Is it blasphemous to pray to saints?

Question

Saintly people performed miracles from the grace of God not from any power that they initially hold.
The Church created saints as icons and idols that you can pray to if you get sick, if you are travelling somewhere or if you lost your pen cap and want to find it. They have erected statues and buildings in their name (not God's or Jesus'). They have created specific prayers to specific saints and promote their allegence. Does this not take away prayer and thought from God?
Throughout history God has demanded people to pray to Him not earthly figures or idols.
So are saints blasphemous?

Answer 1

Whenever the Bible mentions praying to or speaking with the dead, it is in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and divination - activities the Bible strongly condemns (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13).

God does not answer prayers based on who is praying. God answers prayers based on whether they are asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). There is absolutely no basis or need to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no basis for asking those who are in Heaven to pray for us. Only God can hear our prayers. Only God can answer our prayers. No one in Heaven has any greater access to God's throne that we do through prayer (Hebrews 4:16).



Recommended Resource: The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing Catholic Tradition and The Word of God by James McCarthy.

Answer 2

Are you just looking to count amens since you've pretty much answered yourself? Sounds like a rhetorical question to me.



Nevertheless ... sigh ... Granny's quick lesson in "saints for dummies" seems to be in order here. I will try to keep it simple.



It is blasphemous to WORSHIP saints. While prayer is a part of worship, the terms are not interchangable. Get a dictionary and look up "pray"; it means to make a request in a humble manner, entreat, implore. It does also mean to address God with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.



Saints are believed to be in heaven. Do you believe that to be in heaven is to be in the constant presence of the Lord God? You do, right?



Stay with me, now. If someone is praying (entreating, requesting) to a saint ... who is in heaven ... to AGREE WITH THEM IN PRAYER to God, where do you think that person's thought is focused? On Saint Whoever? If so, why not just stop at the dear saint instead of asking "pray for me to the Lord our God"?



You'll say that we don't need a middleman, that we can pray directly. That's absolutely true. AND WE DO. We also believe that saints can be intercessors for us. Unless you've never asked for or agreed in prayer with another believer, you are familiar with the concept. There's no conflict, and no blasphemy.



Oh, and about the buildings. Saints led exemplary Christian lives and preserved the faith down through the ages. All Christians, not just the liturgical denominations, owe them at the very least a debt of gratitude. Ever heard of posthumous honors? Buildings, public places, etc., named after exemplary people? We name our church buildings to honor the saints, and pray (to God, by the way) that we learn to follow their examples. That's the difference between us and those who name their universities and ministries and mega-churches for the living; we kinda like to wait until the saint's entire life can be evaluated before we hold him or her up as a hero of the faith.

Answer 3

I believe we can pray for those on the front lines like Franklin Graham or Joyce Meyers that are not saints but major leader heads that they remain safe and above reproach. I think the praying for the saints concept was those who are among us and doing the Lord's work. I think if the original disciples saw this practice today they would come into the room and say no no no pray just for their safety please petition Jesus/God for we were only small small fraction of what our Glorious Lord is.



Seems like a lot of fancy robes to me.

Answer 4

It is no more blasphemous to ask a saint in heaven to pray for you than asking a friend or family member to pray for you. St. James wrote "The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful (5: 16)"



It would be considered blasphemous to worship anyone other than God and this is why Catholics do not worship saints in heaven.

Answer 5

In my opinion, yes, they are. Were the people bad? No. Did they do good things? Yes. Are they in heaven now? Only God knows. But to clarify your statement, the Catholic church canonized the saints, not the church as a whole. We are to pray to God, the father, through God, the son, Jesus. He is our mediator with God. The ONLY one.

Answer 6

many human beings have seen catholicism to be blasphemous, the two in the previous and nevertheless immediately. in actuality, this is the very rationalization why many different sects of christianity began in the 1st place. the protestant reformation passed off because of the fact martin luther and his followers believed that catholicism grow to be blasphemous. in school they taught us that islam got here approximately because of the fact muhammed observed the the numerous issues that have been occurring in the catholic church and he thought they have been blasphemous and idolatrous and stuff, so he began islam. i do no longer understand if this is traditionally precise or no longer, however.

Answer 7

I figure, people pray through saints to God, they interceed for you. The other stuff, about churches named after them and prayers, are a way of reminding people of them, so we dont forget them. They are a way of saying- hey look, this guy was just a herder, carpenter, taxcollecter, person like me, and he overcame worldly desires to lead a good life and be a saint. Of course thats just my opinion!

