Is the Watchtower claim that memorized prayers displease God, consistent with the bible and even JW culture?

by Island Man 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Island Man

  If memorized prayers displeases God then how is it that the Psalms are filled with prayers that are written in acrostics to make them easy to memorize for recitation? Why would God inspire men to write prayers down in a format that makes them easy to remember for easy recitation again and again on different occasions, if he dislikes memorized prayers?
  
  Also, what about the JW practice of singing praises to Jehovah by repeating the same songs in written form and/or from memory over and over again at Kingdom Hall meetings and conventions? If memorized prayers displease him then logically it would also be true of the songs of praise that JWs sing to him over and over again from memory and from the written pages of song books.
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  The Searcher

  The songs were basically an early form of group karaoke, :) but prayers are supposed to private & deeply personal.

  Psalm singing by Christians was encouraged, (Ephesians 5:19) but Jesus did tell Christians not to say the same things over & over again in their prayers. (Matthew 6:7)
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  Island Man

  The Searcher, some of the Psalms are actually prayers as clearly indicated by their superscriptions. Yet some of them are written in acrostic format for easy memorization. So the bible condones the act of repeating memorized prayers.

  Regarding Matthew 6:7, the greek text actually literally refers to "multiplying words". This expression in my view, refers to the act of making very long wordy prayers - not repeating a prayer by rote. Interestingly, in the gospel of Mark, Jesus chides the pharisees for making long prayers as a pretext of righteousness.

  If Jesus was referring to saying the same prayer over and over then his view would contradict the fact that the bible condones memorizing prayers in the Psalms for easy recitation and singing the same Psalms of praise over and over from memory.

  Or are we to believe that God values recited songs of praise but is against recited prayers? Where's the logic and consistency in that view?