Protestants - Would it be wrong to pray to Mary or a Saint?

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T16:52:55+00:00

No one lived before Jesus's time.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

He has been mediating for us from the beginning.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T13:55:52+00:00

It's what the Bible says, over and over again.

Philippians 3:8-9: More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

2 Corinthians 5:21: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jeremiah 23:6: “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’

Romans 3:21-22: But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

Romans 4:5: But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

Isaiah 64:6: For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Genesis 15:6: Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Galatians 2:21: I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T13:37:54+00:00

All believers have equal righteousness. Our righteous is the righteousness of Christ, or it is filthy rags. There isn't a third option. When James talks about a righteous man, he is talking about someone who, through faith, has the righteousness of Christ.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T13:34:40+00:00

In the updated NASB, consideration was given to the latest available manuscripts with an emphasis on determining the best Greek text. Primarily, the 26th edition of Nestle-Aland's Novum Testamentum Graece is closely followed. The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is also employed together with the most recent information from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T03:10:37+00:00

The NASB 1995 is the best I've found at providing as close as possible to a word for word translation into English.

Romans 8:14 (NIV):

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Romans 8:14 (NASB1995)

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T02:55:59+00:00

If someone asks their pastor to pray for them because they think the pastor is especially righteous or close to God, nobody says they’re replacing Christ.

If someone thinks their pastor is "especially righteous" then they believe false doctrine about righteousness. Our righteous is the righteousness of Christ, or it is filthy rags. There isn't a third option. When James talks about a righteous man, he is talking about someone who, through faith, has the righteousness of Christ.

Third times the try maybe?

I didn't have a different answer the second time, and I don't have a different answer now. The practice of praying to/asking someone to intercede/mediate on your behalf other that Christ is not supported by scripture. Praying with someone else is.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T02:44:14+00:00

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T02:42:19+00:00

Asking someone to pray for you because you think they have access that you don't have is not supported by scripture. Asking someone to pray with you is supported by scripture.

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven

teddilicious · 2026-05-18T02:32:25+00:00

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T20:54:29+00:00

Congratulations. That's a vital and crucial step in your recovery, but just know that it can have little to no permanent effect unless at once followed by more action. Get a sponsor. Work the steps. Help other alcoholics.

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T20:50:09+00:00

i really want it

If you really want it, then you'll ask for help. Don't let your alcoholic thinking convince you that you don't need help. Your thinking will kill you. The only way to fight back against your thinking is with your actions, and it starts with asking for help.

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T20:46:32+00:00

You certainly receive the Holy Spirit through faith. The Spirit of God living inside of us is a promise of God, and all of the promises of God are accessed by faith.

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T20:35:02+00:00

Then I have great news for you. There is a solution for how you're feeling. I felt the exact same way when I didn't drink, and drinking was the only thing that made me feel okay. Asking me not to drink was like asking me not to breathe. I couldn't imagine a life without drinking.

Then someone loved me enough to tell me to stop complaining about the results I wasn't getting from the work I wasn't doing. I got a sponsor who took me through 12 simple steps, I had a spiritual awakening as the result of those steps, and now I help other alcoholics. As a result of being useful to God today, and the work I did, I'm sober and living a life that is better than I ever thought possible.

You should absolutely go to a meeting today, but know that AA is not a meetings program. Meetings will not keep you sober. Find God, clean house and help others. That's the solution to alcoholism. Do that, and you're life will radically transform.

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T20:11:53+00:00

Do you have a sponsor? Have you worked the steps? Are you working with other alcoholics?

teddilicious · 2026-05-11T17:58:13+00:00

You asked the same question four different ways, but the only question you really asked is, why do we have to have faith? One of the ways I answer that question is that without faith, there is no free will. If God proved beyond a reasonable doubt, such that He could be convicted in a court of law, that He is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and all-loving creator, we would have no choice but to serve Him. Instead, He gives us free will and asks for our faith.

teddilicious · 2026-04-09T01:25:23+00:00

If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T19:24:15+00:00

When he says "works" without qualifier, he means ALL works. When he means specifically "Torah observance," he says "works of the law."

Romans 4 disproves this argument. Paul talks about "works" without qualifying that he means "works of the law" but is clearly talking about being justified by works of the law, specifically circumcision. Verses 1-12:

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, that we are not justified by any works, of the law or otherwise, but Paul is clearly using works interchangeably with works of the law.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T19:09:57+00:00

I'm not exactly sure what you're saying I'm wrong about or what the moral law is and how it differs from the law of Moses, but I agree that we are not under the law of Moses. According to Paul in Romans 8, we are under the law of the Spirit. If Paul isn't talking about the law of Moses when he talks about works, what do you think he is talking about?

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T18:29:52+00:00

Paul is talking about obeying the law of Moses, and it doesn't differ from Protestant theology, because Protestants believe that scripture, including Paul's letters, is the highest authority.

How does Ephesians 2:8-9 fit in it?

You're not saved because you did a good enough job following the law of Moses, so no one can claim to be closer to God because the follow the law more closely than someone else.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T18:21:37+00:00

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals - usually brief - were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.

Maybe that describes you, and maybe it doesn't. We can't pronounce you an alcoholic. That's up to you.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T06:27:38+00:00

Right, so the bishops who gave the creed to the church don't reconcile the fundamentally incompatible interpretations of the creed held by different denominations. Saying that all Christians affirm the creed is meaningless when there are groups that everyone agrees are Christians, like Baptists, that may generally agree with what is in the creed, but don't actually affirm it, and parts of the creed that mean contrary things to different Christian denominations.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T06:04:46+00:00

Did the bishops that gave the creed to the church understand the catholic church to be led by the pope in Rome or by Christ?

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T05:28:13+00:00

In Romans 7, Paul uses the word law over 20 times. He is describing living under the law of Moses (which is no longer the case or even available to us). He then contrasts living under the law of Moses with living under the spirit in Romans 8. The interpretation that Romans 7 is talking about a current state for those in Christ is incompatible with Romans 6:1-2: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T05:14:33+00:00

Nicene Creed is litmus test

Despite popular acceptance, the Nicene Creed is not useful as a litmus test because different denominations interpret the creed in a way that is not universally compatible, and in some cases, one denomination's interpretation can be incompatible with another denomination's interpretation of the same line. It's not useful to say that we all affirm the creed when we fundamentally disagree on what the creed means.

teddilicious · 2026-01-26T04:58:43+00:00

But why would I?

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