praying to saints?

Question

Prayer is a "request". When we pray to those who have gone to heaven ahead of us, we are making a "request" of them. And what is that request? It is that THEY pray for US. Protestants do it all the time, but they limit themselves to making this request only of people still on earth. In this, the protestant view of the Church is very narrow. You see, Romans 8: 38-39 says: "neither death nor life... ...neither the present nor the future.. ..neither height nor depth, nor anything else.. ..will be able to separate us". The Family of God transcends death. We ALL LIVE IN CHRIST.

Hebrews 12: 22-24 says that as we approach God, Jesus and the angels, we also approach "the spirits of righteous men made perfect". In other words, THE SAINTS

BUT, can They Hear Us? One charge against us is that the saints in heaven cannot even hear our prayers, making it useless to ask for their intercession. However, this is not true. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. For example, in Revelation 5:8, John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers. They are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us.


I invite people to read this information:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp

Oh, the intercession of fellow Christians—which is what the saints in heaven are—also clearly does not interfere with Christ’s unique mediatorship because in the four verses immediately preceding 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul says that Christians should interceed: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something "good and pleasing to God," not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

Comments?
Questions?
Insults?

Answer 1

I have seen some comments about prayer to the Blessed Virgin, such as "when did Jesus tell us to pray to Mary", and other such simplistic observations. I wish to ask some questions to shed some light on your reasoning:
1. When did Jesus tell the Apostles to write the New Testament? He didn't, according to the Bible.
2. Where is the word "Trinity" in the scriptures? It isn't in the Bible.

My point is that there are Biblical "principals" on which Christian teachings are based. Not everything is “specifically” stated in black and white in the Scriptures. For example, the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible but most Christians believe in the Trinity.

So, what about prayer to Mary and the saints in heaven?

Those in heaven pray with us and for us, as in the book of Revelation when John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8).

A prayer is a request. When we pray to Mary and the saints in heaven, we are asking them to pray for us, the same way non-Catholic Christians ask their friends or family to pray for them.

Question: When you ask your friends or family to pray for you, does that take away from Jesus or his role as mediator? Of course not, and neither does praying to our brother and sisters in heaven. Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1–4). In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16). The family of God transcends death: You are still a Christian even when you are in heaven, and you can still pray for your brothers and sisters when you are there.

Answer 2

You have the right to pray to who ever you want to. A lot of times it is easier to pray to the spirit of someone, you feel is real close to God, a spirit of whom you can relate well to. Our good and very moral God, would have no problem with any means of reaching him, even if through other people or spirits. I am a believer in reincarnation, and am not a traditionalist. So you might not respect my answer, as much as one, who believe more exactly as you do.

Answer 3

Did you have a question then?

Catholicism teaches a false gospel of works that leads to eternal hell (Galatians 1).

Furthermore, prayer in the Bible was never directed at people. It was always directed to God. Nice try, though.

Answer 4

please tell me what Ephesians 9:5 means...." For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."

If this verse means that people who die do not go to heaven how can we pray to the saints if they are not in heaven anyway. It is useless.

Answer 5

Do you have a question, or would you like me to round up St Boniface and Sentinel so all you pseudo cyber priests can pose together for a moment?

Don't forget to bring your large slabs of cut and paste text from the Catholic Encyclopedia and Wikipedia with you.

Dominus vobiscum.

Answer 6

Take off you fish god hats and robes and throw away your pagan holidays and traditions of men and read the bible. God loves you man. Ex catholic

Answer 7

I pray to Mary all the time. She is a powerful intercessor