Prayers to and for the dead

This is a topic that I have a hard time with. I do not believe that someone that has passed away can hear our prayers.


It is said in Ecclesiates 9:5- 6" 5The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten6Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun"


So what this is saying that the dead have no awareness of what is happening on earth, "under the sun". What is under the sun? The earth. To say that the dead know nothing, should be all the support that someone needs to know that praying to the dead (i.e. Mary and saints and family members) is pointless, as they cannot hear since they know nothing.

It is a common thought that Mary, the physical mother of Jesus Christ, can hear prayers. The scripture goes against this belief.

This practice is also used when someone dies and goes to"purgatory". First, the idea of a place such as this, is not within scripture. Second, the practice is to pay the church to hold a mass and to have people in to pray for the one that has passed away.

Matthew 23:14

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.Therefore, you will receive grater condemnation".

This describes a purgatory mass perfectly. The belief is that anyone who dies who is not pure will go to purgatory. No one is pure! So this would have to mean that everyone would have to go to purgatory to pay for sins and become pure for God. This is ridiculous.

Christ was the sacrifice for our sins. To claim that we have to work off our sins is not only saying that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not enough, it is also a demonstration of salvation by works.

You cannot pray someone into heaven or to be saved. That is something that is to be done in our hearts. No matter how hard you try and pray, no matter how many do this, it will not change what is in that persons' heart.

Now, we are told that hell is a waiting place for the fallen until judgment and are cast into the Lake of Fire. This is not becoming "pure". Hell is a place of torment.

Just like the bible speaks of Abraham's Bosom. This is a resting place for the saved until judgment.

No one knows for sure since once you've passed you cannot come back to earth, and tell the world what happens. So, this is coming from the bible itself. The best source of truth that we have.

2nd Timothy 1:16-18
16"May God show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.17 One the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day".

This is the main verse that the Catholic Church uses to justify praying for the dead.

The first thing to notice with this, is that verse 16 says "mercy on the household". Was the whole household dead?

The second, is in verse 18, "that he will find mercy". This is just saying that he hopes that the person he is talking about finds mercy with God. This is not a prayer.


I hope that I have made this issue clear from a biblical standpoint. May God be with you all.


In Him Alone....