ArchivedPicturesRomeSweetHome wrote:
It would be foolish and superstitious to invoke an image, when we pray before an image, our prayer is directed to the person it represents. But is it not some kind of idolatry to turn to these for help, as if they had some kind of divine power? which they dont!
Peace
You are actually proving my point. You pray to the dead. One aspect of Catholicism no Catholic has been able to show is a direct Biblical quote teaching us to pray to the dead.
Isa 1:18
8 "Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
NAS
Matt 6:5-13
5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. 9 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11'Give us this day our daily bread. 12'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]'
NAS
Can you show me a Biblical account of an apostle praying to the dead. Deut 4:15-19
15 "So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16 lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19 And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. NAS
When the use of images in worship lead people to practice a form of idolatry it is the responsibility of the leaders to eliminate the stumbling block. The use of images is a "tradition of men" and is not found in any Scriptural teachings.
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