Can saints, "holy men" who've passed on, be intercessors for the living? Or is it a waste of time addressing your prayers to dead men, some of whom may still be walking amongst as ghosts? Your thoughts?
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to this, as it will depend on how religious you are and on what you actually believe in. I'm not religious at all, therefore I'd say no, praying to anything won't help a situation, only maybe help the actual person feel better, but I think that's what praying is mainly about.
When a person gets in a pretty bad way they will resort to anything that they hope will make their situation better. In general I'm pretty relaxed about people praying, I don't do it personally and I haven't got a problem with people that do do it. It's whatever makes you feel better I suppose and if it makes a person feel better then who am I to complain about it?
Personally, I don't pray to saints. I pray directly to God or Jesus. But there are a lot of people here in my country that idolise and pray to saints. We even have festivals for different saints. One feast, which is of the Black Nazarene, is such an event that it causes the cancellation of classes where it's being held. I don't think there is anything wrong with praying to saints, it's just the preference of other people. But I think nothing is more direct than praying to God and talking to Him.
When I pray I always pray to God. That is how I was brought up and that is what I believe. I guess that being said that it depends on what your belief is. I don't thing that there is right or a wrong answer to this. Nobody can tell you that your beliefs are wrong and nobody can judge you for how you pray. People do it their way.
I think the primary concept behind praying to saints or to anyone in general who have died and presumably gone to Heaven is the fact that they can intercede for us when it comes to talking to the Lord. People pray to their ancestors in other countries and it's basically the same thing. If you assume they went to Heaven or the afterlife or what have you and they can help you with intercessions then why not? Atleast that's what I was thought as a Roman Catholic.
But nowhere in the bible is there even the remotest suggestion that people should be praying to saints. The Jews never did address their prayers to Abraham, David or any of the other prophets so why should those who worship the same God think they can do that? The laws weren't changed. There is and will always be but one mediator between man and God — Jesus.
Praying to saints is a Roman Catholic invention. Just like idolising and worshiping Mary. I think the official position of the Roman Catholic church is that they do not pray directly to Mary and the Saints but rather ask them to pray for them. But most cathlics I know at least pray to Mary and have their own prayer The Hail Mary. However, if you believe in God and Jesus, then you really should be reading His 'Word' The Holy Bible, and the King James Authorised version it should be. And the Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God through Jesus. As First Timothy Chapter 2 verse 5 clearly states... "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Who but Jesus can intercede with the Father for us? ...Anybody who tells you differently is leading you astray.
When it comes to topics such as this I think there's always going to be some debate and there will never be a time when people will all agree. For me whoever people want to pray to doesn't do me any harm so live and let live as the saying goes.
Well I'll put praying to saints in the same category as praying to anything else. And that is "not for me". Since I don't believe in any of this stuff I think it's all just pointless but if it helps someone feel better... then sure why not?