Where in the bible is this said to be ok or necessary? Also is the eucharist necessary for salvation?
2007-07-30 09:48:00 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Im not quite sure why Catholics pray to saints to interecede for us...1 timothy 2:5 says "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
2007-07-30 09:58:14 · answer #1 · answered by Romans1:16!! 1 · 0⤊ 6⤋
IbanezRG777! IbanezRG777! Catholics do not pray to saints nor neither they practise idol worship! Catholics are the saints to pray for them!!! Yes! the Eucharist is necessary for salvation!!!
2007-07-30 18:15:59 · answer #2 · answered by Sniper 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, because Catholics don't ask saints to grant their prayers, rather they ask saints to intercede for them with God. The idea is, those who are in Heaven and praying 24/7 are being asked to spend part of that time praying on behalf of someone who's still alive. Saints aren't worshiped, they're venerated, there's a big difference between the two.
Additionally, Jesus said to "eat [his] body". So, yes, the Eucharist is necessary for salvation. If it wasn't, Jesus wouldn't have said to do it.
2007-07-30 16:53:21 · answer #3 · answered by Corbett 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
No, because prayer doesn't mean worship. The word "pray" actually means "ask." The word "prayer" describes the mode of communication that we people-in-the-flesh have with communicating with any entity that is not bound by flesh.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say we can only pray to God. It says we can only worship God, and that's what Catholics believe, but the Bible never says we can't pray, or ask, something of any other being.
When a Catholic person seeks the prayers of a saint, which we do by praying to them & asking for them to pray to God for us, we are operating on the belief that after a Christian dies in the flesh, they keep on living in the spirit. In other words, a saint in heaven isn't dead but alive -- probably more "alive" than any of us on earth are! Because they are not burdened with the sinful flesh, as we on earth are, their prayers are pure.
It's really the same thing as a protestant person asking their pastor or friend to pray for them. A protestant will go to a wise and godly person to ask for prayer. Likewise, we Catholics go to the wisest and godliest people we know: saints who are alive in heaven.
Regarding the Eucharist, Jesus said in John 6, "Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you." This to Catholics means that we must receive the Holy Eucharist, which we know is the true Flesh and Blood of our Savior. However, we also believe that God is merciful. So if a person cannot receive the Holy Eucharist for some reason, that does not mean the person cannot possibly be saved, because as the Bible says, God will save whomever He designs to save.
2007-07-30 17:25:33 · answer #4 · answered by sparki777 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
For us Catholics, we have 2 sources of truth: scripture and the tradition.
Scripture is the bible and tradition is the thoughts and writings and decisions of centuries of very wise and holy people thinking about what the theological truths are and how God wants us to come to him in worship.
Nowhere in scripture does it say it's okay to pray to saints. That's part of our tradition.
Where in the bible does it say you should brush your teeth? You do it even though it's not in the bible because it makes sense.
But it does say in scripture to be involved in community fellowship and supporting one another and to pray for one another. Why should that only be limited to living believers? Why not ask your friend in heaven to join you in your prayer to Jesus, esp since in heaven, they're so much closer to Jesus himself? Asking sombody to pray with you for something is not worshipping him/her, right?
Idol worship is when you take a statue of something and think it's a real god and worship. How is that like asking a Saint to join you in prayer?
Even if you do have a statue of a saint, nobody thinks it's the real, actual saint. It's just a visual aid to help us focus on who we're praying to.
We also do think the Eucharist is necessary for salvation. Jesus himself at the Last Supper instituted it, and every priest today carries out that command.
2007-07-30 17:01:01 · answer #5 · answered by Acorn 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I wish I had a dollar for each time this question is asked. As a Catholic, let me explain..we do not worship the Saints. We pray to them asking them to bring our prayers to God..no it is not idol worship.
Yes, the Eucharist is necessary for salvation, as is Baptism, leading a good life, being a good and just person, forgiving those who have sinned against you, by slander or stealing from you.
