lesjude,
Jesus is the Chief-Shepherd and Founder of His Catholic Church [ based on the Apostles ] Jesus formed only "One" Church , and it wasn't your man-made church or any other non-Catholic church.
Look closely at what 1 Timothy 2:5 really says: Jesus is the only mediator between God and
man. Because Jesus was the God-Man, only he can be the Mediator, the one who is between. Between men and the Father, there is the Son. This doesn’t undercut our belief that the saints in heaven intercede for us because these saints, too, are
men; they are members of
mankind. Thus, we (men) ask them (men, too) to pray to the
one Mediator (Jesus) in order to find favor with the Father. Show me where there is a Church doctrine that commands us to treat Mary as a mediator above her Son who is our Lord and Savior, who told you such a lie, show me that doctrine?
Jesus loved His mother , so being God why would'nt He bring His Mother to heaven ,
According to Scripture, Enoch and Elijah may have been assumed into heaven before the time of Christ. This is less clear in Enoch's case, since Genesis 5:24 says only that God "took" him, but doesn't say where. Sirach 44:16 and 49:14 make it clear that he was taken up from the earth, and Hebrews 11:5 adds "so that he should not see death."
In Elijah's case, 2 Kings 2:11 states that "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." First Maccabees 2:58 adds, "Elijah because of great zeal for the Law was taken up into heaven. " Taken at face value, these would seem to indicate that both Enoch and Elijah were assumed into heaven. But the Church teaches that heaven was not yet opened to the saints because Christ had not yet come. How can this be explained?
One possible explanation is to say that they didn't really go to heaven but to the abode of the dead where the souls of the righteous were waiting for the Messiah to open heaven. A difficulty is that the abode of the dead, or she'ol, is pictured in the Old Testament as being down (e.g., Nm 16:33 speaks of Korah and his followers going "down alive into she'ol"), yet Enoch and Elijah are depicted as being taken up.
Another possibility would be to say they were taken up but to a different kind of heaven than the one Christ opened. Or it is possible to say simply that they received entrance to heaven as a grace which came from the redemption Christ wrought – only they received it early, as did Mary when she was immaculately conceived. Like Mary, Enoch and Elijah may have been foretastes of the good things to come. In such a case, they would be exceptions to the rule. But God can do what ever He wants to do
answered by the staff of Catholic Answers
lesjude, I have no idea where you find your information about the Teachings of the Catholic Church but it certainly not from the Church, if you want to know what real Catholics believe then you must search the answers from the Catholic Church, not from non-Catholic sources.Here is another thing that you misunderstand--
No one prays to
dead saints, because those in heaven are more alive than we are. The Lord is God of the living, not of the dead. The fervent prayer of a righteous man is very powerful (Jas 5:16). Those in heaven are surely righteous, since nothing unclean can enter heaven (Rv 21:27). Those in heaven are part of the Mystical Body of Christ and have not been separated from us by death, but surround us as a great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1). They stand before the throne of God and offer our prayers to him (Rv 5:8) and cheer us on as we run the good race. Intercession among members of the body of Christ is pleasing to God (1 Tm 2:1-4) and even commanded by him (Jn 15:17). Those in heaven have a perfected love, so how could they
not intercede for us? Christ is the vine, and we are the branches; if we are connected to him, we are inseparably bound together as well. Can the eye say to the hand, "I need you not"? Neither are we to say we don’t need the prayers of our brothers and sisters (alive here or in heaven), because salvation is a family affair.
