why do catholics change the name of 'god' and 'idol', to 'saint' and 'representation' to get around the rule

Question

differences between a god and a saint, other than they were once alive? do you pray to saints?

god:
god - any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force
....same as a saint, surely? saint christopher is the 'patron saint' of travel, how is the meaning different from the 'god' of travel?


idol:
An image used as an object of worship

....different from a cross, or an image of Jesus in what way?

so minor gods, but gods none the less?

Answer 1

We do not look at Saints the same way we look at God, we do look at their lives for inspiration in our own paths, a lot of saints did great things for their faith, their life stories help us when we are struggling.

Answer 2

The catholic church has been lying to people for years.

imacatholic2 stated that everyone who goes to heaven is a saint. That comment is true. However, what he's not telling is, the catholic church believes that unless the vatican declares a person to be a saint because of some special deed they perform while on earth, they are not considered to be a saint. In the eyes of the vatican, unless you are catholic, you can never be a saint.

And for what it's worth, when the Bible refers to a little "g" god, it is speaking about demons and devils. Why, because the Bible reads:

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:" Isaiah 45:5

Answer 3

I think the difference is that Catholics are worshipping God, through the saint, not the Saint as an alternate to God.

People don't worship a cross, thy worship God and use the cross as a symbol of God (through Jesus).

Idoltary is, I think, more the worship of things like money for money's sake.

In any regard, its tough to bring biblical era metaphors into mordern times. I find the Old Terstament preoccupation with bad people worshipping idols a little hard to follow. Go ahead, murder an entire village with God's blessing but when you're done don't you dare melt the gold you find into the shape of a cow and worship it. Very weird.

Answer 4

Catholics believe the Saints are in heaven and petition God on their behalf. Likewise, they believe they can communicate with the Saints and ask for intercession from God and Jesus.

This does not put the Saints on a level with God. It is simply a belief that you can communicate with God through the Saints because these Saints reside with God awaiting the end-time when Jesus will return and wipe out evil.

I only hope you are sincerely trying to understand and obtain a deeper relationship with God and not simply taking an opportunity to ridicule the faith of a Christian denomination.

Answer 5

Are you suggesting that no church should have a cross or a crucifix?? That affects a lot more churches than just the Catholic one. Also, some churches besides the Catholic also revere the saints. We pray to follow the example set by the saints. I think Catholics pray to the saints to ask them to pray for them. I also think they revere them as in respect but not worship. At least that's what I remember from my catechism class, and no, I'm not Catholic.

Answer 6

You can't possibly be as obtuse about this as you seem; I'm guessing that you are antagonistic to Catholicism for some reason. So let's take this out of the realm of semantics and boil it down.

If all of the statues, medals, and icons of canonized saints disappeared tomorrow, the Catholic faith would not change. We worship God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Period.

If you still have a problem with how we practice our faith, fine, but do give over this "worship the saints" hook upon which to hang your objections.

Answer 7

We don't change any of these names of their definitions to get around any sort of rule.

God is GOD, the Creator, the Savior, the Counselor -- the I AM, the Almighty, the Ruler, the King.

Saints are just people who follow God. They are not gods and goddesses. They don't have any power unto themselves. We don't worship them.

Pray means "ask." You may not read a lot of Shakespeare, but there are often statements like, "Pray Nurse, where is my daughter? Bring her to me." (Romeo & Juliet)

Pray does NOT mean worship. You can worship while in prayer, but prayer is mostly asking -- asking for help, asking for forgiveness, asking for guidance.

When we pray to saints, we are asking them to pray with us and for us about something that is weighing on us. We don't expect saints to do a miracle or something like that -- only to pray for us, same as we'd ask you to pray for us.

Your definition of God as a supernatural being, worshiped as controlling...who is the personification is NOT the same as our definition of saint. St. Christopher is NOT the "god" of travel -- he has no power to control anything. But people pray to St. Christopher to ask him to pray for them (and actually, a lot of people think that St. Christopher is a myth and there was no such Christian saint ever).

An idol is a man-made "god" that is an object of worship. People who worship idols believe that if you smash the object, their "god" leaves them.

Catholics do not use crosses or icons of Jesus or anything else in this way. Our objects are only visual reminders that we need to live a Christ-like life of self-sacrifice and prayer. If you smash our cross or whatever, we would be shocked and saddened by your violent reaction, but we wouldn't think that God left us. We don't NEED any of these objects; we just find them helpful in keeping our hearts & minds focused on heavenly things. We don't WORSHIP the cross or the icon or whatever-- they're just forms of sacred art. We WORSHIP God alone.

Answer 8

I'm not Catholic, so I can't answer the saint question as I don't really understand that myself. However, I do wear a cross and I don't consider it an idol. I wear it as a representation of my faith, I don't pray to it, I don't clutch it when I pray, and I don't need it to feel like I'm a Christian. It's simply an identifying symbol of my faith. If I prayed to my cross it would be an idol, but I pray to God, so my cross is just a symbol.

Answer 9

Well, the god of travel, roads and bridges demands the blood of innocent travelers. Saints point the way to God. A humble person realizes their smallness. God understands this. Saints are more like friends who give good advice and will help you along in mending your relationship with God. Anyone who makes it into something more than that does not understand that we are all alive in Christ. Living and dead. And some more than others.

In the same way that one keeps pictures of their loved ones as a reminder of them, so people are allowed to keep crucifixes, pictures and other little images. It reminds us that Christ, the Blessed Mother and all the angels and saints are a part of our life, a part of our family.

Answer 10

God is always the main subject, you can't compare to a ¡¡¡¡Saint which is mortal human being!!!!, Those are closer to God because of the good deeds and having an exemplary life, etc, but they are never as God, they DON'T CONCEDE MIRACLES, ONLY GOD DOES, people just admire them and have their representation as a paint or something... maybe you are referring to His Holy Spirit... you should read closer what you're talking about, you could offense a lot of people, besides you're a saying something false, we don't care about objects or worship, as you said they're just representation...as God said: lift a stone and i´ll be there. why we have nice sculptures on Church? same as you have pictures of you and your family in your house, it's a pic, it isn't you or your soul or whatever