Is the Catholic tradition of praying to saints Worship?

Question

Are Catholics worshipping the men and women that G-d himself created? Then worshipping their images and Idols?

I am a Christian, and I appreciate any denomination.. but this question has always been in the back of my mind.

Grendel: The G-d spelling is something I adopted because I feel it adds an element of respect. I sure hope it wouldnt offend you. G-ds law doesn't pass away just because he provided a savior.

Be more thanful to the Isrealites for providing a bloodline to your savior.

Grendel: The G-d spelling is something I adopted because I feel it adds an element of respect. I sure hope it wouldnt offend you. G-ds law doesn't pass away just because he provided a savior.

Be more thanful to the Isrealites for providing a bloodline to your savior.

Jesus is Jewish. Christianity is merely a continutation of the Jewish religion.

Answer 1

They petition the Saint depending on what their needs are at the moment. They do not call ilt worship. It's like going to school and asking your math teacher about math and a science teacher about science.
I'm not a catholic but thats how it was explained to me when I was one.
Personally, I think God can handle all of it. But that's just my opinion.

Answer 2

Well as a christian myself (an ex-catholic and by reading bible and cathechism it was clear one was a lie and from men) I can tell you your point is just right, any how you and I both know there is only one intercessor between man and God and it is Jesus
1Ti 2:5 For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus,
And further more you also know that talking to the dead is an abomination to God.

We also know that NO DEAD (saints or not) have any contact or hear anything from us human, their time is passed and they are waiting the resurection of the saints for judgement like any other dead person who was saved. So they DON'T hear our prayers... Only God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit does....

And by the way, having a statue or picture of someone you venerate, that is what God calls idolatry. Idolatry is nothing more than that and God hates it. Even having a picture of Jesus is idolatry for we are born again in spirit and we worship God in spirit also. NO other way

Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.

Answer 3

Most Protestants believe that it *does* constitute worship, and that it at least *borders* on idol worship, especially since they consider Mary to be the "Mother of God"!

No church that I know of, other than the Roman Catholic Church, considers the person holding the highest office in their organization to be infallible, requires their head, their bishops, and their ministers, to remain celibate, requires confession to a priest, instead of directly to God, with Christ as intercessor! No other Christian Church that I know of portrays Jesus as *still* on the Cross!

I see many people answering this question say, no, Catholics are not praying to saints, just asking saints to intercede on their behalf; however, how many of the rest of us ask dead people - well-known or not - to intercede on our behalf or give us a reference to a judge or employer?

Answer 4

No, Catholics do not worship anybody but God. Finding admirable qualities in different patron saints, and making use of their examples as a way to get closer to God, is not worship. For example, notice that the Hail Mary is asking Mary to pray on the person's behalf; it is not worshipping Mary.

Answer 5

No, it is not "worship" in the modern sense of "adoration and the ascribing of divine prerogatives and attributes". Catholics,Orthodox and many Anglicans "venerate", that is honor(as In "Honor your father and mother") saints who are conscious 'in a better state" beyond death than that of our mortal and relatively uninformed life.
We have memorial days for them andset them up as virtuous examples of holy living and dying in all different circumstances,profesions,ages,ethnicities and personalities.

Saints are also "invoked' and asked to join the living in praying to Jesus, the One Mediator and the Only Way to the Father, but they are not treated like gods or "idols". An idol is someone( like a parent, child, friend,country ororganization )or something(like money,fame or pleasure) that pushes God off the Throne in one's life. If a saint took God's place as #1in life and attention then that would be dishonoring not honoring the saint.
God never banned religious statues of heavenly inhabitants but ordered them to be made in Ex 25:18( the Cherubim angels on the Ark) and honored. To honor statues or pictures of saints is no more idolatrous than saluting a flag or honoring a photo of a parent or child.

Answer 6

No. That is veneration. Same thing with the Blessed Virgin,fundies think we worship her too. She is venerated and exalted,but not worshipped. Strange way to spell God for a purported Christian,by the way.

Answer 7

Worshiping of idols and images is prohibited by God.

Let's read Habakuk 2:18-19

"What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. "


Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:29

"Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "


The catholic church are worshiping idols and images so they're AGAINST the doctrine of Christianity.

They're not Christians. They claim to be but they're far from being that. They're actually anti-christ because they do thins which Christ prohibits.

Like in Matthew 23:9

" And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. "

CALL NO MAN YOUR FATHER ON EARTH.

And yet, these catholic priests are being called 'father' by their members and they're tolerating it.


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Answer 8

No. It's not worship. It's veneration, and there's a difference. We don't believe that saints died for our sins, or can get us into heaven. We simply ask them to pray on our behalf, in the same way that we ask others to pray for us, due to their closeness to God, and their holy lives. Their lives of piety serve as examples to us. The saints deserve our honor and respect for their commitment to God.

Answer 9

Hello, it is not that Catholics are worshiping saints, it is that we are asking saints to pray for us to God. See, the reason they are saints is because when they were on earth they dedicated their lives to the God and are very close to God. After they passed away and are in Heaven we can talk to them in meditation. Saints know what is like to be human and to sin. Saints sinned as well, they were human. When we ask saints to pray for us (in addition to praying to God) we ask them to intercede for us (go talk to God for us) let God know "look I was human too and I know this person really is working hard, please help them". So, no we do not worship images or idols, we are just asking them to help us out.

Kinda like when you are applying for a job you want and your best friend is the hiring managers friend, you ask them to put in a good word for you;) It is the same thing but of course in a more respectful religious way.

In addition to that, statues, we don't pray to statues of Jesus but it is nice to have a visual:)

Answer 10

From what I understand (I have been studying Catholicism), it is merely veneration. It is just having a picture or a statue of someone that you admire. This can be compared to having family albums and portraits.