Catholic Verses - 95 Bibles Passages That Confound Protestants?
SAINTS IN HEAVEN AS A "CLOUD OF WITNESSES" WATCHING THOSE ON EARTH
Pages 135: Hebrews 12:1. Catholics believe that the saints in heaven are aware of happenings on the earth. They are not isolated and removed from earthly realities, but intimately involved in them, as Hebrews 12:1 strongly suggests. Witnesses is the Greek word martus, from which is derived the English word martyr.
Note: Witnesses is used in the New Testament for people as they are alive in the present.
Hebrews 10:26-31 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Page 136: Protestants try to explain this away, because they seem to fear the notion that saints in heaven and earth have an organic connection. They want simply to "go straight to God" and bypass all the mediating functions of the saints. This makes no more sense than it would to ignore the aid of fellow Christians on earth, whom we ask to lend a hand or pray for us.
Note: For Christians, the Holy Spirit will be our aid in being witnesses for Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:8-12 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Page 137: What inherent limitation would stop saints in heaven from watching activities on the earth? Is it not more reasonable to assume (even apart from the scriptural evidence) that those in heaven will have at least as much knowledge of, and interest in, earthly affairs as those on the earth? Barnes claims that Scripture does not inform us how much those in heaven know about the earth. Yet Revelation 5:8 and 6:9-10 show the saints assisting in offering God the "prayers of the saints" (in which case, presumably, they were aware of them) and praying for a certain outcome of events on the earth.
Note: The focus of those in heaven will be toward God not earth.
Revelation 6:9-11 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Note: Saint John was still on earth but through a vision was in heaven.
Pages 137-138: The saints are alive, and they love us! Protestants tend to think that such intercessions or involvements of the dead saints lead inexorably to idolatry. But they do not, because we are not trying to replace God with saints. Idolatry is worshiping something or someone in place of God Almighty. Venerating a saint or asking him to pray is a fundamentally different concept.
Note: The focus of those in heaven will be toward God not earth.
Revelation 5:8-12 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
Note: As do cult members, this author has tried to change the definition of the word venerate to hide its pagan roots.
Definition of venerate: to solicit the goodwill of (a god), worship, revere, verbal derivative of vener-, stem of venus, presumably in its original sense “desire”; see Venus)