What do I tell her?

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Vere

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A friend of mine keeps telling me that saints don’t exist

What do I tell her? 🤷
 
Vere said:
A friend of mine keeps telling me that saints don’t exist

What do I tell her? 🤷
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Could you give a little more background? Is she a Protestant who says that people who have died are either in heaven or hell and that we cannot/should not communicate with them? Or, is saying that the people Catholics venerate as saints did not exist at all?

If you can provide a little more information, you will probably get better answers. By the way, welcome to the forum; glad you’re here!

Paul
 
Vere said:
A friend of mine keeps telling me that saints don’t exist

What do I tell her? 🤷
Click to expand...
simply ask her when she was last in heaven and had eye witness proof that no one is there
 
If she is protestant and believe in christianity, and read the Holy Bible, then she need to read the many times that the words "saints"is mentionned in the Old Testaments and the Gospel of Our Dear Lord Jesus
 
Vere said:
A friend of mine keeps telling me that saints don’t exist

What do I tell her? 🤷
Click to expand...
I’d say, “Who fed you that load of ****?! Of course they exist.” And then remind her that she is part of the Communion of Saints too. All baptized Christians are.

But, I wouldn’t just say that… I’m more incorigible than most… like St. Jerome, being so isn’t going to stop me. It’s really not up to us. Say the prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She solves all kinds of madness.

When Mary gets God to give you a good answer, you do just as He says. Sometimes He says, “Trust me”. Other times He will give you a clear thought on how to approach it. But, if you want her to believe in the Communion of Saints. You will have to pray and fast, and give alms to a beggar man.
 
Ask her who told you that because she is wrong.
just say her Read a bible because she don’t know anything about saint’s.
 
Evangelical Protestants do not define a “saint” the same way that Catholics do.

To a Catholic, a “saint” is someone who has achieved perfection through the grace of Christ and is now in heaven. The Church is the only authority on this earth to proclaim that someone is in heaven.

To an evangelical Protestant, a saint is someone who is saved, or born again, or a Christian. Even if someone still sins, they are a saint by virtue of Christ’s blood, which covers all their sins. According to evangelical Protestants, all Christians are saints.

Also, to an evangelical Protestant, ALL Christians go to heaven immediately after death. There is no purgatory or purging time. Their sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven and they are seen as “perfect” because Christ “covers” their sins, therefore they are immediately admitted to heaven.

I’m not asking people on this thread for arguments pro or con. The important thing is that the OP realize that his friend is not defining “Saint” the same way he does. In her mind, his definition of “saint” does not exist. He needs to understand how SHE defines “saint.”

The real issue here is NOT whether saints exist or not. The real issue is, “Who has the Authority to interpret the Scriptures?” She believes that all Christians have authority to interpret Scripture, and she is accepting the interpretation of another person when it comes to saints. But a Catholic believes that only the Church has been given authority by Jesus Himself to interpret Scriptures. This is the issue that the OP should work on with his friend. Once that issue is resolved in her mind, then all the rest follows.
 
Cat said:
Evangelical Protestants do not define a “saint” the same way that Catholics do.
. . .

To an evangelical Protestant, a saint is someone who is saved, or born again, or a Christian. . . . According to evangelical Protestants, all Christians are saints.
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One could counter this assertion by then asking them: “If all believers are to be called saints then what name do we give to those extraordinary saints?”
 
Stylites said:
One could counter this assertion by then asking them: “If all believers are to be called saints then what name do we give to those extraordinary saints?”
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She would answer, “All men are sinners and have fallen short of the Glory of God.”

Many Protestants believe that we all approach God from the position that nothing we have done comes close to the Grace of God. It is like looking at the Earth from the Moon. No matter how magnificent a mountain may seem to us; from the Moon the difference is negligible. For many Protestants, it is the same. All humans, no matter what they have done, are lost sinners without God’s Grace.

I find great comfort that the Church has a different perspective but it is good to understand, even if we do not agree, the perspective of many Protestants.

With this perspective a saint is not what the person has done but what God has done. Saints are those called by God and saved by God
 
Cat said:
Evangelical Protestants do not define a “saint” the same way that Catholics do.

To a Catholic, a “saint” is someone who has achieved perfection through the grace of Christ and is now in heaven. The Church is the only authority on this earth to proclaim that someone is in heaven.

To an evangelical Protestant, a saint is someone who is saved, or born again, or a Christian. Even if someone still sins, they are a saint by virtue of Christ’s blood, which covers all their sins. According to evangelical Protestants, all Christians are saints.

Also, to an evangelical Protestant, ALL Christians go to heaven immediately after death. There is no purgatory or purging time. Their sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven and they are seen as “perfect” because Christ “covers” their sins, therefore they are immediately admitted to heaven.

I’m not asking people on this thread for arguments pro or con. The important thing is that the OP realize that his friend is not defining “Saint” the same way he does. In her mind, his definition of “saint” does not exist. He needs to understand how SHE defines “saint.”

The real issue here is NOT whether saints exist or not. The real issue is, “Who has the Authority to interpret the Scriptures?” She believes that all Christians have authority to interpret Scripture, and she is accepting the interpretation of another person when it comes to saints. But a Catholic believes that only the Church has been given authority by Jesus Himself to interpret Scriptures. This is the issue that the OP should work on with his friend. Once that issue is resolved in her mind, then all the rest follows.
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This is how I understand it also. It is a matter of accepting the authority of the Church.
 
Vere, thank you for posting this very interesting question.

And my thanks to all the replies, especially those from Cat and Kestrelrose. I thought I had a reply but after reading through these posts, I think it’s been well said. Very well said.

What a wonderful forum ! 🙂
 
well you can say… i have an idea!!!:newidea: we can meet up in two weeks. you collect all your proof that there are no saints… and ill collect all my proof that there are saints. whoever has the least proof buys lunch!!!
 
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