Why do Christians pray to Jesus?

A friend of mine brought up an interesting question. "Jenny said that's why she's Christian, and not Catholic. Catholics pray to Saints, and there's something not right about that. But as I drove home, I thought- Christians pray to Jesus. Isn't that kind-of the same thing? You can get around it by saying Jesus=God.. but then why not just pray to God?"

The part of this that I'd like to address is "Christians pray to Jesus" with Jesus being human. "but then why not just pray to God?"

I need to give a little background before I can give my thoughts. When Adam and Eve first sinned, they broke the bridge from mankind to God in that they were no longer worthy of His presence. God is perfect. They, obviously, were not. For a man to be in His presence, innocent blood must be shed in sacrifice to atone for the sin. This is the reason for all of the lambs sacrificed in the days of Moses, etc.

Before sin, we walked and talked directly with God. This is where Jesus came in. He was concieved by God in Mary. He was NOT made from man's seed, in this case Joseph. I shake my head in disgust when people incinuate that she was a whore. If she was, then Jesus would have been killed in some way or another before he was 10. He would not be hailed as the Saviour. He came as the innocent sacrifice to take our place. He gave his life for all of us so that we may talk with God. He is the replacement bridge.

Alright, now to the question. Why don't we pray directly with God? Well, we do. But, we do it through Jesus in that Jesus is perfect and worthy to be in God's presence. This is why you will hear at the end of many prayers "...in Jesus' name I pray."