Catholics believe that it is ok, and even beneficial, to pray to “saints,” i.e., those who have lived exemplary and honorable lives on earth, but are now in Heaven (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2683). Likewise, they believe that it is very profitable to pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ (CCC #2769). They also believe that it is ok to pray to angels (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol.11, p. 673). However, Protestants seem to have a problem with all this. But Catholics may wonder why. After all, we need all the help we can get when it comes to prayer, right?
Well, the
problem is our understanding of the similarities and differences between
worship and prayer in Scripture. We
Protestants contend that 1) prayer is actually a form of worship and 2) therefore, only God should receive
prayer. We believe that prayer to anyone
or anything else is idolatry and we should have nothing to do with this sin:
“Wherefore,
my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.”
(1 Corinthians 10:14)
Unfortunately,
Catholics have a different understanding of worship and prayer than that which
is in the Bible.
Inseparable
There are many
different words for “worship” in the Bible.
But there is nothing in the context of any of these passages where the
idea of prayer is expected to be divorced or detached from any form of
worship. Worship is not only an external
action you do, but it is also an attitude.
Obviously,
God can be worshipped in many ways – in your relationships, your job, your
praise and singing, your finances, your good works, in all aspects of your
life. But an attitude of prayer is always connected to proper forms of
worship. Prayer should never be reduced
to mean mere “conversation,” or the act of simply “asking” for something, as
many Catholics argue. But to divorce
worship from prayer is to destroy the very essence of both terms! There
is certainly an “overlap” between the two.
Invariably,
the term “pray” or “prayer” in Scripture is automatically assumed by its
authors to be an act of worship. Proper
prayer is only and always directed toward God. Please let this sink in. There are NO examples in Holy Writ of
acceptable prayer to ANYONE other than God:
“Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there
is none upon earth that I
desire beside thee.” (Psalm 73:25).
Now, please
understand that prayer and worship are not the same things, but are vitally dependent on each other. On the one hand, true prayer depends on
worship, since your prayer to God is useless apart from an attitude of worship (Matthew
15:8). As I said just above, if
there is no worship involved, praying would be just “conversation” or “asking.” On the other hand, true worship depends on a
prayerful attitude. After all, who can
say that they are exercising true worship apart from communing with God?
Thus, prayer
and worship are distinct, but inseparable.
“I Pray Thee…”?
There are
multiple arguments from Catholics for praying to Mary and the saints. One such argument is by Catholic apologist
Tim Staples, who wrote an article attempting to justify this type of
prayer.
See his
article here:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-prayer-synonymous-with-worship
In this
article, Staples strives to demonstrate that prayer to saints is not adoration (worship), and he uses the
extremely weak argument that the term “I pray thee” is actually a prayer (entreaty) to the person
addressed, even if it is another
human! He then refers to 1 Kings 2:20 as an
example, where Bathsheba addresses her son, King Solomon, and asks a request of
him, which begins with the words:
“I pray thee, say me
not nay…”
And she goes
on to make her request of him.
But again, Staples
considers this to be authentic prayer and says:
“There was
never a question here of whether the King James Bible was presenting Bathsheba
as adoring her son as God, or praying
to him in a way that was forbidden. It
was not. Nor are Catholics when we pray to saints.” (Emphasis in original)
Of course no
one with the slightest bit of biblical understanding would say that Bathsheba
was “adoring” her son in the same way she would adore God. And her entreaty was not in the least a
prayer in any biblical sense. Staples is using a Catholic “straw man” argument
here and it crashes and burns.
Notice he
says above:
“… or
praying to him in a way that was forbidden.”
What?!! The only thing that should be “forbidden” here is Staples trying to inject the
idea of prayer in the context of 1
Kings 2:20. He is trying to
imply that there is a correct way to
pray to a person, but the multitude of prayer examples in Scripture will not permit
him to suggest praying to anyone but God! He either doesn’t see it or he refuses to see it. I suspect it is the latter.
Tim Staples
goes on to say that “The Catholic Church has gone to great lengths to define
the essential difference between prayer to God and prayer to saints.” Yes, they have, but we can successfully sum
it up much quicker: Prayer to God is biblical
and prayer to saints is not.
Assumptions and Scripture Twisting
I think the
whole point is that Catholics start out assuming
that it is ok to pray to the dead because the Church encourages such prayer.
Tim Staples qualifies
the practice of praying to saints and says:
“We
certainly honor them when we pray to
them. In other words, we do not talk to
them like we talk to the boys at the local bar and grill. We show great respect and reverence for them. But we do not adore them as we adore God
alone.” (Emphasis in original)
There is
nothing wrong with giving honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7), but praying to someone is far more than
showing mere respect or simple human reverence.
Furthermore,
he says:
“And we also
petition them for their prayers
because Scripture makes very clear that we need
each other as members of the body of Christ.” (Emphasis in original)
For this, he
appeals to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, which is about the diversity and
necessity of everyone participating in the local body. But the members of the body that the apostle
Paul is referring to are the ones that are living. Paul never
implies that we need the help of those saints who have gone on before us. There is no
passage in all of Scripture to suggest this.
