Is there a list of "Protestant" saints? Does it differ from one denomination to the next? If so, how are they selected? Is there a cutoff date (say around the reformation) where Catholics are excluded?

-- mark advent (adventm5477@earthlink.net), May 15, 2004

Answers

Bump!

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), May 16, 2004.

To my understanding, Protestants believe that saints refers to all believers in Christ.

(Rom 1:7,1 Cor 1:2,Acts 9:13,Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41, Acts 26:10, Rom 8:27, Rom 12:13, Rom 15:25, Rom 15:26, Rom 16:15, 1 Cor 16:15, 2 Cor 1:1, 2 Cor 9:12, 2 Cor 13:13, Eph 1:1, Eph 4:12, Phil 1:1, Phil 4:2, Col 1:2, Rev 22:21)

Hence, a list of all the saints would be very long!

-- Oliver Fischer (spicenut@excite.com), May 16, 2004.

Is there a fundamental differance in how Catholics and Protestants view saints?

-- mark advent (adventm5477@earthlink.net), May 16, 2004.

yes, mark,

the majority of protestants (whom i will just call protestants for the rest of this post) believe that once you die you have no effect on this world. they do not believe in intercession, they do not believe in praying to the saints.

what protestants do believe, as has been stated, is that the entire church is made up of saints. this idea has led to alot of doctrinal errors such as the idea of "once saved always saved" or the calvinistic idea of election. thus, since once you die supposedly you have no connection and/or no concern for anything in the world anymore (imagine that, not caring if your bretherin in faith are also saved) the saints who are in heaven have no meaning to protestants. thats the best answer i can think of at this point.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), May 16, 2004.

yes, mark, the majority of protestants (whom i will just call protestants for the rest of this post) believe that once you die you have no effect on this world. they do not believe in intercession, they do not believe in praying to the saints.

----x-

Some non-Catholics, such as myself, believe that God's intention in His eternal purpose is to work His life into man, that through the divine organic union, His life will be lived out through man. By man's cooperating with the inner-operating God, He can, and does have an effect on this world, yet not He, but Christ in Him (Gal 2:20).

As far as intercession goes, we pray for one another, but not to one another, let alone those who have already departed to be with the Lord. Our prayers are directed through Christ to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we don't pray to the saints (by our definition, all believers), but we do pray for saints.

----x-

what protestants do believe, as has been stated, is that the entire church is made up of saints.

----x-

That is correct. The position takes the definition of Saint as one who is sanctified. At the beginning of many of the Apostle Paul's epistles, He was writing to the "saints." as outlined in my earlier reponse. These letters were intended for all the believers, obviously not people who have since departed and been canonized as saints later on. The above cited passages point to the saints referring to believers. Certain clues point to this, such as the fact that Paul referred to His need to minister to the saints, perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry etc.

----x-

this idea has led to alot of doctrinal errors such as the idea of "once saved always saved" or the calvinistic idea of election.

----x-

Respectfully, I doubt any protestant believes that the doctrine of eternal security was derived by the nature of the term saints but rather from the fundamental doctrine of the atonement of Christ's death.

----x-

thus, since once you die supposedly you have no connection and/or no concern for anything in the world anymore (imagine that, not caring if your bretherin in faith are also saved) the saints who are in heaven have no meaning to protestants. thats the best answer i can think of at this point.

-----x-

I would certainly agree that too many Christians are lacking enormously in the growth in life, thinking that the atonement is the be all and end all of the Christian life. The problem I believe derives from the fact that they spend all their time looking at the crucifixion and atonement (which I would in my part agree with them that it satisfied God's righteous requirement for man), however they ignore the intrinsic significance of the resurrection, which is that Christ's life would be wrought into our being for our renewing, transformation, conformation and glorification.

Today the shallow gospel is preached. It's like people want to just win souls and not care about the growth in life. It's like giving birth to babies and never nourishing them or perfecting them unto the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

What the world needs today is not the shallow gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom, to constitute people with the preciousness of Christ, that they may be constituted with all the unsearchable riches of Christ, as precious materials for God's building and habitation.

-----x-

-- Oliver Fischer (spicenut@excite.com), May 16, 2004.

There are some Anglicans who agree with the Catholic idea of Saints. But all Christians (Catholics included) believe that in some sense, all Christians are saints. I just wanted to make that clarification - - this idea is clear from Scripture. However, the Catholic Church honors those as Saints (notice the difference "s" v. "S") who bring glory to God by living exemplary lives that all saints should follow.

God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), May 16, 2004.

P.S. I just wanted to add something to make a comparison.

There can be Saints and saints just as there can be a Son of God (Jesus), but at the same time, we Christians are all sons of God.

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), May 16, 2004.

Very good posts, Emily. Let me just add that the Catholic Church recognises as Saints ( with a capital S) those Christians that lived the Christian virtues in a HEROIC degree. I think that is the difference we sometimes forget.

Enrique

-- Enrique Ortiz (eaortiz@yahoo.com), May 17, 2004.

Paul H, would you agree with these statements regarding saints and Saints? From your earlier post it seemed that your perspective holds to a view of not all believers being saints, but only those shining few, referred to in this thread as Saints.

-- Oliver Fischer (spicenut@excite.com), May 18, 2004.