure. Maybe it is because people do not agree with you.

As for praying to Mary. I am not Catholic, but let me tell you, I know many, many devout Catholics who lead an exemplary Christian life.

My believing all that they or anyone else practices is not germane to my belief in Jesus the Christ.

I do not believe either you or I were called to berate the Catholics, rather our calling is to reach the lost with the good news of Jesus.

IMHO, and I say this with love and some understanding, you and I will be do much more for the cause of Christ, if we will demonstrate His love by our actions, than constantly telling what we think we know concerning all the do's and don't's of Christian practice.

I wish you the best and hope you always go in peace!

Answer 4

A) II Maccabees, 15:11-16 describes a sin offering for fallen soldiers so that they may participate in the resurrection. And II Maccabees 12: 39-46 which describes a vision wherein two deceased prophets are seen praying for the living.

B) Mary is the Mother of God since she is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is God. Get off the biological kick. There's more to motherhood than bearing young.

C) And we do not pray TO Mary. We ask her to pray for us to God the Father and to her Son, Our Lord. Just as any one would ask a friend's help in some endeavor, we ask for Mary's help.

D) And what makes you think we ignore Mary's mother, Anna? Catholics ask for her intercession as well.

E) Strikes me you actually know little or nothing about the Faith, but are adamant about denigrating it anyway. Is ignorance your true religion, then?

Answer 5

We do not talk to the dead. What church are you from and why do you think Catholics are not Christians? One answer told you part of what you do not understand. Our church has always taught that Mary was directly assumed into Heaven and never died.

Another difference between whatever you are taught and the teachings of the original church is, we believe in individual judgment after death not a massive collective judgment of all humanity on a day yet to come. Anyway who has left the earth has already had their own day of judgment.

With Mary and the other Saints , we are asking righteous people to pray for us. If you are sick and ask another person in your church to pray for you is that idolatry? It clearly does say in the Bible that the prayers of the righteous avail much. Is Mary not righteous? Is she not the Mother of God in the flesh?
Is it not in the Bible that she is?

Lastly, where in the Bible does it say that all knowledge is contained in the Bible and no where else? If everything is in the Bible why are you here asking questions?

Answer 6

I could answer your questions, but doubt that you'd be satisfied.

If you GENUINELY want to know the answers, I have two excellent suggestions for you:

1. A good place to start is at the first website I am including below, which is Catholic.com. The link below will take you right to the page regarding Mary and the saints.

2. Get yourself a copy of the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) and READ IT. The answers are all there. You can also read the entire CCC at the US Bishops' website. That's the second link below.

If you do both of these things, I promise that your questions will be answered.

God bless you.

PS The Blessed Virgin Mary's mother is St. Ann. She is Jesus' grandmother. And many people do ask for her prayers, as well as asking for prayers from St. Joseph, Jesus' foster father here on earth.

Answer 7

You are absolutely right. The Bible clearly condemns the practice of spiritism. The Bible also tells us that "The living are concsious that they will die, but as for the dead, they are concsious of nothing at all."(Eccleseastes 9:5,10) So it is impossible to speak to the dead. The teaching of the immortal soul is a pagan one.

The Bible also tells us to avoid idolizing anyone but God. Jesus himself stated this by saying"Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." (Mark 10:18,JB). This tells us that Jesus is not God, and God 's goodness is superior to his own. Worship should be directed to Jehovah alone. Jesus' prayers also show that God is superior and not equal to him. He prayed to God- "Father, if you wish, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, let not my will, but yours take place."(Luke 22:42) It does not make sense to think he was praying to himself. If he was in fact God, who was he adressing at Mark 15:34, or Luke23:46?
If Jesus brought it to everyone's attention that God was superior to him, would it make sense then for us to worship his mother? no.

