Catholicism:You can pray to Saints and Mary ?

Question

I got into a debate yesterday with a Baptist,who in my opinion seems to be very against the Catholic religion.Everything I said he said I was taking the bible out of context and misinterpreting everything,

It says in the bible Psalm 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!"

also,"See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10).So you can pray to saints and mary.The hail mary prayer is written in the bible plus most Catholics do pray directly to god.I have prayed to Mary ones or twice and I think in my whole life I prayed to a saints ones.

Answer 1

You can pray to Mary and the Saints.

Protestants always take an "either/or" approach, where Catholics take a "both/and" approach. We do not pray to Mary or God, we pray to both. Catholics go directly to God with our petitions and we go to Mary and the Saints with petitions as well. We ask them to pray for us to God. Ask your friend if he has ever asked someone to pray for him, this is intercession. He is asking another member of the Body of Christ to petition God on his behalf, we are doing nothing more or less by asking Mary and the Saints to pray for us. They are no longer here on earth, but they are still members of the Body of Christ with us and certainly capable of praying for us.

He may say the Bible forbids speaking to the dead in Deuteronomy 18:10–11, but this is a misunderstanding and a form of cherry picking verses to suit their position. In Deuteronomy, God indicates that one is not to conjure the dead for purposes of gaining information; one is to look to God’s prophets instead. Thus one is not to hold a seance. But anyone with an ounce of common sense can discern the vast qualitative difference between holding a seance to have the dead speak through you and a son humbly saying at his mother’s grave, "Mom, please pray to Jesus for me; I’m having a real problem right now." The difference between the two is the difference between night and day. One is an occult practice bent on getting secret information; the other is a humble request for a loved one to pray to God on one’s behalf.

There is NO place in the bible that forbids the intercession of Mary and the Saints. Mary and the Saints are not dead, but alive in Christ. They were true disciples of our Lord and certainly they enjoy the eternal life promised.

Your Baptist friend comes from a faith that has placed the Bible as the foundation of faith, yet this is a false doctrine. The Bible itself does not support this theory. He wants everything to be spelled out, chapter and verse in the Bible, or he says its unbiblical. This is not true. Point out that there is no mention of the Trinity in the Bible, no where is there any practice of mention of praying to the Holy Spirit, these are things we believe and do that are not specifically biblical, but can be supported by scripture. Praying to Mary and the Saints can be supported in the same way.

Protestants often site the verse "there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ." 1 Timothy 2:5. Christ is a unique mediator between man and God because he is the only person who is both God and man. He is the only bridge between the two, the only God-man. But that role as mediator is not compromised in the least by the fact that others intercede for us. Furthermore, Christ is a unique mediator between God and man because he is the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15, 12:24), just as Moses was the mediator (Greek mesitas) of the Old Covenant (Gal. 3:19–20).

The intercession of fellow Christians—which is what the saints in heaven are—also clearly does not interfere with Christ’s unique mediatorship because in the four verses immediately preceding 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul says that Christians should interceed: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something "good and pleasing to God," not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

Don't forget that everything Catholics do and believe can be supported in scripture. Nothing we do goes against scripture. Everything is not explicitly spelled, somethings are implied in scripture and must be looked at as a whole and part of God's plan of salvation which was laid out before the world was created.

Here are some sites to help you:

http://www.scripturecatholic.com/saints....

http://www.catholic.com/library/Praying_...

http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/saints.ht...

http://www.orthodox.net/articles/prayer-...

Answer 2

O Lord I am not worthy, This phrase is in the bible and when we pray for help from Mary and the Saints, we feel we are not worthy to approach God directly. there for we enlist the help of Mary and the Saints to intercede for us. I have asked for prayers from many many people what make you think that Our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints in good favor with God wouldn't oblige us with their petitions to Jesus for us. I'm just happy that I have these friends up there plugging for me. Your prayers would be so much more powerful when you have more people praying for the same thing for you. And don't say it's worship, You my fellow christians do the same thing when you ask for prayers from your fellow members of you own church. God Bless you.

Answer 3

Jesus the the man / God being is the intercessor between the two.

Is praying to Mary a dilution of who Jesus is, - or an accentuation of it?

