How does the Catholic church justify this with all of their pre-written prayers for Saints? Speaking of which.

Question

Matthew 6:7

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

If God created your soul/spirit...making you a DIRECT son or daughter of him and since Christ also refers to God as Abba or Father..when he took our sins upon himself in the Garden of Gethsemane...then we are Christ's younger brothers and sisters...

Why can we not pray to our Heavenly Father directly since is is the maker of our souls? We ARE worthy to talk to our Heavenly Father

they pray THROUGH them, not to them


EXACTLY MY POPINT..THEY USE A VAIN REPETITIOUSLY WRITTEN PRAYER...THROUGH A 3RD PARTY BECAUSE THEY FEEL UNWORTHY TO TALK TO THE MAN HIMSELF!

CORRECTION THERE....

EXACTLY MY POINT..

Answer 1

Wow...you are full of misconceptions.

Jesus was not condemning all traditions. He condemned only those that made God’s word void. In this case, it was a matter of the Pharisees feigning the dedication of their goods to the Temple so they could avoid using them to support their aged parents. By doing this, they dodged the commandment to "Honor your father and your mother" (Ex. 20:12).

If He condemned all Traditions, then you cal Paul a liar.
"I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2).
"stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).


As for graven images, what is condemned is worshipping the image itslef, which Catholics do not do. In fact, God COMMANDED them to make images...
And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18–20).

David gave Solomon the plan "for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all, all the work to be done according to the plan" (1 Chr. 28:18–19). David’s plan for the temple, which the biblical author tells us was "by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all," included statues of angels.

Similarly Ezekiel 41:17–18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, "On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim."

God told Moses to "make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live" (Num. 21:8–9).

One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations.

Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas.

If one measured Protestants by the same rule, then by using these "graven" images, they would be practicing the "idolatry" of which they accuse Catholics. But there’s no idolatry going on in these situations. God forbids the worship of images as gods, but he doesn’t ban the making of images. If he had, religious movies, videos, photographs, paintings, and all similar things would be banned. But, as the case of the bronze serpent shows, God does not even forbid the ritual use of religious images.

It is when people begin to adore a statue as a god that the Lord becomes angry. Thus when people did start to worship the bronze serpent as a snake-god (whom they named "Nehushtan"), the righteous king Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kgs. 18:4).



And for your spout about praying to God - Catholics are in no way forbidden to go directly to God.


Any other untruths and misconceptions I can clear up for you?

Answer 2

No Rcc who knows anything about the Rcc has ever worshipped a statue (a in pagan idolatry). If we cherish the memory of political and war hero’s, what more noble a hero than one who died for God. Are they not worth honouring? Statues are simply a reminder a visual aid to the hero’s of God, the Christian faith. If they were not why in Rev 6:9-10 are they under the altar of God asking how long it will be before the will be avenged on earth? They are there, it tells us, watching and waiting. Scripture back up – 1 Per 2:17, Rom 12:10, Heb 12:22-23, Heb 11, 2 Cor 3:18
BTW, I have many pictures of family, friends, the Last Supper, Crucifix, etc in my home. They could all be destroyed tomorrow (& some were in my flood) it did not diminish my love for the person or my strength in my faith.
For purgatory insight check out 2 Cor 5:10, Heb 9:27 & 28 & 12:23, 1 Cor 3:15, Heb 12:29, 1 Pet 1:7, Mt 25:31-46 we will be judged after our death, we will be tested in fire. Where is God going to do this – in heaven? Once we are admitted into heaven – we’re in ; ) since we do not know God’s time as it is not our time, until we die, who truly, are we to say.

Answer 3

+ Formal Prayer +

Catholicism includes a rich tradition of both informal (in our own words) and formal prayer just like our Jewish forefathers.

The Church teaches "the memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is important to help learners savor their meaning." In other words, the Church emphasizes that formal prayer should not be mindless lip moving but instead a formal expression of clearly understood and heartfelt sentiments.

The verse in question reads, in the King James Version, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

The important Greek word here for "vain repetitions" is battalogeo, or babbling. The heathens had a magical perception of prayer and thought the more they babbled to their gods, the more that that god would respond. I Kings 18:26 is an example of this:

"And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered."

Then, two verses after the warning in Matthew against "vain repetitions," Jesus gave us the "Lord's" prayer, which most Protestant Christians pray with no qualms about praying "in vain."

The same command in Luke 11:2 reads: "And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father..." -- "when you pray, say..."

In addition, Christ prayed in repetitions:
+ Matthew 26:44: "And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words."
+ Mark 14:39 reads: "And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words."

The angels pray repetitiously:
+ Revelation 4:8: "...and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

The Psalms are a collection of prayers and litanies, which were prayed formally in the Jewish synagogues and early Christian churches, are still prayed in synagogues and Catholic churches today -- and were even prayed by Christ from the Cross.

The liturgy of the synagogue was (and is) filled with repetition and formalized prayer. Christ said "use not vain repetitions, as the heathens do.” Were the Jews heathens? Jesus also prayed in the synagogue in this way.

They prayed (and still pray) the sh'ma twice a day and, in their liturgy, the Shemoneh Esrei, the Kaddish, the morning blessings, the Aleinu, etc. Check out a Jewish siddur (missal) sometime; does it look more typically Protestant or Catholic?

Hymns are prayers. Is it "vain" to sing "Amazing Grace" more than once?

Catholics do not babble but pray from the heart in formal and informal prayer.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt4sect1.htm

+ Saints +

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.

And prayer to the saints is optional not required.

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

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 4

no its because Mary herself said, "from now on all generations will bless me because the Lord has done great things for me".

we're just part of that generation. whats so wrong with that?

Answer 5

I guess we should all wear funny underwear and magical glasses?
This question is just ADVERTISED IGNORANCE.
You don't have a clue, do you?

Answer 6

they pray THROUGH them, not to them.