because of the flooding I am repeating this post so it doesn’t get buried:
I think its pretty clear Christ hated mindless prayers said in rote over and over. God is not deaf and God heard the sinner’s prayer the first time.
Did God not hear Christ’s prayer the first time?
Mat 26:44 And leaving them, he went again: and he prayed the third time, saying the selfsame word.
Christ no more wanted the Lord’s Prayer said over and over by rote any more than a teacher wants his students to stop growing and just say the math tables over and over by rote for their whole lives and never do real math. It was a teaching example plain and simple.
You said, God heard us the first time, but Christ told us, “…for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him.”
Mat 6:5 And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
Mat 6:6 But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
Mat 6:7 And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard.
Mat 6:8 Be not you therefore like to them for your Father knoweth what is needful for you, before you ask him.
Now, as I’m providing scriptures, would you please provide scriptures where Jesus did not want us to pray the ‘Our Father’ over and over?
as far as Paul, he was a pharisee of the pharisees. He would have been appalled at any images or likeness used for worship or of people.
Yes Paul was a Pharisee, before he converted to Christianity. The Apostles were Jews, before they converted to Christianity. What’s your point by mentioning he was a Pharisee? How does what one was before they became Christian have to do with anything we’re discussing?
Are you a Pharisee? It’s fair question, as we know Paul called himself a Pharisee after he had converted to Christianity.
Act 23:6 And Paul, knowing that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, cried out in the council: Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees: concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
Solomon put the images in the Temple he was instructed to put there but they were not of people in likeness of people. that is the prohibition.
Actually, the prohibition includes, '…nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath,
**Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: **
Do you have any images around? Pictures of Christ? Pictures of family members? A picture on your driver’s license? Christmas ornaments that are images of angels, or anything else? A nativity scene for Christmas? A cross?
Do you lift your eyes up to heaven, at night or day?
**Deu 4:19 Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven. **
Since you are preaching adherence to an old covenant commandment, I wonder if you, and your Church, are following these commandments.
Does your preacher/pastor wear fine linen vestments as commanded by the Lord?
**Exo 39:1 And he made, of violet and purple, scarlet and fine linen, the vestments for Aaron to wear when he ministered in the holy places, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Exo 40:13 Thou shalt put on them the holy vestments, that they may minister to me, and that the unction of them may prosper to an everlasting priesthood. **
Does your Church use candles and incense as commanded by the Lord?
**Exo 40:24 (40:22) He set the candlestick also in the tabernacle of the testimony, over against the table on the south side,
Exo 40:25 (40:23) Placing the lamps in order, according to the precept of the Lord.
Exo 40:26 (40:24) He set also the altar of gold under the roof of the testimony, over against the veil,
Exo 40:27 (40:25) And burnt upon it the incense of spices, as the Lord had commanded Moses. **
How about the bread as commanded by the Lord?
**Exo 40:23 (40:21) Setting there in order the loaves of proposition, as the Lord had commanded Moses. **
Does your Church have the tabernacle of the covenant and the altar?
**Exo 40:32 (40:30) When they went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and went to the altar, as the Lord had commanded Moses. **
Is there a place to wash with water in your Church?
Exo 40:12 And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and having washed them with water,
These, also, are commandments of the Lord and these are found in the Catholic Church.