These false teachings are dangerous, because they teach Satans viewpoint and not God's. The Church does not want us to know that we have been lied to all along about the way we worship, about what happens when we die, and about his son Jesus and many other lies that they have spread about God and his people. But trust that Jehovah will soon ste matters right, he is revealing the truth as we speak, as the true worshipers spread the truth. Make sure you listen when he calls, and not to what men claim.

Answer 8

You seem to be obsessed with Mary; get over it mate. Unless you were sent by God as a Judge against catholic teachings, let it go.
People believe in what they want to and many catholics I have spoken to have a reasonable explaination for thier belief in a devotion to Mary.
On a visit to Central America I have witness Miracles done by the Rosary; I can't explain it; no one can.

Answer 9

+ The Communion of Saints +

Before Jesus Christ died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven there were no saints in heaven. Therefore there are no Old Testament writings that would mention them.

Very few of the new Christians died before most of the New Testament was written. Therefore there is little in the Bible about asking saints to pray for us.

However the last book of the Bible does talk about the saints in heaven praying.

Revelation 5:8: Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.

Revelation 8:3-4: He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.

The Holy Spirit guided the early Church in many things not explained in the Bible including how does the Body of Christ (believers) living on Earth relate to the Body of Christ (saints) living in heaven. We are still one Body.

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief 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 living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p5.htm#946

+ The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God +

Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ (this is explicitly stated in the Bible), who is God the Son (this is hinted at in the Bible), and therefore can be addressed as the Mother of God.

This is similar to a commoner who marries a king and becomes the mother of the next king. She is entitled to the title Queen and Mother of the King even though she is not royalty.

Nobody two hundred, five hundred or a thousand years ago would have been confused about it. But this is hard for people to understand in these times where royalty and kings and queens are few and far between.

Luke 1:46-48 states:
And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed."

Do Christians who take every word of the the Bible literally follow this Holy Spirit inspired prophecy and call Mary "blessed"? Catholics do.

+ Sources of Doctrine +

The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It could not. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

There were hundreds of Christian writings during the first and second centuries. Which New Testament writings would become official was not fully decided until about 400 AD.

Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like:
+ The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
+ Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the Ten Commandments)
+ The Communion of Saints
+ Which writings include in the New Testament?

Things that are even more modern like
+ Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This was one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
+ Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

Do Christians who do not allow the continuing guiding force of the Holy Spirit to make their beliefs more and more perfect, still endorse slavery as Colossians 3:22 commands, "Slaves, obey your human masters in everything"?

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#80

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 10

In Luke 1:43 Elizabeth calls Mary "the mother of my Lord". Mary's mother was Anne. Some Catholics do, in fact, pray to St. Anne, same goes for many other Saints. St. Anne is the patron Saint of grandparents, Canada, housewives and lots more.

Although I hate to copy and paste, here goes.

Mary Visits Elizabeth
39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Prayer to Saint Anne
Good Saint Anne, you were especially favored by God to be the mother of the most holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Savior. By your power with your most pure daughter and with her divine Son, kindly obtain for us the grace and the favor we now seek. Please secure for us also forgiveness of our past sins, the strength to perform faithfully our daily duties and the help we need to persevere in the love of Jesus and Mary. Amen.

Answer 11

There are no verses. The whole Mary thing was a later day political move to give the church a place for women that didn't involve leadership. Note that Paul mentions many women church leaders but a century after that there are none, just nuns.

And to Father K, he apparently doesn't know which Mary you are talking about. For his information it is the one that the pope described on January 1, 2007 as "Mary, Mediatrix and Cooperator of Christ", "Mother of the Church", and "Spiritual Mother of all humanity".

Just in case you thought the pope was just being effusive, he concluded the homily by saying: "Let us ask Mary, Mother of God, to help us to welcome her Son and, in him, true peace. Let us ask her to sharpen our perception so that we may recognize in the face of every human person, the Face of Christ, the heart of peace!"

Clearly an intercessory prayer directed at Mary. (English translation provided by the Vatican).