Why do Catholics pray to the dead?

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for there souls to be cleansed on the other side.
asking the doctor to make their wounds and breaks/fractures, healthy and well again.
is being dead of the body, being dead of the spirit?
 
Jesus spoke to the dead didn’t he?
the dead who die in Christ are not dead.but alive.
the next life isn’t full of dead people.
 
IGotQuestions said:
When it is forbidden in the Bible?
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It is not forbidden. I have to guess, since you do not document your unfounded charge, that you refer to Deuteronomy 18:11 and to Samuel consulting with a witch. Neither of these deal with prayers to saints but his does so read it.

Praying to the Saints
No Contact with the dead"
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Sometimes Fundamentalists object to asking our fellow Christians in heaven to pray for us by declaring that God has forbidden contact with the dead in passages such as Deuteronomy 18:10–11. In fact, he has not, because he at times has given it—for example, when he had Moses and Elijah appear with Christ to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:3). What God has forbidden is necromantic practice of conjuring up spirits. “There shall not be found among you any one who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. . . . For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed” (Deut. 18:10–15).
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God thus 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.
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Matthew 22:

—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.
 
Death only means departure from this material world…Not absolute annihilation
 
If you refer to praying for a saint’s intercession, they are in Heaven with GOD.

Do some people not ask a recently deceased grandparent to watch over them? aren’t they dead, too?

Now if you are referring to things like a seance…that is what is forbidden.
 
That’s an excellent idea. Why keep posting questions based on anti-Catholic rhetoric, seeking answers from hundreds of random strangers, when there’s plenty of good reading material to learn from? That’s the way I leaned about Judaism, Buddhism, etc. Learning is more interesting and valuable than posting!
 
captainrick said:
That’s an excellent idea. Why keep posting questions based on anti-Catholic rhetoric, seeking answers from hundreds of random strangers, when there’s plenty of good reading material to learn from? That’s the way I leaned about Judaism, Buddhism, etc. Learning is more interesting and valuable than posting!
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Asking questions is how I came to revert back to the Catholic Church. Referrals to good reading material is what CAF is all about.
 
Because we believe they are concerned about our spiritual well-being and pray for us.

Jesus said that He ever lives to make intercession for us; so when the Saints get to heaven, would it be unrealistic to believe they begin leading the same life as they see that Christ is now leading? And that is, praying for the people still living on earth.

And as others have said, they are not dead, but fully alive with Christ in heaven.

But thanks for asking! It brings understanding, and with understanding comes acceptance, and with acceptance comes fellowship with each other, in our mutual Lord.
 
We pray for the salvation of the souls of those that have left us on Earth, and we pray for them to be forgiven of all their sins and offenses. We also do pray for the souls in Purgatory so that they too may be cleansed and forgiven of all their sins so they can get into Heaven.

If someone dies in a state of grace, then they have not died because they have eternal life with God in heaven, something we should all be striving for! 👍
 
When I was converting, I struggled with the concept of “praying” to Saints or to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. I think the biggest reasons was that, to me, prayer is a form of worship.

So I changed the word. I “talk” to the Saints and the Holy Souls. I ask them for their prayers, the same as I might ask another Christian here on earth to pray for me.

Now the word “prayer” doesn’t bother me so much because I know I’m not worshiping the Saints or the Holy Souls or Our Lady. I worship God alone. But it’s nice to know that there’s this entire community of Christians who will pray for us when we need help.
 
What is forbidden?
9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
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So, could you explain exactly what you think Catholics do that falls under the category of “consulting the dead”?
 
IGotQuestions said:
When it is forbidden in the Bible?
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Do you really want the answers to all of these common misconceptions,
or are you thinking you are somehow pointing out errors to us?

Are these things that you ask about taught in your denomination?
If so, then they are very much mistaken about what Catholics believe.
I’m hoping once you learn the truth, you will set about to correct some of these errors.
Peace.
 
IGotQuestions said:
When it is forbidden in the Bible?
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I read the Obituaries and at the end there are usually Memorials. Now I KNOW there not all written by Catholics. SOOOO I often wonder if those who do write them think they are writing to the “Dead??? Do they think the “dead” can read them’. Almost all are written to the person who has died, Example, “Johnny, you have been gone for 10 years but we love you and miss you as much as we did the day you left us.” Read for yourself and see! If they are really " dead” whats the use? Waste of money. Catholics, pray to or “talk” to those who have gone on ahead of us without having to pay big bucks to the newspaper. I think it is a God given desire to stay close to those we love that have died, even if we don’t believe the way Catholics do. If they are in Purgatory, our prays help them. The Sacred Scriptures, (the part that Luther left out) says it is a Holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead. And that’s what we do ! Not to ask for forgiveness of their sins, they have to take care of that by repentance before they die, but to help atone for them. Repair the damage done by them. I would suggest that before you criticize the Catholic Church, try to understand her beliefs. It’s not really fair to criticize something you don’t understand. God Bless, Memaw
 
I believe this OP might be involved with the GotQuestions.org anti-Catholic Protestant site.

So let’s make sure to give him/her solid answers to help teach him/her the full Truth.

God Bless
 
phil19034 said:
I believe this OP might be involved with the GotQuestions.org anti-Catholic Protestant site.

So let’s make sure to give him/her solid answers to help teach him/her the full Truth.

God Bless
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:eek:
I was afraid of that.
I agree, that solid answers and TRUTH is best, absolutely.
But you have to realize that some people simply persist in keeping their eyes and ears closed. 🤷
I pray that they will hear and accept the truth.
 
Memaw said:
I read the Obituaries and at the end there are usually Memorials. Now I KNOW there not all written by Catholics. SOOOO I often wonder if those who do write them think they are writing to the “Dead??? Do they think the “dead” can read them’. Almost all are written to the person who has died, Example, “Johnny, you have been gone for 10 years but we love you and miss you as much as we did the day you left us.” Read for yourself and see! If they are really " dead” whats the use? Waste of money. Catholics, pray to or “talk” to those who have gone on ahead of us without having to pay big bucks to the newspaper. I think it is a God given desire to stay close to those we love that have died, even if we don’t believe the way Catholics do. If they are in Purgatory, our prays help them. The Sacred Scriptures, (the part that Luther left out) says it is a Holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead. And that’s what we do ! Not to ask for forgiveness of their sins, they have to take care of that by repentance before they die, but to help atone for them. Repair the damage done by them. I would suggest that before you criticize the Catholic Church, try to understand her beliefs. It’s not really fair to criticize something you don’t understand. God Bless, Memaw
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“Regarding the adversaries’ quoting the Fathers about the offering for the dead, we know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not ban.”
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Apology of the Augsburg Confession

Neither Luther nor Lutheranism prohibits prayer for the dead.

Jon
 
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