Speaking as a confirmed catholic, the saints are just another avenue to the grace of God. At no point are these people deified, although this is a common misconception fostered by people who know little about / want a bone to pick with the religion. They stand as examples of people living with great faith, and praying to them is considered asking them to make an appeal to God on your behalf.
My favorite saint, who I pray to daily, is Elizabeth Anne Seton. She was a single mother who promoted the cause of education and started the first parochial school in the United States. Her story is worthy of admiration; her husband lost the family forune and died, leaving her to take care of four small children in a foreign land. She converted to Catholicism (she was the daughter of a minister of another branch of christian faith, Presbyterian, I think) after returning to the US and was met with rejection by all of her family and friends. Living off her meager earnings as a teacher, she was able to begin schools in New York and Baltimore before establishing the Sisters of Charity, a group which tends to the needs of the poor and infirm. This group remains active to this day. I imagine the fact she was able to do so much with so little material resources should stand as a great example to anyone of any faith. The consequences of her life to modern conceptions of equality, education and social ethics are tremendous. But her importance as a saint lies much in the fact that people can turn to her story to find strength in their own lives, and know that grace and dignity are possible despite tremendous odds and challenges. I could say more about the deification argument against saints, but I think I will reserve comment until I hear a response or two. M -----Original Message----- From: Todd [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 12:45 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Ben (Re: Religious Jews (was: Circumcision article link)) > I hope this comment does not offend anyone. > Apologies if it does. > (It probably will.) I'm sorry, but I'm offended. I must nuke you now. > But the whole "second coming" belief in Christianity sounds to me like it > didn't work right the first time, so stay tuned for the sequel, it will work > then. > > I'm sorry, to me God is just God. Period. There are prophets, there are holy > persons worthy of great reverence. But to deify them goes completely against > my belief in monotheism. It's not defying monotheism. In the Christian belief, God and Jesus are the same. They are 2 parts of the trinity .. The father, the son and the holy spirit. > This is especially true re: Catholics. When my son was 6 years old, he > pointed to a statue of Jesus in somebody's car and said he thought that was > idolatry and violated the commandment about graven images. This isn't idoltry either. Idoltry is when you worship the statue. Worshiping of God/Jesus through the use of a symbolic item, such as a cross or statue is different. > And praying to > the Virgin Mary and Saints strikes me as polytheism. I can't speak for Catholics, but as I understand it, they pray to the saints to speak to God on their behalf and not praying to the saints to act in God's place ... but I could be wrong. > Sorry, I just cannot fathom this. Clear it up any? > -Ben ______________________________________________________________________ Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
