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What did the Early Church think of Prayer for the Dead?
Doubtless there were a variety of thoughts, but here is one (courtesy of Pastor David King): Lactantius (260-330): But if it appears that these religious rites are vain in so many ways as I have shown, it is manifest that those who either make prayers to the dead, or venerate the earth, or make over…
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>To Whom Can Roman Catholics Pray?
>That is to say, is it permitted by the sources of authority of Catholicism for the members of Catholicism to pray to anyone beyond God, Mary, and the saints? For some background, James Swan has been discussing this issue at his own blog (Can you pray to whoever you want to?). Book IV, Part II,…
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Biblical Evidence for the Veneration of Relics Ignored?
Previously, I discussed (and rebutted) the claim that the Scriptural discussion of the transport of Joseph’s bones from Egypt to Canaan was evidence of the veneration of relics in the Old Testament (link). Now, I turn to a second favorite passage that relic-venerators tend to appeal to, as allegedly supporting their position. That passage is…
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Relic Worship in Old Testament?
I recently came across a comment by a person named Teresita who stated that she was “raised Catholic” and who seems to think that “veneration of some people’s bones has a biblical basis, so the Catholic practice can’t truly be called idolatry.” (source) Teresita went on to quote Exodus 13:18-19, which I’ll reproduce below: Exodus…
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Do Romanists Pray to Saints?
Sometimes we hear claims that Romanists pray to saints. Then we read blog articles like this one (link) and we realize that, no, we were right. They do pray to saints. They even then give glory for answering prayer to the saints to whom they pray. Here’s a link to the prayer used, reportedly with…
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Armstrong vs. Aquinas – Classifying Reformed Christians
As recently noted by the “Shrine for the Holy Whapping,” a Catholic blog, Aquinas quoted with approval, the following (link to source): “We believe that the bodies of the saints, above all the relics of the blessed martyrs, as being the members of Christ, should be venerated in all sincerity” and “If anyone holds a…