Does Mary hear our prayers from heaven?
What does the Bible say about it, is the real question, as God is the final authority. He does not give us permission to change the Word, nor bypass God.
God's Word forbids the practice of talking to the dead. In Deuteronomy 18:10-14, the people of God were commanded to abstain from sorcery and all such practices. Deuteronomy 18:12... for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.
Some teach that because she is not constrained by the limits of time and space that we experience on earth, Mary is blessed to be able to receive and intercede for the prayers of the multitudes who seek her intercession. However, God's Word teaches that there's only one mediator/intercessor between God and man:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”. 1 Timothy 2:5-6.
So I'm wondering why some insist it's the other way around. The term "mediator" means someone who acts as a link between two parties to resolve their differences. Jesus Christ is the only one to have bridged the gap between God and mankind, with His humanity on one side and His divine nature on the other.
In fact, the very purpose of Jesus' blood sacrifice, was to bridge the gap between God the Father and mankind, making it possible for intercession with His Father, through Jesus. It was He alone that gave Himself as a ransom [a substitutionary sacrifice to atone] for all, and deserves all the praise.
Father God did not appoint anyone else. Jesus alone, was worthy to fulfill God's plan, and certainly did not need any help. Further, though Mary was blessed to be the mother of Jesus and we look up to her and love her, God said not to worship the saints. Mary is not a deity.
The Bible says that people should worship God alone and not ascribe anything that belongs to God, to anyone else. The Bible does not instruct people to revere, pray to, or rely on anyone other than God:
I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8). Prayers to saints are an offense to Christ. The Bible says, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Exodus 20:4-5: "You must not make any idols. Don't make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water. Don't worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the LORD, am your God".
Matthew 4:10: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only".
Revelation 4:11: "Only God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power"
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is a part of the Ten Commandments, found in the Hebrew Bible in Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:6.
Do saints hear our prayers and know our thoughts?
The practice of invoking the intercession of the saints, assumes that the souls in heaven can know our interior thoughts.
Jesus said "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only" (Matthew 4:10). Angels were created by God (just as we were), and only our Creator is worthy of our adoration. We also aren't to pray to angels or saints -- and we don't need to! Why pray to Angels or saints, when Jesus, our Mediator, can take our prayers straight to His Father? That really is an insult to Jesus, after all the excruciating suffering He went through and sacrificed for us on the cross, so we could have access and fellowship with our heavenly Father. Praying to Mary and the saints is not scriptural. We can pray directly to Jesus, who then takes our requests to Father God.
Christians are in agreement that worshiping angels is contrary to Scripture, and Revelation 19:9-10 and 22:8-9 are particularly clear that we are not to do so.
While Scripture shows that saints and angels are aware of what is happening on earth (Rev. 6:9–11, 7:13–14, 11:15–18, 16:5–6, 18:20), we are still never to pray to them nor worship them. Saints are aware of our prayer requests, only through union with God.
In the perfect state of heaven, people have whatever information is relevant to them. Thus God can make a saint aware that someone is asking for his intercession.
Revelation 8:3-4 KJV
An angel with a golden censer comes to the altar and is given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar.
Who gave the Angel the incense? Not the saints, but another angel:
In the King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 8:4 states, "And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand". The Bible says to pray only to God.
The Bible does not explicitly direct people to ask those in heaven to pray with us. God hears people when they pray, and there is no biblical evidence that petitions from people in heaven would have any extra weight. The Bible says that saints offer prayers FOR us, not FROM us:
"... and offering prayers for the saints on earth (Rev. 4:10, 5:8, 6:9-11).
We could make up all the excuses why we think we should offer prayers up to the saints, however God said not to do it.
God's Word forbids the practice of talking to the dead. In Deuteronomy 18:10-14, the people of God were commanded to abstain from sorcery and all such practices. Deuteronomy 18:12... for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.
Some teach that because she is not constrained by the limits of time and space that we experience on earth, Mary is blessed to be able to receive and intercede for the prayers of the multitudes who seek her intercession. However, God's Word teaches that there's only one mediator/intercessor between God and man:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time”. 1 Timothy 2:5-6.
So I'm wondering why some insist it's the other way around. The term "mediator" means someone who acts as a link between two parties to resolve their differences. Jesus Christ is the only one to have bridged the gap between God and mankind, with His humanity on one side and His divine nature on the other.
In fact, the very purpose of Jesus' blood sacrifice, was to bridge the gap between God the Father and mankind, making it possible for intercession with His Father, through Jesus. It was He alone that gave Himself as a ransom [a substitutionary sacrifice to atone] for all, and deserves all the praise.
Father God did not appoint anyone else. Jesus alone, was worthy to fulfill God's plan, and certainly did not need any help. Further, though Mary was blessed to be the mother of Jesus and we look up to her and love her, God said not to worship the saints. Mary is not a deity.
The Bible says that people should worship God alone and not ascribe anything that belongs to God, to anyone else. The Bible does not instruct people to revere, pray to, or rely on anyone other than God:
I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8). Prayers to saints are an offense to Christ. The Bible says, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Exodus 20:4-5: "You must not make any idols. Don't make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water. Don't worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the LORD, am your God".
Matthew 4:10: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only".
Revelation 4:11: "Only God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power"
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is a part of the Ten Commandments, found in the Hebrew Bible in Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 5:6.
Do saints hear our prayers and know our thoughts?
The practice of invoking the intercession of the saints, assumes that the souls in heaven can know our interior thoughts.
Jesus said "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only" (Matthew 4:10). Angels were created by God (just as we were), and only our Creator is worthy of our adoration. We also aren't to pray to angels or saints -- and we don't need to! Why pray to Angels or saints, when Jesus, our Mediator, can take our prayers straight to His Father? That really is an insult to Jesus, after all the excruciating suffering He went through and sacrificed for us on the cross, so we could have access and fellowship with our heavenly Father. Praying to Mary and the saints is not scriptural. We can pray directly to Jesus, who then takes our requests to Father God.
Christians are in agreement that worshiping angels is contrary to Scripture, and Revelation 19:9-10 and 22:8-9 are particularly clear that we are not to do so.
While Scripture shows that saints and angels are aware of what is happening on earth (Rev. 6:9–11, 7:13–14, 11:15–18, 16:5–6, 18:20), we are still never to pray to them nor worship them. Saints are aware of our prayer requests, only through union with God.
In the perfect state of heaven, people have whatever information is relevant to them. Thus God can make a saint aware that someone is asking for his intercession.
Revelation 8:3-4 KJV
An angel with a golden censer comes to the altar and is given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar.
Who gave the Angel the incense? Not the saints, but another angel:
In the King James Version of the Bible, Revelation 8:4 states, "And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand". The Bible says to pray only to God.
The Bible does not explicitly direct people to ask those in heaven to pray with us. God hears people when they pray, and there is no biblical evidence that petitions from people in heaven would have any extra weight. The Bible says that saints offer prayers FOR us, not FROM us:
"... and offering prayers for the saints on earth (Rev. 4:10, 5:8, 6:9-11).
We could make up all the excuses why we think we should offer prayers up to the saints, however God said not to do it.
