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Question: What about praying for those who have died?

1. God has made promises in His word as to what He will and what He
will not do.
     a. There are examples where children of God have referred to
those promises as they prayed unto God, knowing that it is
impossible for God to lie, asking with boldness and confidence that
God would fulfill His word (Ex. 32:9-12).

2. It is right to pray in harmony with the scriptures; to pray that
God would fulfill His word. 
     a. God has promised that those who die in the Lord are blessed
(Rev. 14:13; Lk. 16). To be thankful for that, to refer to that in
prayer, cannot be wrong. cf. 1 Thes. 4: Comfort one another with
these words.

3. But having said that, some words of caution are in order:
     a. First, one must recognize that nothing can be done to alter
the state/condition of one who is dead. This is taught in many
passages. Lk. 16: etc. 
          1) Salvation is individual in nature.


4. A Publication called Christian History (XII:1;31) contained an
article entitled "Praying to the 'Dead'." "Praying to the saints
began with the practice of praying for them. Any Christian who died
was remembered in prayer, and services took place on the 3rd, 7th,
9th, 13th and 14th day after death. For martyrs, annual
remembrances of their death were celebrated...
     "Soon churches drew up lists of martyrs, believing that prayer
for martyrs was of 'great benefit to those for whom it is offered'
(Cyril of Jerusalem [ca. mid 300's A.D.)."
     "Gradually, the church believed that martyrs, having made the
ultimate sacrifice, already lived fully in God's presence. They
didn't need the church's prayers as much as the church needed
theirs. 'Only God can pardon, though we see that the merits of the
martyrs have great weight before his tribunal' (Cyprian of Carthage
[ca. mid 200's A.D.)."...
     "Despite fears of idolatry, the practice of praying to saints
was affirmed by later church leaders, such as Augustine and
Aquinas."--Mark Galli





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