Some people that I have encountered one of which is my grandmother who is a devout catholic and has graven images of various saints throughout her home, actually do pray to the saints and considers them intercessors between them and their god. On the other hand I have seen and met people that use images of saints as an aid to faith. I think that even paying homage to a saint is a sin because the bible states clearly supposedly out of the mouth of the fictional Jesus himself:
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
In fact unless you have read the apocryphal works there is no indication in the accepted bible that you should worship Mary or pray to her for intercession at all. The biblical god actually says in the scriptures that he is a jealous god and shares his glory with no one. I have always thought that having graven images were sinful and the reason for it is evident in the scriptures themselves in the following text:
2 Kings 18:4
4.He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
The serpent that Moses built to stop the plague of fiery serpents that god himself sent against his people later became an image that was worshiped by the people. So the first thing that Hezekiah did when he began to reign was to destroy that serpent. Even if they weren't worshiping it they were burning incense to it which is a practice that catholics use to this day along with lighting candles and petitioning the saints for their aid in their lives etc.
It is interesting that the Catholic church is the only one that accepts the apocryphal works while all the other protestant groups exclude them.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
In fact unless you have read the apocryphal works there is no indication in the accepted bible that you should worship Mary or pray to her for intercession at all. The biblical god actually says in the scriptures that he is a jealous god and shares his glory with no one. I have always thought that having graven images were sinful and the reason for it is evident in the scriptures themselves in the following text:
2 Kings 18:4
4.He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
The serpent that Moses built to stop the plague of fiery serpents that god himself sent against his people later became an image that was worshiped by the people. So the first thing that Hezekiah did when he began to reign was to destroy that serpent. Even if they weren't worshiping it they were burning incense to it which is a practice that catholics use to this day along with lighting candles and petitioning the saints for their aid in their lives etc.
It is interesting that the Catholic church is the only one that accepts the apocryphal works while all the other protestant groups exclude them.
There is nothing people will not maintain when they are slaves to superstition
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http://chatpilot-godisamyth.blogspot.com/
