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Fireinfolding

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I know this is an older post, however I just wanted to add in that images of both male and female were also mentioned In Duet 4:16.

Baal was considered the supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians and the bowing of the knee before his image is made mention of in Rom 11:4 also. There were females such as Ashtoreth and the goddess Diana who is mentioned in Acts 19:35 And we know of others such as Zeus and the rest of those gods (which all have appearances of mankind (two footed male and female types)

But it starts there

Duet 4:16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (and this followed up by what is reflected in Romans 1:23 beast, fowl, or creepy thing) see the next couple of verses there.

Whereas here it also starts

Romans 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

That would include the two footed male and females given the fourfooted is mentioned after, along with other things (those with wings or creepy things).

Even as Romans mentions bowing to an image of Baal also.

Romans 11:4... I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

I just wanted to add that in.
 
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Xalith

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Just wanted to add to that, even if Catholics aren't guilty of "worshipping" the Mary/Saint statues they have (it's a grey area), they do still pray to Mary and their saints, and absolutely nowhere in the Bible does it say that we should pray to anyone but God the Father.

Even Jesus Himself never once told us to pray to Him specifically, and He never instructed us to pray to the Holy Spirit... and the few sermons He did on prayer, He made it clear that we pray to the Father only, and gave us a model of a prayer we call the "Lord's Prayer", wherein He made it a point that all prayer should exalt and hallow the name of our Father, and that all prayer should be that His will be done in all things.

I really, really cannot see where praying to anybody but the Father is supported by Scripture. Now, I do believe that one can talk to Jesus in a prayer-like way (and very well that one should, for He is always with us), but it is of my personal belief that formal prayers and requests are reserved for the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Praying to Jesus is somewhat of a grey area, some say you can, some say you shouldn't...

But nowhere outside of Catholicism have I ever heard that one should pray to a normal human who had normal human parents. Outside of a simple blessing, Jesus not once ever placed any specific reverence on Mary or any of his apostles, in fact Paul makes it clear in his epistles that he's just a man himself, a man who struggles with sin just the same as we do, and nowhere in Acts do you see any apostle praying to Mary, or asking people to pray to them, and in their Epistles, they exhort that all power, everything comes from God.

If all power, and all of Creation came from God, is it not He alone that we should pray to?
 
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stage five

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That argument does not really make sense, "The bible doesn't say we should do it, therefore we shouldn't." That turns the bible into a book of commands for what we can do and any action not mentioned must be wrong. That's not feasible. It's like saying the bible does not mention playing guitars in Church or reading it electronically.


Did people not pray to Jesus all the time? They came up to Him, asking Him for things, which He gave. He didn't say go pray to one person of the Trinity.


Just as no where does scripture support praying only to God the Father. That makes no sense theologically speaking as far as I can tell.


Lots of non-Catholics pray to saints. The problem you have is that you do not understand prayer as petition and petition plus adoration. Anytime you ask someone for something, you are praying to them. You are asking them for something. Christians ask each other for prayers to God all the time. That itself is a prayer. When one asks of something from God, they are praying and adoring God - it becomes a form of worship. So when people "pray" to saints, they are simply asking for prayers to God.

When people pray to God, that are asking and worshiping. That is why you are confused.

This is part of the problem of the English language. The word "prayer" refers to both asking and asking and worship. Prayer in the sense of simply asking has lost use in English over time. People would say, "I pray you to..." and that means asking. However, with that lot sense, it becomes confusing for some people to understand "praying" to saints. It would be better if another word was used instead since "prayer" as asking only has lost usage and becomes confusing.
 
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Fireinfolding

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Paul asked others for prayers for him

Romans 15:30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me

That they would strive together with Paul in their prayers to God for him, even Jesus said,

Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
 
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Xalith

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There's a difference between praying FOR someone (which we are very much encouraged to do) and praying TO someone.

And obviously when I mention "prayer", I'm talking about spiritual requests/worship.

Praying to someone who has been dead for nearly 2,000 years seems a little weird to me. Okay, someone can use the argument "asking someone for something is technically prayer". Okay, fine.

