Monday, December 5, 2011

Praying to Saints

As I continue my personal investigation of the Anglican church and the Orthodox church it would seem scripture teaches we are not to pray to departed saints:


And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
(Isaiah 8:19 ESV)


For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

(1 Timothy 2:5 ESV)


There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,

(Deuteronomy 18:10-11 ESV)

The Anglican 39 Articles of Faith apparently agrees with this view, but there are some "high church" Anglicans and anglo-catholic churches who do practice praying to the saints.  The proponents of this practice would argue this is no different than asking a living saint (any believer?) to pray for you.  After all, they say, those saints who have gone before us are not dead, but actually alive in heaven.




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