Many Christians tend to misrepresent the belief of their Roman Catholic friends. And at many times, heated tensions in debates are developed, rather than gentle and respectful conversations. I hope that this exchange of dialogue between Christian and Richard will help you in conversing respectfully with your Roman Catholic friends.

Christian has been wanting to share the gospel to Richard but finds no opportunity. One day, Richard called him up to inquire about something.  

Richard: Hi Christian. How are you doing?

Christian: I’m doing good. What’s up? How are you doing lately?

Richard: Well, I’ve been watching some YouTube in the last few days. And I noticed some discussions between Catholics and Christians. I believe you call yourself a “born again” Christian believer, right? If I may ask, why do you accuse us of worshipping images? We do not worship, but we venerate and give them great respect. It’s like having a picture of your family in your wallet.  

Christian: I’m sorry if you felt offended by Christians who say such things. I understand that your teaching prohibits the faithful from worshipping these images, but the fact that you talk with them, regarding your requests and pleas, is already placing them at par with the only One who can hear you in heaven, who is indeed God alone. Do you think a physically dead saint can hear the millions of their devotees here on earth? If you believe they can, then you are treating them equally with the only infinite God who can do all these things. And whether you admit it or not, you are ascribing the glory and honor to the creatures in your practices, instead of the Creator Himself. By the way, you don’t talk to the pictures of your family members, do you?

Richard: Yeah, I don’t talk to their pictures. But what can you say about the Lord Himself telling the Israelites to make some images, like the cherubim on the ark of the covenant and the bronze snake? (see Exo. 25:18; 1 Chron. 28:18; Num. 21:8-9)

Christian: That’s true. Even some Protestant churches have statues of Moses or David and large crosses in their church building. But a careful study of those passages will inform you that the Israelites never talk to the cherubims nor the bronze snake. Unfortunately, many people today are talking to the images and statues by even creating prayers directed to them.  

Richard: Actually, you do have a point. I can’t deny it because I even do that to one of my favorite saints. However, we do not pray to the saints, rather we pray with them. It’s like asking a friend or a family member to pray for you. Besides, the saints are not dead but alive in heaven.

Christian: There is nothing wrong to ask your physically living family members or friends who are also believers to pray for you. But remember, the saints in heaven are physically dead people. Can the living saints communicate with the physically dead saints? It’s true that they are alive spiritually. Nevertheless, physically living believers on earth are not yet spirits, but they are still in their physical bodies. Are you aware that the Israelites were warned? It says,

You must never sacrifice your sons or daughters by burning them alive, practice black magic, be a fortuneteller, witch, or sorcerer, cast spells, ask ghosts or spirits for help, or consult the dead. Deuteronomy 18:10-11

Richard: But wait, we are not consulting the dead! We just talk to them. And besides, we don’t consult a medium. We go directly to the saints. 

Christian: However when one explains it, the point of the command is that the living should not consult the dead, and consulting is talking. We are warned not to communicate with the dead at all. God alone can communicate with us anytime and anywhere because He is omnipresent and omniscient. Why go to a creature? Take note that King Saul wanted to talk to Samuel. Do you think God commended his action? Are you not satisfied with Jesus Christ whom the Bible calls the mediator between God and man? I hope many people will go back to the truth of the Scriptures. I’d rather obey the teachings of the Scriptures than embrace some other teachings. 

If one needs to talk to a heavenly being, then God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are always there to listen to us. Why go to another physically dead finite saint, who has no power to listen to our pleas?  

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? Isaiah 8:19

The Bible says that God is a jealous God. In Exodus 20:1-6 in their very own New American Bible, it says, 

1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall not have other gods beside me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 5 you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; 6 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Notice that they use the word “idol”. Actually, the Hebrew word refers to a chiseled image in whatever form. Do you have something in your house in the shape of an image that you talk to? Then whether you bow down to it or not, it becomes an idol that rivals God. There is nothing wrong to ask the intercession of physically living saints on earth because they’re still here with us. But once they’re physically dead, then that’s another story.  

Richard: You know what, I think you’re right. It’s as if my eyes were enlightened. I didn’t know these things. Probably, it’s because I don’t read and study the Bible seriously. I think I have to check on what you are saying. Thank you for taking the time to inform me about it. I guess it’s high time for me to ascribe my devotion and prayer to God alone. 

Christian: Praise God! But at the very least, the physically dead saints are already with the Lord. How about you? Are you sure that when you die, you will be with God for all eternity? 

Richard: That’s a good question. The fact is, I’m not. And I want to know more about it.