aeq@pucc-h (Scott Bowyer) (04/13/84)
I know that some Christians believe in praying to the Saints. I thought
these Bible verses might shed some interesting light on that belief:
(* Quotes from New American Standard Bible *)
ACTS 10:25-26 And when it came about that Peter entered, Cornelius met
him, and fell at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter
raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am just a man."
ACTS 14:8-18 (paraphrased) Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man at
Lystra, and the multitudes tried to worship Paul and
Barnabas, with the Apostles frantically trying to stop
them and point them towards God.
REV. 22:8-9 And I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the
feet of the angel who showed me these things. And he
said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of
yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those
who heed the words of this book; worship God."
One thing is obvious. The people or angel did not want to be
worshipped. They insisted we worship God, not them. I get the impression
that Paul, for instance, would not want me to pray to him. Besides, if
I prayed to Peter, what could he do? He would probably mention my prayer
to God, and ask Him to fill it, but that's about all. If I pray to Jesus,
He will go to the Father on my behalf, and I'll bet he carries a lot more
weight. The morality of it is pretty much between the pray-er and God,
but one thought of warning. God does not want us to hold any other idol
before Him. If we pray to one of His servants, would He consider that
as "holding someone else before Him"? I don't know, as that is between
the praying person and Him. If anyone on the net does pray to God's
servants, could they tell me why? I'm not very familiar with the
practice.
Scott Bowyer
{allegra|ihnp4|decvax|harpo|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-i:otv
--
-- Jeff Sargent
{allegra|ihnp4|decvax|harpo|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq
One man's data are another man's garbage.aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent) (04/13/84)
Oops.... Ignore the "Jeff Sargent" signature on the previous article. That
article is a Scott Bowyer original. (This juggling act, mv'ing different
files in and out of .signature, is so much fun!)
--
-- Jeff Sargent
{allegra|ihnp4|decvax|harpo|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq
One man's data are another man's garbage.