I've often been criticized by catholics as being polytheistic, as I believe that God the father and Jesus Christ are seperate beings, but then earlier this morning, while I was taking a dump, I began thinking...

Is not the veneration of saints just a clever way to disguise polytheism? The idea that you would pray to a dead, semi-divine person for guidance and assistance in a particular area feels to me like praying to a different god for the same reason.

Isn't this basically how Hindus practice their faith? They believe there is one creator being (brahman) and a vast panoplie of gods underneath him/her. How is that any different than one creator being (god/jesus/spirit) and a vast panoplie of saints beneath him? Isn't the only difference there the fact that hinduism has had much more time to develop a larger garden of semi-divine beings?

Ding ding ding!

We've got a winner.

i logged in to say lol

quote:Originally posted by Rage Filled Mastodon:

The idea that you would pray to a dead, semi-divine person for guidance and assistance in a particular area feels to me like praying to a different god for the same reason.

Wrong, they get their magic powers from jesus, so it's all good.

Why bother praying to saints? - why not just go direct?

quote:Originally posted by Viagra And Caffeine:

Why bother praying to saints? - why not just go direct?

Because Catholicism is a joke.

quote:Isn't this basically how Hindus practice their faith? They believe there is one creator being (brahman) and a vast panoplie of gods underneath him/her. How is that any different than one creator being (god/jesus/spirit) and a vast panoplie of saints beneath him? Isn't the only difference there the fact that hinduism has had much more time to develop a larger garden of semi-divine beings?

Brahman is the abstract God, the only God. He is existence itself, he is knowledge itself, he is you and he is me. In short, Hindus are monotheistic pantheists/panetheists depending on which Hindu you ask.

All the other gods, or demi-gods, again, depending on which Hindu you ask, are either real or not real. But, whichever they are, you pick one of these gods because they're easier to love than Brahman and use the god as a spiritual path to enlightenment and total awe and love of Brahman, and therefore total love of existence itself.

Actually, the Catholic belief is that one should pray to a specific patron saint for a relevant specific need. It's sort of like "this saint has priority in this line of business".

Edit: Sort of like a middle man for a god that's very busy running an entire existence.

[This message has been edited by Too Much Ibuprofen (edited 01-20-2007).]

quote:Originally posted by Too Much Ibuprofen:

Actually, the Catholic belief is that one should pray to a specific patron saint for a relevant specific need. It's sort of like "this saint has priority in this line of business".

Edit: Sort of like a middle man for a god that's very busy running an entire existence.



The topic title still stands though

Intercession of the Saints

Relevant link: http://tinyurl.com/2et9h9

theism itself is overrated

quote:Originally posted by coolwestman:

The topic title still stands though



Not really. Catholics don't pray to saints with the hope that the saints will answer their prayers, but rather so that the saints will also pray to God on their behalf.