Prayer with the dead

In his 2009/2/11 Dividing Line, James White for some reason expresses surprise that Catholics can seek intercession from dead relatives who are not canonised saints. That he would express surprise at this is odd. How does he think saints became canonised in the first millenium prior to the Vatican taking over the declaration of saints? Obviously the recognised saints are thus because of the practice of the church. The church historically didn’t lobby the Vatican prior to seeking intercession from a saint.

Dr White seems to want to criticise the practice by saying that isn’t someone judging someone’s salvation by seeking intercession from them? Well, when Jesus said “Judge not, lest you be judged”, he was surely talking about judging negatively. The intention is to avoid self-righteousness criticism of others, not to avoid thinking well of other people.

But doesn’t Dr White do the same thing? If he seeks intercession from someone at his Church, surely he is judging that they are someone who is right with God, otherwise what good are their prayers? Does that mean Dr White claims infallible knowledge of others salvation? Of course not.

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