• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Do You Believe in the Saints?

Jonesie32

Jonesie32

New Member
Hello!

I've met a lot of fellow Protestants in my life and have talked to quite a few online and I'm curious... How many Protestants here believe in the saints? What has your mind and heart set that way (if you don't mind me asking of course)?

I personally do not. My reasoning has to be one of The Five Solas which states Christ Alone: Jesus Christ was the only mediator between God and man on earth. Another has to be Exodus 20:2-6

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

:) I'm curious to see what others believe, it's very interesting.
 
YmirGF

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
I do not accept any "Saints" and only accept the reality of Buddha, Christ, Krsna and the One to be. Everyone else is simply window dressing, imho.
 
Don Penguinoini

Don Penguinoini

Modi.
I believe in saints. I have lots of saints at my mandir, they are simple people who own nothing except a few pieces of orange cloth (clothes) They are knowledgable about my religion and i can look to them for any help in any aspect in life, they are great, most people would not stay Hindus unless they had these saints to help guide them.
 
happ

happ

Catholic/Evagelical
I wouldn't think there'd be much contrast among Christians about a belief in saints though some are uncomfortable even with the concept of sainthood. Some Christians refer to the apostles and Mary as saints as well as church fathers, martyrs, holy people [Anglicans & Lutherans have many saints’ days on their church calendars & often name their parishes after saints]. Roman Catholics & Orthodox Christians recognize a large number of saints as an on-going process of canonization.

Saints in the above Christian communions are considered special individuals who are examples for all Christians. It is believed that saints are in heaven with angels and worship God. Roman Catholics/Orthodox believe the saints can hear us praying to God and join us in praying. The concept of the "communion of saints" is all who follow Jesus [those alive on earth as well as the "whole company of heaven"].
 
Smoke

Smoke

Done here.
Jonesie32 said:
My reasoning has to be one of The Five Solas which states Christ Alone: Jesus Christ was the only mediator between God and man on earth.
Click to expand...
I have never understood why people cite the Five Solas as an authority. A belief in the authority of the Five Solas is no less arbitrary or unscriptural than a belief in the infallibility of the Pope.

In any case, Martin Luther didn't construe Solo Christo as precluding the veneration of the saints. He said:
  • Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God. (1521)
  • The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart. (1522)
  • [Mary] is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. (1531)
  • No woman is like you. You are more than Eve or Sarah, blessed above all nobility, wisdom, and sanctity. (1537)
 
happ

happ

Catholic/Evagelical
Yes and the Lutheran Confessions [Augustana] refer to Mary as :"the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, the most Blessed Virgin Mary prays for the Church, is worthy of the highest honors, born of the pure, holy, and ever virgin."

Some Lutherans may not even know what their Church's position on Mary since it has only be in recent times that Lutheran church year has returned many of the Marion holy days of the early Lutheran calendars, including August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary [though U.S. Lutherans call it St. Mary, Mother of our Lord, and only recognize the dormition or death of Mary, not the assumption as Roman Catholics do.

Martin Luther wrote that Mary is the "highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ". Luther accepted all the Roman doctrines concerned the Blessed Virgin: her status as Mother of God, her perpetual virginity, her sinlessness, her assumption into heaven. He even kept a picture of the Blessed Virgin in his private study and prayed the Hail Mary daily.

This is not the common practice among Lutherans today.
 
happ

happ

Catholic/Evagelical
Luther had an affection for Mary that is surprising for a Reformer:

"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knee"



One of Luther's last hymns of Mary
She wears of purest gold a crown​
Twelve stars their rays are twining;​
Her raiment, glorious as the sun,​
And bright from far is shining.​
Her feet the moon, Are set upon.​
She is the bride, with the Lord to bide.​
Sore travail is upon her;​
She bringeth forth a noble Son​
Whom all the world must honor,​
Their King, the only one. ​

Luther wrote on the Immaculate Conception of Mary​

"In the first place, she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin -- something exceedingly great. For God's grace fills her with everything good and makes Mary devoid of all evil. ​



In the second place, God is with her, meaning that Mary did or left undone is divine and the action of God in her. Moreover, God guarded and protected Mary from all that might be hurtful to her. ​


In the third place, she is blessed above all other women, not only because she gave birth without labor, pain, and injury to herself, not as Eve and all other women, but because by the Holy Spirit and without sin, Mary became fertile, conceived, and gave birth in a way granted to no other woman."​

I found all this information on Mary on a Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod website:​

"Whereas Mary Mother of God, Mary Ever-Virgin, and Mary's sinlessness are all clearly rooted in the necessary part she played in the Incarnation, the Assumption is not." ​
 
Lucian

Lucian

Theologian
I believe in saints, though I don't believe in praying to them. I think all true Christians are in a way saints (not by themselves, but through Christ). Then there are of course martyrs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top