Why are these people asking a woman who has left this world 2,000 years ago for anything? Do Catholics believe that Mary can answer said prayers? Do they believe she has the power to do anything at all? Just curious. I'm not attacking the religion, I am very curious as to their reasoning behind it.
 
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stage five

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There's a difference between praying FOR someone (which we are very much encouraged to do) and praying TO someone.

And obviously when I mention "prayer", I'm talking about spiritual requests/worship.

I am not sure why you responded to someone else and then addressed my post...
I would think "obviously" you do not seem to understand that the word "prayer" when used with saints is outdated. For you, that word means to ask and to worship. When speaking of "praying" to saints, the word only means "to ask." It's unfortunate that the outdated word continues to be used. However, that is pretty typical when it comes to religious things, the Lord's Prayer is very outdated in its wording.

Praying to someone who has been dead for nearly 2,000 years seems a little weird to me. Okay, someone can use the argument "asking someone for something is technically prayer". Okay, fine.

If you believe a saint is a Christian who is in Heaven, then they are part of your church. So you are asking, through the power of God, for a person to pray for you. Do you think the church in heaven is ignorant of what occurs on Earth?


No, people who pray to saints are asking people to pray for them to God. They don't believe that have any divine powers.
 
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Fireinfolding

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There's a difference between praying FOR someone (which we are very much encouraged to do) and praying TO someone.

Yes I do know this, I would have thought the scriptures I posted made that clear.
 
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Xalith

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Hmm.

Very well then, I suppose that makes sense.

Again, I was not trying to attack the RCC, I was more looking for clarity of the issue.

Thanks for being the first person to actually shine a bit of light on that in a way that makes sense.
 
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Tina W

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Interesting thread. About the books of the Bible, wasn't Luther also trying to remove the book of Revelations from the Bible at some point? Thank goodness that didn't get removed. The history of Christianity is very interesting.
 
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Xalith

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Interesting thread. About the books of the Bible, wasn't Luther also trying to remove the book of Revelations from the Bible at some point? Thank goodness that didn't get removed. The history of Christianity is very interesting.

The Book of Revelation is God's special gift unto Jesus, who also gave it to John. God wasn't about to allow it to get buried into obscurity; He had a special purpose for that book, so that all of the Elect would know how the End was to be.

There's no way God would have allowed anything to happen to that book.
 
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Tina W

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Does that bother anyone else?!


The same ones who decided all of the other books of the Bible that are accepted now were inspired by God, felt those books were inspired by God also. Those books were accepted as the word of God for 1500 years and were not removed till the 1800's.


So he's basically saying the Bible was wrong for 1500 years till those books were removed 200 years ago? I don't like the idea of removing books because of the simple fact of what is the difference between someone removing books 200 years ago and someone removing books they feel should not be there today? If someone tried that today to remove books they feel should not be there I think all Christians would have a fit. But that's what happened 200 years ago. So I don't like the idea either. Both Bibles are the word of God, I just don't like the idea of removing books that were put together in God's word. They also talked about removing the book of Revelations from the Bible but thank goodness that didn't happen. Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the Bible. I just looked it up. So no, I don't like the idea of removing books from the Bible.
 
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Tina W

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Yup, I agree.
 
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Job8

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No, people who pray to saints are asking people to pray for them to God. They don't believe that have any divine powers.
Really? The Catholic saint is one who has performed at least three miracles, and is exalted above all other Christians. If they are not treated as gods, perhaps as demi-gods.


This is not the Bible's definition of a saint. All those who have been saved by grace are saints, since they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
 
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stage five

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Really? The Catholic saint is one who has performed at least three miracles, and is exalted above all other Christians. If they are not treated as gods, perhaps as demi-gods.

No. You are judging hearts.

[qupte]This is not the Bible's definition of a saint. All those who have been saved by grace are saints, since they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.[/QUOTE]

That's not contradictory - it's the difference between a canonical or recognized saint and all the saints - those in Heaven.
 
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