Why you pray to saints?

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Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
 
I’m sure this question has been asked before. CAF has an article about prays to the saints.
 
Because some saints understand my problems better than my friends here on earth do so I ask them to pray for me. I’m thinking particularly of patron saints like Dymphna (mental health).
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
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Why do you pray to people?

Pray (verb): to ask, beg, plead, or petition.

When you ask people a question or ask them to do something for you, you are praying to them. So, when you ask a friend or family member to pray for you, you are praying to them.

This is what we are doing when we pray to the Saints. We are asking them to pray to God for us.

James 5:16
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

And who among men are more righteous than the Saints in heaven? (with the exception of Christ)
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints?
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For the same reason we ask each other to pray for (intercede) us.
should not the dead in peace?
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Those who are dead in Christ are not dead. Listen to Jesus own words John 11…
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
If you believe Jesus…then how can you ask about praying to the dead??
In addition - those who are in Christ ARE at peace - praying for us is no disturbance to that Godly peace.

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
For the same reason we ask each other to pray for (intercede) us.

Those who are dead in Christ are not dead. Listen to Jesus own words John 11…
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
If you believe Jesus…then how can you ask about praying to the dead??
In addition - those who are in Christ ARE at peace - praying for us is no disturbance to that Godly peace.

Peace
James
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👍 😃
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
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They are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, who are now enjoying the great happiness of seeing God. Since we are family, they want to intercede for us. They have given us good example (heroic) while on earth.
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
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Because they are closer to God than people here and are now free of sin that plagues us poor humans on earth.

Besides, I am sure you believe that you will be alive in heaven after you die? So the Saints are alive in heaven to intercede for us.
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
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I ask for the intercession of the saints because I do not see them as separated from the Christian community by death. They were part of the Christian community in life and when they die, remain so. I see it as the same as asking someone on earth to pray for you. I am sure you do that, and do it for others as do I. What is the difference?

If they are alive in Christ they can still pray for others. The book of Revelation says so. It describes a vision of the saints being before God and prayers being offered. Why would we think those who are alive in Christ no longer pray or petition God for others? They are also in heaven and as such, are closer to God. Why would you not ask someone who was close to God to pray for you? We ask those on earth we believe are close to God to do the same.

We also believe God has a purpose for those in heaven. God gives them a role and who is to say that role is not one that directly relates to those on earth? All Christians believe angels are given a direct role in our lives by God. The bible says they do. Why should we believe those who have lived on earth and are now in heaven do not? What do you think those who have lived on earth do in heaven? God may ask them to act on his behalf because that is the role he has given them in heaven, and they may also hear the prayers of the faithful because that is what God has chosen for them to do.

We do not know God does not permit those who have lived on earth and are now in heaven to hear prayers. If He does not permit them, it is not because they are simply not allowed to.
 
I really like “The Servant Song.” (I think that’s the title.) It says let me be your servant, and at the end of it, says something about me having the grace to let you be my servant.

It’s a great privilege the saints are given, to serve us by being channels of God’s love to us. Far be it from me to resist that gift they’re given.
 
Because “love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8), the obligation to “pray for one another” (James 5:16) does not end at death but continues into the afterlife until the end of world when everyone will either be in heaven, where prayers are not needed, or in hell, where prayers are of no avail.

The teaching that the righteous dead continue to pray for the living actually comes from Judiasm from before the time of Jesus Christ. This teaching is implicit in the miracle associated with the bones of Elisha. (2 Kings 13:21; Sirach 48:12-14) It is explicit in 2 Maccabees 15:11-14, where Onias, a former high priest, and the former prophet Jeremiah, both dead by then, are described as still loving and praying for the Jewish community.

Jesus revealed, in the example he gave of dead rich man’s concern for his living brothers, that even the dead in torment continue to be solicitous for the living. (Luke 16:19-31) In Revelation 5:8, the 24 elders (representing the illustrious saints of both the Old and New Testament) are depicted as holding “golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints,” along with their harps. Thus, in asking the saints in heaven to pray for us, we are not disturbing their heavenly rest but merely asking our departed brothers and sisters to continue doing what they are already doing, that is, continue praying for us.
 
Caylee said:
Why ask you intercession of saints? should not the dead in peace?
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“Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘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. You are badly mistaken!” (Mark 12:26-27)
 
Of course I pray to God first, but then I strengthen the prayer by asking the saints to pray for me. Helped me pass last semester.
 
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