I nod humbly.
"Ah, please forgive my slow tongue in this land."
"When I say that the saints are dead, I speak not against the hope of their resurrection and their eternal life through Christ, or against ours."
"But at this moment, do they still walk the earth? I think not. For do not the Holy Scriptures speak of Christ as the judge of 'the quick and the dead'?"
"And even when Paul writes of our hope in the resurrection, how does he describe it? We read in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians:"
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
"If he says the dead shall be raised, then I trust I do no violence to Holy Scripture, nor disrespect to the apostles, nor denial of our hope of the resurrection, when I say that the apostles are currently not among the living on this earth, but are currently among the dead."
"If then the bodies of the apostles are not currently alive and walking among us, how then do you seek to present a petition to them for their intercession upon your behalf?"
"The Scriptures indeed encourage us to pray for one another. But you asking me to pray prayers of intercession for you, or me asking you to pray such prayers for me, is an entirely different thing than supposing we can communicate with those whose bodies have already perished from this earth."
"Jesus Christ indeed spoke with Moses and Elijah, but He is God."
"Now, does Holy Scripture ever speak of the living, other than the Son of God, speaking with the dead? Indeed it does, when King Saul sought to speak with Samuel. But Saul sought to do so through sinful divination, which Holy Scripture speaks quite clearly against."
"And, without warrant from Holy Scripture, do we dare suppose that those who have died in the LORD before us are somehow able to hear our petitions, and intercede for us with God? Do we dare say that their presence or knowledge is so wide as to hear whatever petitions are made from wherever they are made?"
"The Holy Scripture speaks very clearly, for there is only One who has such power, and presence, and knowledge. He is a jealous God, and there is none else. He will not share His glory with another. And, apart from fellow believers living still upon this earth, what intercessors does Holy Scripture speak of, except the Son alone, and the Spirit alone?"
As I listen to his response, I silently pray for the LORD to open his heart to receive the truth of Holy Scripture...