Praying to Saints

[isshinwhat]

What about the idea of encouraging a relationship with st jude?

I would encourage all members of the Body of Christ to develop a relationship with eachother through proper understanding.

What about the idea of turning to st jude instead of turning to Christ?

Nowhere in the prayer was it even insinuated that one was to turn to St. Jude to the exclusion of Christ. Any prayer to a Saint is made in addition to a personal petition to Christ. Asking any member of the Body of Christ for their prayers is not ignoring Christ.

Why nurture a relationship with jude?

Why are any of us here nurturing our relationships? To help each other grow in love of Christ. Those who are weak are pulled up by those who are stronger in the faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have access to God, would you ever dream of praying to me? Of course not! Nor would I want you to. The idea of praying to jude is as ludicrous. If that is what your faith teaches, then it is a bad teaching.

In post #65 I did just that. I made an earnest request that you turn your prayers to the Father that I would be aided in dealing with a potentially angry fiancee. (She wasn't, by the way, so thank you all).

And lambslove, please refrain from calling any aspect of a Christian denomination's belief structure "ludicrous" or any of their teachings "bad." That is against the Forum's rules, and does not foster the growth and understanding we strive for here.

Thank you, and God Bless,

Neal

 

[ZiSunka]

I'm sorry, but whenever I see someone try to weaken the deity of Christ by elevating Mary and the saints to the role of intercessor, it makes me angry.

They are just people and it ticks me off that some folks go around trying to get people's faith away from Christ and onto mere humans, living or dead. I think that it is a ludicrous idea, and a dangerous one. This is not even a forum for catholics. If you want to foster your belief system without making us angry, go back to your own forum and leave us to discuss our beliefs without an argument from you.

If understanding is what you are really striving for, then you should try to understand us as you expect us to do for you. All you've done here is tell us why we are "wrong," without even thinking for a minute that sometimes we don't want catholics to be part of the discussion.

You can dish it, but you can't take it.

By the way, you cannot have a relationship with a dead person.

 

[Chloe]

Originally posted by isshinwhat
Then, Chloe, you've got a problem. The twenty-four elders are in Heaven at the foot of the Lamb of God. If they are offering the prayers of the saints on earth to the Lamb from their bowls, then you have saints in Heaven offering the prayers of the saints on earth to Christ. Sounds very Catholic to me.



It was in the first Christian Canon drawn up in the mid 380's, and was in the Septuagint for hundreds of years before that, so I'll keep it in my Bible as authoritative. At the very least, it shows that the basis for the Catholic thought was accepted within Judaism long before Christ was born, and therefore wasn't a "new invention of the Pagan Roman Church after Constantine," as some assert.

God Bless,

Neal

In Revelation 8, there is no mention of the 24 elders offering up anything, and in Rev 5:8, it does not mention anything about our prayers being directed to the elders.  And you also have a major problem, you would only be able to have 24 saints whom you could pray to, if that indeed was the context of the passage, which it is not.  Again, the bible does not tell us that we are to ask or pray to anyone in heaven, other than God.  I am well aware what "pray" means, and it makes no difference at all, as the Bible does not teach communication of any sort to those who are in God's presence.

 

[Auntie]

I am closing this thread. There seems to be more arguing here than anything else. Let's try and respect each others beliefs, whether we agree or not.