If there is โone God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesusโ (๐ญ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ ๐ฎ:๐ฑ), why multiply intermediaries?
Consider a concrete case. ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ is hailed in Roman Catholicism (and in some Anglican/Lutheran settings) as patron of accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, and tax collectors, with a feast on September 21.
Processions, icons, novenas, prayer cards – devout practices cluster around him much as they do around:
๐) ๐๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐บ โ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ดโ
๐) ๐๐ต. ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ โ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ฐ๐ณ
๐) ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ.
What is this? How is this remotely biblical?
Why is this not viewed as utterly shameful?
Is it just me? Or, does this look structurally identical to the old patron-deity systems? Localized power, targeted petitions, and festivals, only with “Christian” names.
Scholars of late antiquity have long observed this functional replacement of local gods by saints and shrines (๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด; ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐๐ข๐ค๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ).
Doesn’t anyone care what Scripture says about all of this?
Doesn’t the New Testament itself note that:
11 ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐บ๐ค๐ข๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด!โ
12 ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ด, [๐ข]๐ก๐ฆ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ, [๐ฃ]๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด [๐ค]๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ.
13 ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ก๐ฆ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด [๐ฅ]๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐น๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ๐ด.
14 ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ [๐ฆ]๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต
15 ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, โ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด? ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ [๐ง]๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.” (๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ:๐ญ๐ญ-๐ญ๐ฑ)
Yes, Catholic and Orthodox theologians distinguish latria (worship to God) from dulia (veneration to saints) and hyperdulia (to Mary).
But every Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian (and even some Protestants) ought to be asking themselves, if the apostles refused honors in life, why solicit them in death?
And if you can go directly to the Father through Jesus the Messiah, then why in the world do you need Mary, Matthew, or anybody else?
To put it another way, if you have direct, blood-bought access to the Father through the Risen Son by the Spirit (๐๐ฝ๐ต ๐ฎ:๐ญ๐ด) then what in the world are you doing asking the spirits of the dead for favors?
Stop it.
It is unbiblical in the extreme, and – it can be strongly argued – is an insult to the redeeming work Yeshua did by dying on your behalf so that you can HAVE a resurrection to life – and a place in the Father’s house.
