? about the Lords's Prayer and JWs

by rekless 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  Pubsinger

  I don't think one should confuse repetive or even ritual with insincere.

  Most JWs say a prayer before every meal which is essentially "Thanks God for our food" and will say this prayer literally 1000s of times. That doesn't mean it's not sincere and heartfelt.

  So why the big deal about the Lord's Prayer becoming repetitive and by inference meaningless because it is said repeatedly.

  By that reasoning we ought to all stop saying "I love you" to our spouse because after the first few times it is meaningless, repetitive and insincere.

  Also I dont know any Christians who ONLY pray the Lord's Prayer without also using free, open, unscripted prayer. Infact the ratio is probably 100:1 Open prayer:Lords Prayer, which is surely what Jesus wanted.
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  Justin

  I agree that the official reason given for not saying the Lord's Prayer is the repetitiveness involved. This is especially the case in that Jesus gave the Prayer immediately after instructing the disciples not to use "vain repetitions." (Matt. 6:7-13)

  I do not think this understanding is unique to JWs, but is probably a minority Christian position. I remember watching a TV minister stating that some of his own people would not say the Prayer for the above reason. But he stated that, while Matthew's version has Jesus saying, "In this manner, therefore, pray," emphasizing a manner or way of praying, Luke's has, "When you pray, say . . ." (Luke 11:2; Matt. 6:9) That is, while the Lord's Prayer is a model prayer, it is also a specific prayer we are instructed to pray.

  It is to be understood that Jesus, like Jewish rabbis of his time, was giving his followers a prayer whereby they could be identified as his disciples. As far as repetition is concerned, the emphasis should be on the word "vain" - repetition is vain if the belief is held that God will hear based on the number of prayers said. But that repetition occurs even on the part of those who belief solely in spontaneous prayer is very evident by observing them use the same stock words and phrases over and over again.

  Justin