Thanks to the paganism of the Roman Catholic Church, they created something called a "Saint" someone whom - based on their virtue - has been deified and found worthy of being prayed for and whom is expect to intercede for us poor unworthies still here on Earth. That is the very definition of idolatry, but that does not seem to bother over 1,000 years of Roman Catholic Popes. (We are only discussing the topic of Saints here, so draw no other conclusions because it will be wrong based on so little information.)
And there are a host of Saints! Saints for every activity or occupation, Saints for birthday celebrations, boys, girls, men, women and I think it was a retriever or perhaps a St. Bernard, legions of Saints! Honestly, I have tried to just remember the main ones and there are far too many for this sieve of a brain!
I remember some confusion as I began down the path to become a Christian over the whole issue of Saints. I "knew" something was instinctively wrong with the Catholic version and Foxe's Book of Martyrs only added more confusion. If Saints were the dead ... then ...
Joshua 2:1-21
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”
14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”
17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”
21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”
So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
Hebrews 11:31
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
Certainly, Rahib was found righteous because she feared God and chose wisely in her support of the Hebrew spies. Rahib was also not dead. If the righteous are the Saints, and she was raised to the level of belief .... My mind spun in the inadequacy of what was known about being a Saint.
And what of Ephesians 4:11-13:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Well, it is a hard topic: Catholicism versus Protestantism, dead versus live, intercession versus service to God. The comparison forces me to go with the Protestant idea of a Saint is one whom has found salvation (righteousness in God).
But, to think on this more ...
Am I a Saint? Well, at face value - yes, because I have found salvation in Jesus. But, for the cynical mind: my life is not over, so I still have plenty of time to foul up. Conversely the dead can't make anymore mistakes!
The Catholic Church has been pursuing Saint-hood for Pope John Paul II. I have watched and studied the life of this man intensely. Was he a Christian - yes, in my book. Was he a good Catholic - not so sure, he had problems with the Cult of Mary within the Church.
So, yeah, I would call him a Saint because he was a believer, but no I do not really believe he believed that anyone other than Jesus came between us and God.
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