Gordon Watts, a servant of Christ, in the Protestant faith sector: To all my Catholic brothers and sisters in the Lord, GREETINGS: I'd appreciate your feedback on this theological analysis: A deeper analysis of the "praying to the saints" issue:
 
First, the Protestant view is best summed up in this Bible verse:
 
1 Timothy 2:5 (KJV)
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
I.e., we Protestants see Jesus as very CREATOR God (by, for example, John 1:1,3,14: "1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...3 All things were made by him [not all others as Jehovah's Witnesses say]; and without him was not any thing made that was made...14 And the Word was made flesh [e.g., Jesus, a human], and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
 
Thus, we see Jesus as the *only* way to God:
 
John 14:6 (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
 
A good argument, however, can be made for the CATHOLIC VIEW of "praying" to the saints:
 
1 Timothy 2:1 (KJV)
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (Gordon: This includes women too, FYI.)
See also Hebrews 12:1-3 (KJV)
    1    Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
    2    Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
    3    For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
 
Here, the cloud of witnesses could include the dead saints, who have gone on to Heaven, and this is insinuated in Revelations 6:9-11
    9    And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
    10    And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
    11    And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
 
The dead saints actually were NOT unconscious. (When they got to Heaven, who knows, maybe THEY were praying or interceding for us.)
 
My view is this: While it is OK for the dead to pray for us, I don't feel it is OK for us to try to ask them -or contact them: (This would be considered "witchcraft" and the like.)
 
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (New King James Version) (Please note that the NKJV uses more plain language, as a necromancer is one who calls up the dead.)
    10     There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
    11     or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
    12     For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
 
Gordon
 
Gordon Wayne Watts http://GordonWatts.com
BS, The Florida State University, Biological & Chemical Sciences,
double major with honors
AS, United Electronics Institute, Valedictorian

ALWAYS FAITHFUL - To God
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Gordon Wayne Watts
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"First, they [Nazis] came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me." (Martin Niemoller, given credit for a quotation in The Harper Religious and Inspirational Quotation Companion, ed. Margaret Pepper (New York: Harper &Row, 1989), 429 -as cited on page 44, note 17, of Religious Cleansing in the American Republic, by Keith A. Fornier, Copyright 1993, by Liberty, Life, and Family Publications.

(Actually, they may not have come for the Jews first, as it's far more likely they came for the prisoners, mentally handicapped, and other so-called "inferiors" first -as historians tell us -so they could get "practiced up;" But, they did come for them -due to the silence of their neighbors -and due, in part, to their own silence. So the general idea is correct: "Speak up now, or forever hold your peace." --Gordon)
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