your private 'relationship' standard as you call it
Matthew 6:6 says >>"And when you pray,do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues & on the street corners to beseen by men, I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door & pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, Will reward you " ... I do this constantly Amazing....
Have you ever seen me pray? No one is saying that praying in private vs public is right or wrong. If one does pray in public for a wrong and hypocritical motive ... than that is wrong. And if pure privacy is the only right thing ... then why would one even acknowledge in public, before thousands of Internet viewers, that one constantly prays in private? Would this not also be the same as doing it to be seen by men ... by openly making such a proclamation? Rather, is not the heart, the motive, what God judges? Then, cannot one pray in public with a right motive? Jesus prayed before a crowd of 5,000 ... the Apostles prayed before thousands on the day of Pentecost ... so clearly, they understood Jesus in the light of what he was teaching ... and not making a rule that one can only find honest prayer in one's bedroom ... for if we take Jesus always literally, we will soon have to pluck out our eyes for sinning!
