Catholics, why do you worship Saints and the Virgin Mary?

Catholics do not worship saints. Saints are humans who have gone to Heaven. We look up to heroes of all kinds and saints are heroes.

You could check it out by either attending a mass or watching one on youtube. It's a good idea to verify such things before bearing false witness. I believe that is breaking one of the commandments.

Because the R.C. Church fathers told them that they should pray to the statues of Mary and Saints. And they have the audacity to call the Jehovah Witnesses a Cult.

Many Christians are trying to piece together Christianity from private readings of scripture. As a result, they only have pieces of Christianity rather than the rich experience Jesus planned for his Church.

We Catholics worship God the Father and Him alone (despite what other people may tell you), and we believe that the only means of salvation is through the Precious Blood of Jesus, shed on the Cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The rest of what we believe is summed up in the Apostles Creed.

That means we are Christians who belong to the Catholic Church. Anybody who tries to tell you that we aren't Christians is either misinformed or deliberately lying.

Yet another "Why...?" with a wrong premise. Catholics (and Orthodox) do not worship the saints and the Virgin Mary. We honor them (see Paul and Peter on "honour" in KJV) as beloved members of Christ's body. Worship (latreia in Greek) is NOT the same as honor/veneration. We worship God only, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The verb "to pray" does not mean worship. It means -- in the older meaning used by older forms of Christianity -- "to make requests of". That usage lives on in English phrases like "pray tell" -- "do tell me".

So when we "pray to" the saints, we understand what we mean, that we make requests of members of the body of Christ. See James 5:16. The righteous departed are not cut off from us; we believe that they are the "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebr 12:1) that know of our continued spiritual struggles here. What do we ask for? That they pray to God for us, little different than you asking your pastor or a prayer partner to pray for you. Couldn't you just pray yourself? Of course! But do you not ask for help from your friends? We do, too.

Forgive me.

/Orthodox

you sound like a born again! I will not change on a whim...I have no reason to ..I have no reason to not worship the Saints @ the Virgin Mary..when Jesus is busy they help pick up the load.

Another one of your lies you do realize you'll have to answer to God for that.

The Catholic Church teaching is that the holy people (saints) are joined together by the heavenly gift of Sanctifying Grace which is the Body of the Church in which Jesus is the head of that Body. When a person dies in friendship with Jesus they are one of His holy people but they might need a final purification before entering into Heaven which is called Purgatory being they might still have unhealthy attachments to their past sins being nothing unclean can enter into Heaven. Of course if they died pure they directly enter into Heaven where they are joined with the saints of the heavenly court of Jesus. Catholics unlike Protestant heretics don't believe saints are dead rather Catholic believe they had risen in regards to the resurrection of the righteous these are the first fruits of Jesus. As for the Blessed Virgin Mary she was elevated by Jesus her Divine Son above the angels and saints so she never is placed upon the same level as a saint. The Blessed Virgin Mary also represents the Church itself being through her Jesus received His Human Nature and the Church is the community of holy people.

Now let me enlighten you the difference between veneration and adoration (worship). In the commandments we are instructed to honor our father and our mother that is veneration. During the 2nd century the early Christians seen how people honored (venerated) their rulers and soldiers of nations and being that Jesus is both fully God and "fully Man" the holy people (saints) followed by His example by their deeds done in God which is why the early Christians decided to honor (venerate) them. So by honoring (venerating) the holy people (saints) you are also honoring (venerating) Jesus. By honoring (venerating) His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary you are also honoring (venerating) Jesus.

Since the 2nd century the early Christians had holy icons of Jesus, His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. As rulers and soldiers of nations had memorials made of them the Christians had done the same and made memorials of Jesus, His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Saints in honor of them. By the 3rd century it was discovered in Christian catacombs that the early Christians also made statues as memorials.

Now iconoclasm was a real problem within Christianity in which the Byzantine Emperors actually stripped churches of their holy icons and actually murdered Christians for defending their holy icons. At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD it was deemed heretical to deface or destroy holy icons in doing so it would be equivalent to defacing or destroying a memorial which in turn dishonors not only the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Saint but also Jesus (God). Even some of the Protestants were guilty of this the Calvinists when they defaced and destroyed holy icons as well as relics of Saints in Catholic churches.

Research invocation and intercession of the Saints.

Catholics worship God. Idk why Anything else matters...

Your question is in relevance to a Jew asking you why you worship jesus since he has yet to prove he is the messiah by not returning.

We don't. Why would you say we do? What constitutes "worship" and by whose definition?

I am the way, the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.

Hey, I said it too I guess that means I'm god!

Why do Christians worship a false prophet (Jesus) and a stick? (The cross).