[nightwish33150]

Why do catholic believe in saints went gods does not like it?

if you can recall but after moses had saved the jews. he had place them in the desert well after year i believe 40 he returned to his people becuz of god tolled him to well when he gets her the jews are worshiping a golden calf so moses breaks the two stone and become angry with the peole and ask why have they worshipn a golden calf before god they respond in saying that they want a god they can see
so the quote goes EXODUS 34:13

Break down thier altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their asherah poles.14 Do Not worship any other god, for the lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous god."

so if god does not like any sort of firgure before him why worship them ? why go to a wooden, gold or brownze or whatever it made out of doll for help wouldn't you go to god the all mighty for help

not sure were in those passage but i forgot but god say that " they have ears but can they hear you, they have a mouth but do they speak, they have eye but they don't see..etc" which is very true so why porblem with them
go to god even better
is that image or saint going to cure you when your on ur sick ?
so why problem?

[moimeme]

Saints aren't considered gods. They aren't worshipped. They're like messengers to God. Since they're already in Heaven, they are prayed to to sort of 'carry a message to God' for you.

[nightwish33150]

there not messenger becuz we choose them not godd why are the disiples saints then?
so explian to me why they carry images off them and pray to them instand of god do't tell me you neer seen people in there house with these doll s i'm srry that u hold thing thing on ur death bed when u should be praying to god for repent and the catholic church is a joke bcuz when u commit a sin there like ok cunfuss to the priest in private an then go do 10mary and so on and thats it ur forgiven
like i can rape someone go o the catholic church priet and be for given so easy with no remorse

[moimeme]

There are plenty of places you can go to inform yourself about the Catholic church. I recommend that you read and learn rather than just going on what you hear.

[quankanne]

grrrr ... I shouldn't bite, because I know someone is trolling here, but because I know how much MISinformation there is concerning Catholicism, so here goes:

"Saints" are those holy men and women of God who have been formally been recognized by the Catholic Church. She doesn't encourage people to worship then, but gives us role models of faith, if you will. Those people who converse with these people of God often do so to ask for their prayers, because we figure these folks can carry our petitions to God since they have already shown us how close they are to Him. The apostles were the first followers of Christ, and we recognize them as saints because of how they defended the newly found Christian faith in a time when no one understood it.

we don't "pray to" statues or images, though we we're okay with displaying those statues or photos of our prayer pals much in the same way a proud grandparent will keep the latest photos of the grandbabies on hand. Up until this last century, there was no way to photograph those holy men and women, except through paintings and other bulky images.

u hold thing thing on ur death bed when u should be praying to god

we ARE praying to God ... and asking one of his beloved saints to pray alongside with us for a happy (grace-filled) death. It's no different than asking my best friend or my mom or someone on a prayer chain to pray for me.

for repent and the catholic church is a joke bcuz when u commit a sin there like ok cunfuss to the priest in private an then go do 10mary and so on and thats it ur forgiven like i can rape someone go o the catholic church priest and be for given so easy with no remorse

a priest is trained to hear confessions, and can pretty much tell a snow job from someone's sincere desire to reconcile with God. It's been awhile since I've made gone to confession, but I know that prayers are only part of penance -- the priest has almost always has given me a penance that involves true reparation -- his role as spiritual advisor calls for helping people heal the relationship with the person who was hurt or offended or wronged. And that's much, much tougher than a dozen novenas because it calls for a true conversion of heart.

[moimeme]

I don't think it's someone trolling. I think it's a person who knows zero about Catholicism and is spouting rumours or other ideas s/he's heard or, worse, believes just because.

It would take a few hundred thousand words to educate this person about all s/he doesn't know so I figured a link to everything about Catholicism ought to give them something to chew on.

[quankanne]

something about the way the content is presented (spelling aside) makes me wonder about this being posted by a troll ... but oh, well ... I took the bait ....

I guess this isn't the place to talk about hiding St. Anthony in the freezer or burying St. Joseph in the yard, is it?

[moimeme]

I guess this isn't the place to talk about hiding St. Anthony in the freezer or burying St. Joseph in the yard, is it?

