St. Anthonys Catholic Church

How should I respond to a situation where a Jehovah's Witness or Assemblies of God member approaches me citing Deuteronomy 18:10-11 for example, and asks me why we as Catholics ask the "dead" saints in heaven to pray for us? Or citing Hebrews 7:25 asking why we go to a priest to confess our sins when we should go directly to God?
What you can offer them is the Catholic theology on the subject, knowing that the Catholic Church authorized the bible, not the other way around. We have 2000+ years of unbroken reflection in addition to the bible for our authority. We, as all true Christians (which Jehovah's witnesses are not), believe that physical death does not end our existence. Jesus said that we will live with him. In the Book of Revelation, the just are with God. In Rev 8: 3-4, it mentions the prayers of all the saints being poured out on the altar of God, the "good thief" was told by Jesus on the cross that he would be in heaven with Jesus,so the saints are not "dead", merely transformed into a glorious existence. We ask their prayers because we believe that those who were in communion with us in their earthly life are still part of our community after joining God. The book of Deuteronomy passage refers to the pagan practice of trying to know and control the future by use of divination and such. Such practices try to bypass God and put the person in control. It is not about asking for prayer, which Jesus told us to do. The question brought about by the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews (which was really a sermon, not a letter), ignores what the passage is about because it is taken out of context of the entire reading. Paul was telling pagans that Jesus was our intercessor before God. God forgives our sins. The sacrament of reconciliation, (confession) is our human attempt to realize the great mercy of God and to also reconcile with the body of Christ, the church, because all sin affects the believing community. Matthew 5:23 talks about reconciling with others before offering to God. Catholics take this seriously. Since we can't always go to each person affected by our sin, we go to the priest, who represents the Church. He reassures us of God's forgiveness and offers reconciliation to the Christian community to us if we are truly repentant.

How should I respond to a situation where a Jehovah's Witness or Assemblies of God member approaches me citing Deuteronomy 18:10-11 for example, and asks me why we as Catholics ask the "dead" saints in heaven to pray for us? Or citing Hebrews 7:25 asking why we go to a priest to confess our sins when we should go directly to God?

What you can offer them is the Catholic theology on the subject, knowing that the Catholic Church authorized the bible, not the other way around. We have 2000+ years of unbroken reflection in addition to the bible for our authority.

We, as all true Christians (which Jehovah's witnesses are not), believe that physical death does not end our existence. Jesus said that we will live with him. In the Book of Revelation, the just are with God. In Rev 8: 3-4, it mentions the prayers of all the saints being poured out on the altar of God, the "good thief" was told by Jesus on the cross that he would be in heaven with Jesus,so the saints are not "dead", merely transformed into a glorious existence. We ask their prayers because we believe that those who were in communion with us in their earthly life are still part of our community after joining God. The book of Deuteronomy passage refers to the pagan practice of trying to know and control the future by use of divination and such. Such practices try to bypass God and put the person in control. It is not about asking for prayer, which Jesus told us to do.

The question brought about by the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews (which was really a sermon, not a letter), ignores what the passage is about because it is taken out of context of the entire reading. Paul was telling pagans that Jesus was our intercessor before God. God forgives our sins. The sacrament of reconciliation, (confession) is our human attempt to realize the great mercy of God and to also reconcile with the body of Christ, the church, because all sin affects the believing community. Matthew 5:23 talks about reconciling with others before offering to God. Catholics take this seriously. Since we can't always go to each person affected by our sin, we go to the priest, who represents the Church. He reassures us of God's forgiveness and offers reconciliation to the Christian community to us if we are truly repentant.