Why is it good to pray to the saints / Mary to pray for us instead of praying to God directly?

No where in the Gods word does it say to pray to saints, or Mary. There is only one mediator and that's Christ Jesus. Follow Gods word not mans teachings and traditions. Allot of people need to wake up the the lies that they have been following. It will lead them to hell going against the world of God.

1 Timothy 4:1

4 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

It is not good to pray.

Prayer has the same effect as talking to the ceiling.

The effect is the same if you pray to the saints or if you pray to god directly or if you do not pray at all.

Well...I don't pray to saints.

But...*if* saints exist and *if* they can hear prayer and *if* they can and maybe do pray for you as a result, then there is a clear benefit.

Here is the most relevant Bible passage (but note that there are many others).

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jam+5...

Consider especially this portion of that verse

- The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Now: knowing that, **if** you could ask anyone who ever lived (apart from God/Jesus) to pray for you, who would you ask?

Naturally you would ask one of Jesus' most famous followers. One of the apostles would be my first choice. Such men - true miracle workers - would clearly pray for me most effectively!!!

Well...those who pray to saints **believe that these saints can and will pray for them**, and in accordance with that Bible passage **those prayers are likely to be far more effective** than the prayer of a "typical" Christian - you or I, for example.

So: IF I believed that saints could hear us and were willing to pray for us, I (a Bible-believing Christian) would certainly be praying to the apostles to pray for me.

The people who pray to saints DO believe that, and that is why they pray to saints.

Not me. I will pray to no human. Only God the Father, God the Son and through God the Holy Spirit.

One means one saints are one with God, teaching is look for only one. Alive body of present alive saint is only a way. God is not a body. Body cannot go with anyone.

People daily say, god is everywhere in everything, many Hindus consider God is in clay models, some made the clay models of Jesus as well and pray to it but holy books say man made temples are not real temples they are only a aid to memory of people that God exists. Real temple of God is body of human which is top creation of God. One who has attained the God, he made his body pure temple, so through his face (eyes and mouth) the light of God reaches us. That living temple is way.

There is no difference between those Hindus, who pray to clay models of different Gods and followers of Jesus who pray to his clay model. Both are wrong according to their holy books.

The Bible nowhere instructs believers in Christ to pray to anyone other than God. The Bible nowhere encourages, or even mentions, believers asking individuals in heaven for their prayers.

First Timothy 2:5 declares, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." There is no one else that can mediate with God for us. If Jesus is the ONLY mediator, that indicates Mary and the saints cannot be mediators. They cannot mediate our prayer requests to God. Further, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ Himself is interceding for us before the Father: "Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25). With Jesus Himself interceding for us, why would we need Mary or the saints to intercede for us? Whom would God listen to more closely than His Son? Romans 8:26-27 describes the Holy Spirit interceding for us. With the 2nd and 3rd members of the Trinity already interceding for us before the Father in heaven, what possible need could there be to have Mary or the saints interceding for us?

Then you have to wonder why God Himself gives us saints.

The Communion of Saints goes all the way back even into the OT !!!

Read the Word of God:

"Paul says that Christians should interceed: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something "good and pleasing to God," not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

Elsewhere Paul directly asks others to pray for him (Rom. 15:30–32, Eph. 6:18–20, Col. 4:3, 1 Thess. 5:25, 2 Thess. 3:1), and he assured them that he was praying for them as well (2 Thess. 1:11). Most fundamentally, Jesus himself required us to pray for others, and not only for those who asked us to do so (Matt. 5:44).

Since the practice of asking others to pray for us is so highly recommended in Scripture, it cannot be regarded as superfluous on the grounds that one can go directly to Jesus. The New Testament would not recommend it if there were not benefits coming from it. One such benefit is that the faith and devotion of the saints can support our own weaknesses and supply what is lacking in our own faith and devotion. Jesus regularly supplied for one person based on another person’s faith (e.g., Matt. 8:13, 15:28, 17:15–18, Mark 9:17–29, Luke 8:49–55)

Having others praying for us thus is a good thing, not something to be despised or set aside. Of course, we should pray directly to Christ with every pressing need we have (cf. John 14:13–14). That’s something the Catholic Church strongly encourages. In fact, the prayers of the Mass, the central act of Catholic worship, are directed to God and Jesus, not the saints. But this does not mean that we should not also ask our fellow Christians, including those in heaven, to pray with us.

In addition to our prayers directly to God and Jesus (which are absolutely essential to the Christian life), there are abundant reasons to ask our fellow Christians in heaven to pray for us. The Bible indicates that they are aware of our prayers, that they intercede for us, and that their prayers are effective (else they would not be offered)"

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/praying-to-the-sain...

It's not "instead of." It's in addition to. Catholics believe that humans in heaven are alive and can hear us. I have a friend in another town, and I can ask him to pray for me. Those in heaven are like those living is another town.

For the same reason is it good to ask your family and friends to pray for you instead of just praying to God alone.

We are not alone. We are part of a community, the Church, the Body of Christ. And this community is not just on earth, it extends to those who have gone to heaven before us, the saints.

With love in Christ.