I understand how you see praying to saints and I am not condemning you. However I was reading an answer earlier and it made me think. In Ecclesiastes we are told the dead have no more portion in anything done under the sun. If they heard your request for prayer and interceded with Jesus for you wouldn't they be playing a role in what happens on Earth?
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
Please stick to this verse and interpretations of it. I really am not asking for a history of praying to saints not 10 million verses about it. I just want an opinion on this verse and praying to saints.
2007-11-22 15:22:40 · 14 answers · asked by Bible warrior 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Justsyd - Exactly what I mean. Saints are in Heaven so doesn't this verse mean they no longer have any portion in anything under the sun.
2007-11-22 15:28:15 · update #1
JimPettis - I agree fully that those who have died in Christ are alive in Heaven. However this verse when read deals with people who are no longer alive on Earth.
2007-11-22 15:34:03 · update #2
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
This is true. They are within the Love and Will...PERFECT Will of God. They will do as He says, no matter what it is. They are attentive to Him. All that they have been on this Earth is annihilated so that they CAN be in perfect union with Him.
All is done with great joy.
edit: personally, I have known for a long time now that it has never been about man seeking God, but God reaching down to man.
2007-11-22 15:44:02 · answer #1 · answered by Shinigami 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, if it were true that the saints were actively alive in heaven and they interceded for those who still are mortal bound, then this Scripture would be a lie -- and that, of course, would make all Scripture a lie. So, either this verse is the truthful Word of God, who cannot lie, OR the myths that men have invented that declare the saints to be alive in heaven is the truth, and they are mutually exclusive -- they both cannot be the truth. But then, if the later is true, what god would they be in heaven with, because the God of the Bible would have been proven false?
2007-11-23 02:35:06 · answer #2 · answered by BC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, we pray to the Saints as they we are asking them to intercede for us before our prayers reach Christ in heaven, we Catholics still see that Christ is the only meditator between god and man.
I was asking a few friends about this and, I'm not really a bible reader, but a friend came up with an interesting bible quote from St. Paul: ``I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God...''Rom. 15:30...
2007-11-22 23:43:14 · answer #3 · answered by evi 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would have to research the context of that verse.
2 Maccabees 15:11-16, the saints pray for the Jews on earth
also look at Jeremiah 15:1.
the saints all alive and well in heaven and pray in Revelation 5:1, and 8:3,4.
in Hebrews 12:1, the saints cheer for us on earth.
2 Cor. 1:11, St. Pual urges intercession.
2007-11-22 23:28:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Why do people who say that they believe in Jesus keep quoting the OLD TESTAMENT???? If you believe the Old Testament than you are JEWISH not Christian. There is a reason that it's called the OLD and the NEW Testament. We who fallow Jesus should fallow the NEW Testament and not worry about the OLD.
AS for Catholics praying to saints I dare anyone here to say they have never asked someone to intercede for them with God??? You have never asked someone else to pray for you??? What's that??? Asking someone else to intercede for you with God!!! That's all that Catholics are doing when they pray to the saints. They are not worshiping them or praising them they are asking them to intercede for them. And even the OLD testament said to pray to Abraham and Moses to intercede for you!!!
2007-11-22 23:57:55 · answer #5 · answered by Kathryn R 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The answer is pretty simple. The "saints" are considered to be alive, not dead. Indeed, more alive than us, for they have obtained eternal life. They have been resurrected and are no longer dead.
Or, so the Roman Catholics (and many other sects) believe.
Jim, http://www.jimpettis. com/wheel/
2007-11-22 23:32:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a catholic, but the verse you should really focus on is in either 1st or 2nd Timothy where it says that Jesus Christ is our only mediator. If that is the case, then no saint, no matter how holy a life they lived, could possibly intercede with the Father on our behalf. It is a vain effort and makes a mockery of what Jesus Christ exists to do.
2007-11-22 23:29:59 · answer #7 · answered by Ryan H 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
the dead on earth is the spiritually dead and as it is old testament it may refer to abram,moses and others of faith that died but may not have been in heaven,remeber jesus opened the gates of heaven,he descended to paradise and ascended on the third day,he had preached to those dead. provide the first verse and verse after aswell, it is important to establish context,whom the author was writing to,the audience writing for etc...........
2007-11-22 23:41:15 · answer #8 · answered by fenian1916 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do you care? The thing that makes us Christians aren't the little things. It's Jesus Christ - and we all have that. If you don't have more important things to do than worrying about my religious customs than perhaps you need to look more closely on your own life.
2007-11-23 01:25:38 · answer #9 · answered by The Pope 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Saints are in heaven, so they are excluded from being "under the sun," which means, on earth.
http://members.aol.com/johnprh/only6.html
2007-11-22 23:26:53 · answer #10 · answered by Justsyd 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