[Pastor Isaac Peters]

Re: Hello!

And just for your information, we do NOT worship the saints. We view them as people who have lived good and godly lives and are to be followed as an example. We ask for them to pray for us (because they are closer to god than we are currently), which is another concept entirely. We also don't worship Mary, we view her as the wonderful woman who said yes to God and a powerful, loving saint in heaven who is especially close to God. We do not pray to, we ask for their prayers!

So they're mediators between you and God? Do you know what the Bible says about that?

[1 Timothy 2:5 KJV] 5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

One. How difficult a concept is that?

And "stupid women", huh? I don't think Jesus viewed women that way:

Jesus is God, and God says the following about women:

[1 Timothy 2:14 KJV] 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

[Alvin Moss]

Re: Hello!

Greetings from America! My name is Evelyn, though my username is General E. Specific. I am 15 years old, and a cradle Catholic. I'm here to learn a bit more about the baptist faith, and to see other people's opinions of Catholic docterine. I'm very happy to be here, and hope I can learn a thing or two!

"Cradle Catholic" is a term well known to us. It is similar to "Red Diaper Baby", in that it refers primarily to the sin of the parents, but like the latter term, it infers that the sinful wretchedness has been passed along to the child. You may have been indoctrinated into this sin, young lady, but now you are the one who commits the sinful acts of the Roman church. It is your responsibility to throw off the Roman yoke.

I don't know why you people always insist that you don't pray to saints and Mary, the mother of Jesus. You do so! Asking for their help in getting to Jesus is the same thing as praying to them. You don't need a lawyer with Jesus, child. He's not like a city councilman selling favors.

I urge you to renounce your allegiance to the Roman Pope and come to Jesus before it's too late. It's that or Hell. Don't go there; it's too hot.

[Evelyn the Papist]

Re: Hello!

Okay, thanks! Although I don't believe you understood what I meant (I am pretty bad at explaining things), it's interesting to hear what Baptists think of us. We don't use saints as a medium of prayer, we ask for them to pray for a cause. It's like that prayer request section of these forums, you're not using the other people as a medium of prayer, you're asking them to pray with you.

[Evelyn the Papist]

Re: Hello!

I forgot to include the part about Mary! I can't explain it as well as these people can, so I'll just post the links to a couple of websites.

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-ever-virgin

http://carm.org/roman-catholicism-mary-idolatry

[Joanna Lytton-Vasey]

Re: Hello!

Okay, thanks! Although I don't believe you understood what I meant (I am pretty bad at explaining things), it's interesting to hear what Baptists think of us. We don't use saints as a medium of prayer, we ask for them to pray for a cause. It's like that prayer request section of these forums, you're not using the other people as a medium of prayer, you're asking them to pray with you.

So are you saying that you ask dead people to pray for a cause? It is one thing for us to ask our fellow Christians to join us in prayer, and quite another to ask dead people to do so. How do you communicate with these dead "saints", exactly - by ouija board?

[Evelyn the Papist]

Re: Hello!

Ha ha, yeah, I guess it might seem that way. Here's a breif explanation for you!

"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.*"

Aside from that, what did you make of the articles on Mary?



*(P.S. Ouija Boards are sinful and unholy according to Catholic doctrine.)

[Pastor Isaac Peters]

Re: Hello!

Okay, thanks! Although I don't believe you understood what I meant (I am pretty bad at explaining things), it's interesting to hear what Baptists think of us. We don't use saints as a medium of prayer, we ask for them to pray for a cause. It's like that prayer request section of these forums, you're not using the other people as a medium of prayer, you're asking them to pray with you.

How can they hear you, when they are asleep in the Lord and will not awaken until the Rapture?

[1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 KJV] 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

By the way, if you don't pray to Mary, why does the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 2679) say that you do?

[Pastor Isaac Peters]

Re: Hello!

"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.*

Who are the saints, according to the Bible?

[Jim Farmer]

Re: Hello!

I forgot to include the part about Mary! I can't explain it as well as these people can, so I'll just post the links to a couple of websites.

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-ever-virgin

http://carm.org/roman-catholicism-mary-idolatry

Your first link there relies on the apocrypha - which are known to be forgeries.
Your second link - I think you should read again. It comes to the following conclusion:

Does the Roman Catholic Church promote idolatry? According to the scripture and its own practices, yes it does.

"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." (1Corinthians 10:14).