Building a Case?
I’ve seen
Catholics suggest that there is a cumulative, or collective, argument for
prayer to Mary and the saints. In other
words, there is this long string of evidence for praying to these saints and it
goes something like this:
1) Christians can help one another through their prayers.
2) We are one body of believers (both dead and alive).
3) Some people’s prayers are stronger than others.
4) The saints are more alive now than they ever were (because they are in Heaven).
5) We have a “cloud of witnesses” in Heaven (Hebrews 12:1), and they pray for us.
6) In Revelation 6:9-10, there is intercession by those in Heaven for those on earth.
7) Mary had the closest relationship with Jesus, more than anyone. So, her prayers must be the strongest.
Ok, so this
is supposed to be a cumulative argument, but it just takes one weak link to collapse this whole line of thinking.
Weak Links in the Chain
So let’s
break this down.
1) Their first point is that Christians can help one another through their prayers. Absolutely. This is scriptural. We have no problem with this idea.
2) Second, the assertion is that both living and dead Christians are part of the one body. True, but we (the living) now have no more dealings with those who have gone on before us. We will be re-united with them at our death (or the Rapture), but until then, there is no indication in the Bible that we can communicate with them or pray to them.
3) Third, yes, the prayers of some are more effective than those of others (James 5:16). But there is nothing here at all about the prayers of the dead.
4) Those who have gone on before us (to Heaven) are more alive than they ever were before. In a sense, that is true, but they are still in the category of “the dead” (Isaiah 26:19; Luke 20:37; Acts 23:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). Just because they are “more alive than ever” doesn’t mean that we can pray to them or that they can communicate with us. This gets dangerously close to necromancy (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).
5) The “cloud of witnesses” passage (Hebrews 12:1) is all about the Old Testament believers’ EXAMPLE OF FAITH to us. This statement is a continuation of the context of Hebrews chapter 11. The author’s point is NOT that they are now spectators, and that they are all watching what is happening to us on earth (although it is possible that God can allow them to). But the whole point of the passage is that they are witnesses of the same message of faith and hope and that we should follow their lead (…let us [also] run with patience the race that is set before us – 12:1b); they encourage us as role models of the faith. This is in no way a “proof” that those in Heaven are watching us. And if they are watching us, so what? We are never told in Scripture that they can pray for us. It is another Catholic assumption.
6) Concerning the souls who cry out for vengeance on their enemies in Revelation 6, this is another weak attempt to “prove” that those in Heaven are watching us. Maybe they are or maybe they aren’t, but it still doesn’t mean they should be prayed to. This passage just means that they were waiting for retribution on their enemies.
7) Ok, Mary certainly had a close relationship with her Son, Jesus. That’s obvious. But it is an illogical leap to go from that idea to her being able to pray for us after her death, when there is absolutely no biblical evidence for that.
So this
“cumulative argument,” this “long string of evidence for praying to saints” has
several weak links within and therefore, collapses upon itself. This does not prove that we can pray to Mary
or the saints or that they are able to help us, or intercede for us. But we do know living saints, here on earth
can pray for each other (Colossians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:25;
Hebrews 13:18) and that Jesus, Himself, intercedes for us (Romans
8:34) and so does the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26).
Prayer – the Highest Form of Worship
Some pastors,
like John MacArthur, believe that prayer is the highest form of worship. I
don’t agree with everything he says
(e.g., his Calvinism), but I do agree with his view of prayer and worship:
“Godly
prayer is worship, acknowledging His sovereign will and our utter dependence…”
“If prayer
is anything, it is the highest form of worship that an individual can
participate in, because prayer is saying, ‘God, Your name, Your kingdom, Your
will be elevated, not my will, not my kingdom, not my name.’”
“True prayer
is the distilled essence of worship…”
I certainly
agree.
See his
article here:
https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-447/prayer-the-highest-form-of-worship
Conclusion
The Catholic
Church claims that there are three “levels” of prayer: Dulia (toward the
“saints”), Hyperdulia (toward Mary) and Latria (toward God). This is certainly not a biblical concept and
it seems a little complicated. For
example, how do you know when you have crossed the line from dulia into
hyperdulia? Or from hyperdulia into
latria? It seems pretty subjective and dangerous to me.
Catholics may claim that they can “discern”
the differences, yet they can’t see the utter absence of this type of prayer in
the multitude of examples of acceptable prayer in Scripture. In this way, they are much like the religious
Pharisees in Jesus’ day, who would filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel (Matthew
23:24). How could they miss
something so obvious?
If there were indeed examples of
prayer to saints in Scripture, you can bet that the Catholic Church would be pointing
to them. This is very telling indeed. The “elephant in the room” has always been
the fact that there are NO EXAMPLES in the Bible of anyone (rightly) praying to
anyone but God.
Catholic apologists tell us
Protestants that we shouldn’t confuse worship and prayer. But according to the Bible, it is obvious
that the confusion is on their
part. Prayer is not just “asking” for
something, or “conversing” with a lesser being.
Prayer is a form (possibly the highest
form) of worship. Both worship and
prayer belong to God alone.
