Why do Catholics believe in saints and Christians don't?

Answer 1

Catholic Church

Origin: Christian Pentecostal foundation

Prime Philosophy: Catholicism

Founder: Jesus Christ

Founding Date: around 30 AD

Church Structure: ecclesiastical hierarchy of bishops, priests and deacons

Mission: bring the message of Christ to all the ends of the earth, and call all persons to baptism to become children of God.

Religious Doctrines

God: Trinitarian Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Holy Orders, Holy Matrimony, Anointing of the Sick

Salvation: Justified through Grace alone, Saved by Christ alone

Scriptures: 73 books, supernaturally inspired

Dogmatic Origins: Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition

Church: Baptized Christians united in the mystical body of Christ expressed through the Eucharist and unified as the church catholic under the pope, the successor of St. Peter.

Theological Beliefs

Creation: Man was created by God with a soul; Adam was the first man; the possible validity of the theory of evolution of man has not yet been discounted.

Man's State: Fallen state due to original sin

Sin: Original sin is derived from Adam's fall and creates human concupiscence; the tendency toward evil. Personal sin takes two forms: mortal sin, which destroys grace in a person's soul and venial sin which weakens a person and increases temptation.

Grace: Sanctifying grace is brought through baptism, which purifies a person's soul, forgives all sin and makes a person a child of God. Baptism is necessary to purge original sin. The sacrament of Reconciliation forgives mortal and venial personal sins and restores sanctifying grace lost through mortal sin. All other sacraments (especially Eucharist) increase redeeming grace.

Redemption and Salvation: redemption is a free gift available to all

Justification: Justification is wrought by the Holy Spirit through baptism's saving grace. Faith, hope and charity justify and sanctify a baptized Christian.

Repentance: the Holy Spirit moves us to repentance and conversion

Sacraments

Baptism: Trinitarian baptism; the baptized person becomes a new creature in Christ and receives the free gift of sanctifying grace wrought by Christ's sacrificial death.

Eucharist: the real presence of Christ's body, blood, soul and divinity under the guise of bread and wine, unites the Catholic Church in an intimate relationship with Christ and brings the grace needed to live as a faithful believer.

Confirmation: The confirmed person receives the Holy Spirit through the sacrament and is more perfectly united with Christ as a faithful believer and disciple of Christ.

Reconciliation: Sacrament instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sin paid for by Christ's sacrificial death on the cross.

Anointing of the Sick: Instituted by Christ to confer a special grace for the sick and aging.

Holy Orders: sacrament of apostolic ministry, which confers the special grace needed for the Christian ministerial priesthood.

Holy Matrimony: a sacrament between two baptized Christians, which unites a man and woman in one flesh. The grace of matrimony bring the spouses together to live a more unified Christian life and continue God's call to bear children who are baptized into his family.

Answer 2

Roman Catholic AnswerSaints was a name given in the New Testament to Christians generally (see Colossians 1:2) but early in the Church it was restricted to persons who were eminent for holiness. Presently, it is used for anyone in heaven, e.g. the angels and those who have died and have been canonized by the Church.

Answer 3

Catholics are Christians. And some denominations believe in Saints while others don't. Many Protestants fail to understand that a Saint is merely a person who is already in Heaven and intercedes on the behalf of the individual invoking him or her..

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I think one of the problems may be that many protestants have this funny notion that people who have died are in some kind of suspended limbo or something until the end of the world, they aren't reading their Bible, read Revelation 6:9-11, Luke 16:19-31. Saints are just people who are already in heaven, and just as you can ask your brother or sister to pray for you, how much more your Guardian Angel or patron saint?

Answer 4

Roman Catholic AnswerThe current use of the term "saint" (as opposed to the Biblical use) refers to someone who has led a good life doing God's Will for them, died, and is now in heaven. Catholics believe that all who are in heaven are saints, and those who be name as saints, we ask their intercession with God, in Whose presence they now stand. Side note: protestants use the word "pray" in the sense of worship, when Catholics "pray" to the saints (ask for their intercession with God) they are NOT worshipping them, they are using the word pray in the English sense of "to make a request in a humble manner".

Answer 5

Saints are people who lived good lives on earth and were saved by Jesus and are now in heaven with him. Now we can ask them to pray to Jesus for us since they are in heaven with Him.