Um. They're dead. Man, I'd heard you Texans were wierd but I had no idea how wierd

[Naive]

My father's family is Catholic and my grandmother was a firm believer of this religion so I know some about it. I have never seen it right that they would ask saints to pray for them because I believe that God is fair and hears us all the same. We are all equal and the only one whom is greater than us is God. I do not need someone to pray for me because I know that I can easily do it for myself and he will hear me no matter where I am or when I do it. Another thing, I also disagree with the fact that they ask a priest to ask forgiveness for their sins because I am sure that if you do it on your own and you really do feel bad and repent about what you did God will forgive you. There is no need for an intermediate because we are all God's children's and he will not have a preference. For example, if you do something bad and you then send your brother to ask your parents for forgiveness because he is more disciplined than you it will not make it okay or better. It would be much better if the kid that did the harm asked for forgiveness if he really means it, don't you think?

This is my way of thinking, however, I never told my grandmother because I respected her beliefs and nothing would change mine. Maybe I am wrong maybe she was.

Even though my faith is a little shaken at the moment I still believe firmly what I typed above.

[moimeme]

I do not need someone to pray for me because I know that I can easily do it for myself and he will hear me no matter where I am or when I do it

True, but don't you ask your friends or family to pray for you? Never hurts to have a few more voices

For example, if you do something bad and you then send your brother to ask your parents for forgiveness because he is more disciplined than you it will not make it okay or better

It's not that we ask the priest to forgive us or to ask on our behalf. The priest is like the tour director - gives you some direction, helps show you the way.

I once went on a guided retreat. Truth to tell, I didn't want any guidance whatsoever. I had a bunch of reading I wanted to do and a lot of thinking planned and I didn't really want some nun telling me holy stuff. However one of the conditons of my staying at this place was that I see a spiritual director at least once a day so I did. Well, this lady prayed for direction about me, she told me. I didn't say very much to her, being resistant to direction and all that, but that lady discussed several of the things I had been there to think over - without me ever having told her that's why I was there! Before I left I thanked her and told her how she'd hit many of the things I was pondering dead on.

It's great to have a personal relationship with God, but it doesn't mean you have to go it entirely alone.

[BlockHead]

Numbers 21:6-9
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I believe this is used to justify the use of religious statues in Catholicism.

[moimeme]

I believe this is used to justify the use of religious statues in Catholicism.

And you believe incorrectly.

[HokeyReligions]

Numbers 21:6-9
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

Originally posted by BlockHead
I believe this is used to justify the use of religious statues in Catholicism.

I remember reading something about setting snakes among people, but I don't remember the second section at all - about the snake on a pole.

That would be an example of the use of symbolism for any faith I guess. The statue is not worshiped, its just a reminder to focus prayers.

Wait, is this one of the battle metaphors's and the 'snake' is really the head of the traitor or enemy?

[quankanne]

Um. They're dead. Man, I'd heard you Texans were wierd but I had no idea how wierd

i'd never heard of those strange customs either, until I came to work for the church. My coworker told me about both -- said her sweet little Italian NY granny just loved St. Anthony, whose prayers she believed interceded when her beloved child (my coworker's dad) had an earache that went away when doctors couldn't even figure out a cure. Sue said that when her granny got mad at St. Anthony for not following through, she'd put his statue in the freezer to punish him!

burying a statue of St. Joe (and sprinkling miraculous medals on your lawn) were also something she told me about. Apparently if you're trying to sell your home, the buried St. Joe statue does the trick (remember, he had to get out of Bethlehem in a hurry -- the statues were very, very popular in Houston in the 1980s when the oil industry went bust and people had to sell their homes); the Marian medals help you purchase the property you have your eye. Don't know about the first, but I can personally vouch for the medals' intercessory power: I tossed some on farm we ended up winning in a sealed bid, and they're in the flowerbed of the house we close on later this week.

other custom I've heard of is keeping a medal of St. Christopher in your car for safe travel -- have also seen people place cards or medallions of angels there, too.

blocky, the way I heard statues and paintings of saints explained was that there were no cameras around in the days of Peter, really pretty much until recently. And now especially that we're living in a media-oriented age, photos of Mother Teresa, Father Damian, and John Paul II are common items.

[moimeme]

Sue said that when her granny got mad at St. Anthony for not following through, she'd put his statue in the freezer to punish him!

Oh that's cute!

other custom I've heard of is keeping a medal of St. Christopher in your car for safe travel

Yeah but St. Christopher got de-sainted! A whole passel of saints got de-saintified some years ago.