God puts a really big deal on the work of Jesus, - and he's our priest that makes pleas on our behalf to the throne of God with His own blood.

Why pray to any faithful servant (Mary)? Is Jesus un-available or unwilling to hear us?

Answer 4

You do NOT pray to saints and mary,that is a major lie.That Psalm is NOT praying to saints and mary.Read Psalm 51,that is a Prayer psalm.Psalm 105 is a song.

http://www.whateverycatholicshouldknow.c...

You keep praying to everyone but Christ,you will never get saved that way.Satan has you in Religious bondage.

Read Romans 10:9-10

Answer 5

All authentic Marian devotion is centered on Christ.

Answer 6

Christians judging their own fellow christians?

Has any christian ever asked others to help them pray or to pray with them?

Catholics do not pray to mother mary or saints... it is like we ask their intercession.

James 5:16 (New International Version)

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

AREN'T MOTHER MARY, THE ANGELS AND SAINTS righteous enough to pray for us?

Answer 7

Please understand that Catholicism is not a religion; it is a denomination of Christianity. Praying to Saints or Mary is not acceptable to only those, who themselves dictate God to do what and to do what not. They have made out their doctrines that God likes certain things and he does not like certain things. They know all those things. They know better than God about his likes and dislikes.

God always work through is men. If he did not want to give glory to his saints, then he would have directly interacted with humans. But he always chose some holy men to work for him and it is our prime responsibility to give reverence to them. It is true that God listens to the prayers of his saints very fast. When we pray to a saint or Mary, they carry our prayers to God. They also are powerful to answer us since they are the chosen ones. God honors them and their prayers. But some Christian factions give no reverence to them by which, they are engrossing wrath upon them. God will surely not honor anyone who dishonors his saints. "He who receives you, receives me and he who receives me, receives him who sent me" These words by Jesus Christ tell us how much important it is to honor those who lived their lives only for God.

Answer 8

yes we pray to Mary and the saints to ask them to pray for us as well especially in times of need. it's just like asking your family and friends here on Earth to pray for you. We as our Heavenly Family in Heaven to pray for us as well.

Answer 9

Well I guess anyone CAN pray to the saints and Mary, but the Catholics don't.

They pray to Jesus, just like other Christians.  

Answer 10

Yes, the Baptist and other Bible Christians who are so ignorant and don't even seem to know that the Church was around hundreds of years before they compiled the Bible, always will try to tell you that you are misinterpreting the Bible. They are misinterpreting the Bible. Next time ask him how old his religion is, all he could say is five hundred years, because it was not made by Jesus. And if he says otherwise say we have a continuous line from Jesus to the current pope. I would hope, though, that you would pray to Mary and the Saints more. Mary is much more than Catholics realize.

1. She is the queen of Heaven and Earth (Revelations)

2. She is the Mother of your Spiritual Life (that's why protestants have no peace they hate the woman who can directly help them)

3. She is the greatest intercessor before God.

4. She is the mediatrix of all graces, so anything God gives to man, any grace, money, food etc., comes through the hands of Mary.

These are defined dogmas of the Catholic Church, yet almost all Catholics ignore them and that's why we have such problems.  

Answer 11

You know what?  I've stopped having this debate with non-Catholics.  After patiently explaining that "prayer" and "worship" are not synonymous, the Rosary prayers are not "vain", pointing out relevant Scriptures, etc., only to find that I've been banging my head against a brick wall of prejudice and knee-jerk anti-Catholicism that would insist the sky is green (and find a Scripture for it!) if a Catholic said it was blue,  I finally figured out something very important:

My personal prayer life is, emphatically, none of their business.  

If I want to pray a Rosary, or ask a saint to pray for me, or avail myself of the many wonderful prayers of the Church, or just get down on my knees and speak to God "from the heart", it's not something they have a right or invitation to critique.  Properly speaking, our personal habits of prayer are not "salvation issues". I would never think of grilling any other Christian on how they pray, with a Scriptural checklist in hand to see if they're doing it properly.  

I've found a wonderful little phrase that tends to work well in many such situations:  "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I don't agree.  Perhaps it's best we leave it at that."

There's a time for apologetics and defending the faith, and a time to draw the line.  This is where I've drawn it.