Popular Catholic apologist
Dave Armstrong has written an article defending the practice of praying to, and praying for, the saints. The
“saints” to which Catholic theology refers in these cases are certain persons
who lived especially holy lives and who have died and (it is assumed) went on to
Heaven. They are not referring to the
biblical definiton, which says that every true believer is a saint (e.g., 2
Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1), but rather,
the Catholic definiton. How they know
that these “saints” are really in Heaven to begin with is altogether another
issue. But Armstrong’s defense of the
saints giving and receiving prayer can be found here:
The first example that
Armstrong uses in an attempt to make his case is the story of the rich man and
Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. He first
points to the fact that in the King James Version of the Bible, the rich man
used the term “I pray thee” (v. 27) and implies that this is
evidence that the rich man was “praying” to Abraham. Therefore, praying to a saint.
But we have to remember that
this was “King James talk,” which was the common way to speak in the day the
King James Bible was written. The term “I
pray thee” can indeed be used while in prayer, but it does not necessarily mean
that one is praying. It simply means, “I
ask of you,” or “I beg of you.”
Also, biblically speaking,
prayer is only to someone who is in another
realm, different than your own, for example, from earth to Heaven, and more
specifically, from people on earth to God in Heaven (which is the only biblical
example). In Luke 16, Abraham and the
rich man were in the same realm, near to each other. They were certainly in two different places,
but in the same realm (Hades). So, two
people in Hades communicating with each other is no different than two people
in Heaven communicating with each other, or two people on earth communicating
with each other – they are simply talking
face to face, not praying.
Toward the end of this point,
Armstrong says:
“Thus we can only conclude
that human beings in the afterlife can be prayed to and that they have the
power… to fulfill the requests… exactly what the Catholic communion of saints /
invocation of saints holds…”
No, sorry Dave, but this is
not the “only” conclusion that we can come to concerning prayer in this
passage. Actually, there is nothing at all in this passage about prayer. Not only is yours not the only conclusion,
it is not even a valid conclusion,
according to the Bible. Throughout
Scripture, the only God-approved prayer is directed to God alone, not to Mary, not to saints, and not to angels.
Armstrong’s second example is
King Saul “petitioning” the prophet Samuel after Samuel died (1
Samuel 28:15-16). Actually, this
is the story of how Saul, acting against God’s law, sought out the witch of
Endor (1 Samuel 28:7) to conjure up Samuel to help him. It was (and is) a sin to be involved in
necromancy or to use mediums to communicate with the dead (Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy
18:10-12). Even the witch knew
that! (1 Samuel 28:3, 9)
It is interesting that
Catholics will complain when Protestants compare praying to saints with
necromancy, using mediums, or seances (all communicating with the dead), yet
here, Dave Armstrong uses that very thing (the services of a medium) as an
example of praying to saints!
Armstrong then states, “The
Bible casually assumes that great prophets like Moses and Samuel would be
praying for those on earth after they died.”
And then he uses Jeremiah 15:1 to try and support his
claim:
Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses
and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this
people. Send them out of my sight, and
let them go!”
But any “casual assumptions”
about the dead praying for us in this passage are made by Catholics, not
Scripture. God is not saying that Moses
and Samuel actually stood before Him
and interceded for the people. He was
making the point that even if they would
have, He wouldn’t answer even their request.
God also says something similar to the verse above in Ezekiel
14:14:
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel,
and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their
righteousness, saith the Lord God.
He then repeats this concept
in verses 16, 18, and 20.
But in each case God is merely saying that EVEN IF great men of God like
Moses, Samuel, Noah, Daniel, or Job would try to intervene (great intercessors
as they were), God STILL would not answer their prayers, because of the great
sin of Israel. That’s the point God is making
here. He certainly was not endorsing the
idea of prayer from these men after
death. Nowhere in Scripture do we see
anyone in God’s will praying to anyone
but God, nor do we see any departed saints praying for us.
Next, Dave points out that the
bystanders at Jesus’ crucifixion believed that He was asking (praying to)
Elijah to come and save Him. Supposedly,
“This type of petition was commonly believed at the time.” But these Jews had no biblical reason
whatsoever to believe that one could pray to anyone other than God.
Dave Armstrong’s third
example is the apostle Paul supposedly praying for the dead in 2
Timothy 1:16-18:
[16] May the Lord grant mercy to the
household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my
chains, [17] but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found
me – [18] may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day – and
you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.
Notice that this is merely an
assumption on Dave’s part. There is no mention
of anyone dead here. It is possible that
Onesiphorus was simply away from home, so maybe that is why Paul prayed for his
household (2 Timothy 1:16; 4:19).
But even if Onesiphorus was
indeed dead when Paul wrote this, the final destiny of Onesiphorus was fixed,
it was already decided (Luke 16:19-23; 2 Corinthians 5:6, 8; Hebrews
9:27). No amount of prayer from
anyone, even an apostle, could help his state after death.
But obviously, Onesiphorus
was a godly man, or Paul would not have spoken so highly of him. Therefore, if he was dead, there was no need to ask God for mercy for Onesiphorus,
since he had already obtained that
final mercy. But there was something
else going on here. If Onesiphorus was
actually dead, Paul’s “prayer” for him to find mercy in that day was not
specifically a petition to “help” him, but rather, a pious wish, an expression
of a heart-felt desire toward him. Like
when we say “May you rest in peace” to someone who is dead. It is not really praying for him or to him, but it
is simply a sentiment toward the dearly departed, a commending of them to God.
But Catholics may ask, “But
what about Purgatory? Couldn’t Paul have
been praying for Onesiphorus’ well-being in Purgatory?” No, Scripture does not speak of such a place. After death, there is only Heaven or Hell. See here:
And the fourth example
Armstrong gives us is both Jesus and Peter supposedly “praying to saints and
for the dead.” He points to Acts
9:36-41 where a girl named Tabitha had died. And elsewhere, Jesus raises Lazarus from the
dead (John 11:41-42), speaking “directly to a dead man (in effect,
‘praying’ to him).”
This is desperation. There is a difference between 1) praying to a
dead person who is supposedly in Heaven to help someone on earth, and 2) authoritatively
and miraculously speaking to a dead body to raise it from the dead. Neither Jesus nor Peter was asking these dead
persons for help, i.e., they were not praying “to” them. And neither were they praying “for” them in
the Catholic sense of praying to aid them in Purgatory. Again, this is a ridiculous attempt by Dave
Armstrong to validate the Catholic practice of praying to the dead to help the one praying, and praying for the dead to help them to get out of
Purgatory. This is a desperate, shameful,
and irresponsible manipulating of Holy Scripture, confusing and deceiving
multitudes of Catholics.
For more information on
praying to saints, see these links:
