Praying to Saints? - Praying to those who are already in Heaven?

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The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God.

The Bible nowhere encourages or even MENTIONS believers asking individuals in Heaven for their prayers.

Some believe that those who are glorified in Heaven have MORE "direct access" to God than we do.

Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God on our behalf, it is MORE effective than us praying to God directly.

This concept is blatantly un-Biblical.

Hebrews 4:16
tells us that we, believers here on earth, can "approach the throne of grace with confidence."

My dear sisters and brothers, what is your opinion/view on this?

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amariselle

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The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God.

The Bible nowhere encourages or even MENTIONS believers asking individuals in Heaven for their prayers.

Some believe that those who are glorified in Heaven have MORE "direct access" to God than we do.

Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God on our behalf, it is MORE effective than us praying to God directly.

This concept is blatantly un-Biblical.

Hebrews 4:16
tells us that we, believers here on earth, can "approach the throne of grace with confidence."

My dear sisters and brothers, what is your opinion/view on this?

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I completely agree with you. We have one Mediator and High Priest Who always makes intercession for us, Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

If praying directly to God is not good enough, why should praying to those who have left this life be good enough? Is God somehow unable to hear or answer our prayers unless we pray to the saints?

Not remotely Biblical, and quite frankly, perhaps even heretical to suggest that mere human beings who have left this life can hear our prayers, and that we can and even must pray to them for God to hear us.

Not even angels will accept such things from mankind. Our prayers should be to God and God alone.
 
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HereIStand

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It is difficult to support from Scripture, and I don't practice it. I've heard though from an Anglo-Catholic that prayer requests are made to the saints, rather than direct prayer to the saints. And when the Roman Catholic litany of saints prayer is said, they pray, "ST. MICHAEL, pray for us."
 
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Is God somehow unable to hear or answer our prayers unless we pray to the saints? Not remotely Biblical, and quite frankly, perhaps even heretical to suggest that mere human beings who have left this life can hear our prayers, and that we can and even must pray to them for God to hear us.

My dear sister, I completely agree with you. Asking saints to intercede for us to God is found NOWHERE in the 66 books of the Bible
 
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It is difficult to support from Scripture, they pray, "ST. MICHAEL, pray for us."

My dear friend, praying to saints....or asking saints to pray FOR us is NOT found anywhere in the 66 books of Scripture.

Didn't mean to yell at you....I just wanted to emphasize certain words
 
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Korean-American Christian

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1 John 2:1, NIV My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Jesus is Our Intercessor
Romans 8:34b, ESV Christ Jesus… is at the right hand of God…. interceding for us.

Hebrews 7:24-25, NIV but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Hhim, because He always lives to intercede for them.
 
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Friend-of-Jesus

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The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God.

The Bible nowhere encourages or even MENTIONS believers asking individuals in Heaven for their prayers.

Some believe that those who are glorified in Heaven have MORE "direct access" to God than we do.

Therefore, if a saint delivers a prayer to God on our behalf, it is MORE effective than us praying to God directly.

This concept is blatantly un-Biblical.

Hebrews 4:16
tells us that we, believers here on earth, can "approach the throne of grace with confidence."

My dear sisters and brothers, what is your opinion/view on this?

View attachment 204090

Declaring a sinful human being "saint" by his or her merit is idolatry. All believers are saints by the blood of Jesus only.

Worshiping "saints" or praying to them is idolatry. Only God is worthy of worship and prayer.
 
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Korean-American Christian

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Romans 8:26-27
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
 
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HereIStand

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My dear friend, praying to saints....or asking saints to pray FOR us is NOT found anywhere in the 66 books of Scripture.

Didn't mean to yell at you....I just wanted to emphasize certain words
It is a stretch, I agree. What do you think though of the phrase, "communion of the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16)? This includes departed saints. Right?
 
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Declaring a sinful human being "saint" by his or her merit is idolatry. All believers are saints by the blood of Jesus only. Worshiping "saints" or praying to them is idolatry. Only God is worthy of worship and prayer.

Amen and amen!!

Amen to that, my dear brother.

EVERY follower of Jesus Christ is a saint
 
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It is a stretch, I agree. What do you think though of the phrase, "communion of the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16)? This includes departed saints. Right?

My dear friend, unfortunately this does NOT include departed saints.

(1) In 1 Corintians 10:16, body of Christ actually literally indicates Jesus Christ's physical body, which was broken for us - to save us from sin and the penalty of eternal suffering in Hell.
(2) EVERY follower of Jesus Christ is a saint
 
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Nowhere in the Bible does it say taking heroin is bad.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
 
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So from the AD 500 to 1500 or so there was for various reasons, a tragic decline in the knowledge of God.

Knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ became restricted to monasteries. People weren’t being taught well.

People felt that they simply couldn’t approach Jesus Christ. They didn't know that Jesus Christ is our only Intercessor and Mediator.

This is the reason that people began to ask "the saints" to intercede for them.

The simple fact is that we DO NOT need mediators between us and Jesus Christ
 
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1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Thanks for cherry picking and proving my point.
 
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sethrak

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Greetings, The Christian Bible~The New Testament was produced by the Christian Church. This is important when looking for instructions there. We have from the start, even before Christ came to us~and we to Him~ asked each other to pray for us.

We today do this, I am asked and I ask it of others, I/we see it done here on this site.

To think that a person who we might ask to pray for us, to intercede, in prayer to our Lord while they are here on earth and not once they are with our Lord, seems silly, for if God will give heed to them at any time surly it would be then also~ maybe more so. ~just a moment or so~if you still think it foolish or unChristian~I

seth
 
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HereIStand

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My dear friend, unfortunately this does NOT include departed saints.

(1) In 1 Corintians 10:16, body of Christ actually literally indicates Jesus Christ's physical body, which was broken for us - to save us from sin and the penalty of eternal suffering in Hell.
(2) EVERY follower of Jesus Christ is a saint
I don't think we can have communication with departed saints. Yet if every follower of Jesus Christ is a saint, then this includes departed saints, who are still living and thus part of the church universal. Christ affirmed this Himself, "And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err" (Mark 12:26-27).
 
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Christians are convinced that Jesus shows favor to requests that "saints" ask of Him.

They believe that their prayers are most effective when they ask saints to intercede for them.
 
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