Answer 8

There is no benefit praying to saints created by certain fellowships. They cannot answer your prayers.. All Christians themselves are saints made righteousness with God's righteousness in Christ Jesus. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. We are called by Jesus to pray to our Father in His name.

Answer 9

Yes. We are to pray ONLY to GOD, in Jesus's name.









FYI - any one who accepts Jesus as their Lord & Saviour is a saint. (We may not always behave like one - or at least, man's perception of a saint - but the bible says the faithful are His saints! Psalms, Acts, Romans, Philippians, etc)

Answer 10

Saints are the image of God himself. God has sent them on Earth to guide us into the spiritual path. Saint is one who takes your hand and handovers you into the hands of God to take care of us and he is the one who reminds you of your mistakes and helps in correcting the same.

Answer 11

Saints, according to the Bible, are either in their graves, like everyone else that has died, or may still be alive. They are God' s special people. God wants us to pray to Him, and to Jesus. It is probably only one church that has this belief about the "Saints", and if you look in the Bible, you will find this teaching about praying to Saints to be false.

Answer 12

The historic Christian practice of asking our departed brothers and sisters in Christ—the saints—for their intercession has come under attack in the last few hundred years. Though the practice dates to the earliest days of Christianity and is shared by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, the other Eastern Christians, and even some Anglicans—meaning that all-told it is shared by more than three quarters of the Christians on earth—it still comes under heavy attack from many within the Protestant movement that started in the sixteenth century.





Can They Hear Us?







One charge made against it is that the saints in heaven cannot even hear our prayers, making it useless to ask for their intercession. However, this is not true. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen, for example, in Revelation 5:8, where John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers. They are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us.



Some might try to argue that in this passage the prayers being offered were not addressed to the saints in heaven, but directly to God. Yet this argument would only strengthen the fact that those in heaven can hear our prayers, for then the saints would be aware of our prayers even when they are not directed to them!



In any event, it is clear from Revelation 5:8 that the saints in heaven do actively intercede for us. We are explicitly told by John that the incense they offer to God are the prayers of the saints. Prayers are not physical things and cannot be physically offered to God. Thus the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God mentally. In other words, they are interceding.

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2).



Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, we read: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).



And those in heaven who offer to God our prayers aren’t just angels, but humans as well. John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). The simple fact is, as this passage shows: The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.







You can read more here if you are truly interested.

http://www.catholic.com/library/praying_to_the_saints.asp

Answer 13

Pray to whoever you want to.



Your church will tell what its shibboleths are (Judges 12:6-->). Obey these unless you want the bullying preachers on your back.

Answer 14

Probably. See, the Saints were just people and they were sinners just like us. None of them could ever do what God does.

Answer 15

they've even gone so far as to dedicate whole churches to specific saints or holy people, so ya, its perfectly fine...besides, do think god would react "aw, sonofa...this guy's praying to stupid frances again and not me...must add him to my list of people to smite"



you'll be fine...besides, the christian idea of god dosnt seem to fit in with a selfish god that would want you to only praise him as long as you lived

Answer 16

Dear Friend (Son of thunder!)



You are quite right, Bible teaching is very clear on this, we should pray to God alone!



Luke 11

Jesus' Teaching on Prayer

1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

2He said to them, "When you pray, say:

" 'Father,[a]

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.[b]

3Give us each day our daily bread.

4Forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]

And lead us not into temptation.[d]' "



Jesus only ever prayed to God, not to saints, and also this was not meant to be a prayer that was recited over and over, but just a model prayer to demonstrate to his us how to pray.



Why not visit www.christiantruth.co.uk the answers to many of your questions are there



God Bless

Answer 17

Yes, it is blasphemous to pray to saints.



Saints are all who are saved, not just the ones said to be so by the Roman church.

Answer 18

Blasphemy is a word created by man that only shows how thin the skin is of their god. If their god is so great, then blasphemy would not even be a word.

Answer 19

The Scripture says "No man cometh to the Father but by Me"

(Jesus said that) That to me is the answer.

Answer 20

No, to each his beliefs.

For Muslims, it's blasphemous.

For Catholics, it's holy.

Answer 21

it seems pointless since theyre in their graves right now