# Christian Theology Question: No Possibility of the Dead Visiting The Living? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-theology-question-no-possibility-of-the-dead-visiting-the-living/669068 "2013-09-17T17:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-theology-question-no-possibility-of-the-dead-visiting-the-living/669068/21 "2013-09-19T22:15:21Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s regrettably common to speak of praying _to_ saints in Catholic circles. > > A more accurate description would be praying _for_ a saint to intercede with God on your behalf. I don’t grok this shift of preposition. If you’re not praying to the saint, but rather praying _for_ the saint to pray _to_ God on your behalf, then who are you praying _to_? Because if you’re praying _to_ God, ISTM that you’re asking God to ask the saint to pray to God on your behalf. I doubt that’s what you really mean, so can you clarify? To me, at least, it would make much more sense to pray _to_ the saint to pray to God on your behalf, even though, as a Protestant, I’m not really keen on that. I think it’s more in keeping with your description below: > [@](#): > > In non-Catholic circles, few Christians would think twice of saying to a friend, “My mom is sick; we could use your prayers.” Catholics simply extend this kind of request to the saints, persons who are in heaven and whose prayers are presumably as efficacious as those of us on Earth – and perhaps more so, for reasons of proximity if nothing else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-theology-question-no-possibility-of-the-dead-visiting-the-living/669068.md?page=1)