2007-07-30 16:56:15 · answer #6 · answered by djc1175 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Where does it say in the Bible that is it not ok to pray or talk to the Saints? Where does it say in the Bible that we are not to perform the Eurcharist in memory of Christ's death and the Last Supper?
Praying or talking to the Saints is not idol worship, as it is not an act of worship at all. It is merely asking for help, guidance and someone to intercede on your behalf with God.
The Eucharist is necessary as it is done in memory of Christ's sacrifice for all of us. Christ said 'do this in memory of me'.
2007-07-30 16:57:53 · answer #7 · answered by Unity 4 · 5⤊ 1⤋
The Catholic understanding to this would be that because the people lived in real life and showed themselves to us then it is acceptable for them to depict them in statues and images. Idol worship is condemned and to many when the catholics pray to the saints statues or images then it is considered idol worship, but the church says that the divine is not in the imagery, and that they are not worshiping but instead are venerating it. The line between veneration and worship is very small so its easy to argue that they worship it. The eucharist is considered the body and blood of christ and is used to revitalize your spirit and remind you of the holy spirit inside you, along with being considered nourishment for your soul like food is for your body. So in catholic terms yes the eucharist is necessary for salvation, to catholics worshiping saints is not idol worship, for most others it is.
2007-07-30 16:57:25 · answer #8 · answered by Benotafraid 3 · 3⤊ 2⤋
no, because we aren't worshipping the statues themselves. They are used to guide us thoughts and prayer on Christ and his Kingdom.
The Holy Eucharist is necessary for salvation, because it is spiritual food and drink for the soul.
"My Flesh is real food; my Blood real drink. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood dwells continually in Me and I dwell in him."-John 6:56-57
2007-07-30 16:52:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
I am a Jesusonian Christian Theologian and not a Catholic.
The current, circa AD1935, Epochal Revelation of Truth states that a (Catholic church or any church having a) galaxy of saints is a spiritual abomination.
Jesus tells us to call no man and no woman (here or dead) a "Father" or a "Mother" in the spiritual sense. He tells us to worship God in Spirit and in Truth, and just AS and just WHERE you now are ! Thus no mere intermediaries betwon our Crerator Father God Jesus Christ and you or me ! Only Jesus can and will take each of us up into the Paradise Father-Infinite I AM and Be One in Spirit with us in our Glorious, Finality Destiny as Beloved Sons of God !
No Church Eucharist is needed for salvation ! ONLY JESUS SAVES ! HE is fully here in Spirit ! (John 16:7-16) We may gather in our homes and have Sacred Communion with Jesus at any times we so desire. "Priesthood of all Believers"
Personal religion is growing stronger --this is God's will !
Peace and progress,
Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian
http://www.PureChristians.org/
large Good News website
2007-07-30 17:09:56 · answer #10 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The use of relics and images by the Roman Catholic Church is common knowledge. Suffice it to spend but a few moments on the matter. About 601, Gregory the Great condemned the use of images in the strongest terms. He very highly commended the Bishop of Marseilles for breaking the images to pieces. Yet at the Council of Trent, A.D. 1545, a decree was pronounced, and is authoritative today, to the effect that "images were to be retained and due honor and veneration to be given them as representing those whose likenesses those images bear." Thomas Aquinas said, "The same reverence is to be paid to the image of Christ, as to Christ himself."
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God am a jealous God . . ." (Exodus 20:4, 5)
Life magazine, reporting the ceremonies in Ottawa, Canada, in June, 1947, at the Marian Congress, pointed out that a great procession of devout people knelt and kissed the foot of the giant statue of Mary "Until the paint wore off its toes." Pictures in L’Europeo, an Italian newspaper, of April 5, 1947, shows that devout Catholics in Naples continue to crawl at full length on their stomachs before the images of their Madonnas and lick the ground with their tongues on their way to the statues. Some years ago, the New York Department of Health was compelled to put a stop to this practice among the Italian people in the Bronx, because it resulted in so many cases of tetanus. Such idolatry!
2007-07-30 16:55:50 · answer #11 · answered by TG 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