Paul,

Understood, although the text that I mentioned where Paul appeals to Christ on three occasions is not the same event as the Damascus road experience. In my opinion, while this discussion may be relevant with reagrd to the overall emphasis of the NT (as the point is valid that the emphasis in the NT is toward the Father and not Jesus), ultimately its almost an irrelevant point. Beyond having various exceptions to the rule througout the NT, we also have the example of the Church universal from the very beginning who also prayed to Christ. To try to pigeon hole all of the NT examples as some extreme or unusal exceptions still does not mean that anyone who thus prays to Jesus is somehow praying improperly or in a way that is displeasing to God. As always, beyond the NT, we also need to examine this practice against the Vincentinian Rule. If we do so, I believe that we will see that pretty much all Christians everywhere (not just those pesky evangelicals) did indeed pray to Christ. IMO, whether one addresses their prayers to “God”, “Lord”, “Father”, “Abba”, “Jesus” etc., means very little to me. As the fellow said in the article, to pray is simply to talk to God. If we can sing to Christ, praise Christ, Worship Christ, we can also pray to him. If we cannot then I guess that Stephen, Paul, John (maybe) and pretty much the whole Christian Church through history is in trouble.