Recited prayers

[flewen]

i would like to ask from you brothers and sisters about recited prayers. Protestants especially born again ministries often attack Catholics in recited prayers, do they also recite prayers? especially their pastors? do we have sources of which we can counteract their claims?

Coz I know, in this forums, there were former non-catholic members who came from various protestant denominations who became now members of our fold.

Please help me.

Thanks,

flewen

 

[indiancatholic]

Recited prayers are a form of prayer that is used in Catholic church ,other forms of prayer can be also used .
The attack on recited prayer is absurd because the lord taught us to pray to our heavenly
father in form of a recited prayer,the point is to put your soul in the rosary or any other recited prayer that we pray and it would be acceptable to god.
On many occasions the holy mother has appeared to saints and to other people
and asked to pray the rosary,in the life of blessed Faustina we see the lord himself teaching her to pray;this is also a recited prayer so let them say whatever they say only pray with devotion the rosary and other recited prayers. JMJ

 

[flewen]

Recited prayers are a form of prayer that is used in Catholic church ,other forms of prayer can be also used .
The attack on recited prayer is absurd because the lord taught us to pray to our heavenly
father in form of a recited prayer,the point is to put your soul in the rosary or any other recited prayer that we pray and it would be acceptable to god.
On many occasions the holy mother has appeared to saints and to other people
and asked to pray the rosary,in the life of blessed Faustina we see the lord himself teaching her to pray;this is also a recited prayer so let them say whatever they say only pray with devotion the rosary and other recited prayers. JMJ

thank you sir, but my question is,

do protestants/born again ministries have recited prayers too?

if yes, where can we find sources of it?

 

[DaveBj]

thank you sir, but my question is,

do protestants/born again ministries have recited prayers too?

if yes, where can we find sources of it?

My past orbit swung through the influences of classical Pentecostalism, independent Pentecostalism (including the Word of Faith Movement), and Southern Baptist-ism, so I can speak with some authority about those areas of Protestantism, but not others. Of those three, classical Pentecostalism and the Southern Baptists with whom I had dealings did not have recited prayers. However, one of the basic tenets of the Word of Faith movement is that what you say is what you get, so they put a lot of stock in getting the prayers right. As a result, they have some prayers that are recited verbatim in private prayer, and sometimes in public worship. Google “prayers that avail much” for examples.

 

[JustaServant]

Easiest objection to overcome.
Evangelicals are locked into the mindset that spontaneous prayer is the only way to pray, they are dead set against pre-composed set prayers.
But the purpose of repitition is to discipline our prayer life. Like physical exercise it forces us to consentrate on the words, clear our brains of frivolous thoughts. It actually helps our spontanous prayer.
Pre-composed prayers are part of Sacred Tradition and are approved by the Church. So we know they are within God’s will because the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit.
So, how do you know a spontaneous prayer is within the will of God?
You don’t.
Using the “sponaneous” argument, we should not sing hymns that are pre-composed either.

 

[DaveBj]

Here is a preemptive strike against the evangelical argument on “vain repetition:” using a recited prayer may be “repetition,” but if the prayer is sincerely meant every time it is said, then it is not “vain.”

 

[marian_love]

thank you sir, but my question is,

do protestants/born again ministries have recited prayers too?

if yes, where can we find sources of it?

I have attended:
Church of God
Church of Christ
Baptist
Penecostal
Mormon
Non-Denonminational

just to name a few. I never heard a recited prayer.

 

[skigirl1689]

Lutherans do use prayers printed in the liturgy, as well as prayer books with prayers Luther rote. And of course we say the Lord’s Prayer and a common table prayer.

 

[maltmom]

The only one we ever said is the Lord’s Prayer. Other than that we didn’t have any in any of the Protestant churches I attended. I grew up Presbyterian and we also said the Apostle’s Creed every Sunday.

 

[katy]

But there are conventions in that “spontaneous” prayer, such as “Lord I/we just…” and others I can’t remember right now, but they are there.
I’m not knocking them, but each kind of prayer has its place and helpfulness. The point is to pray.

 

[onemangang]

i would like to ask from you brothers and sisters about recited prayers. Protestants especially born again ministries often attack Catholics in recited prayers, do they also recite prayers? especially their pastors? do we have sources of which we can counteract their claims?

Coz I know, in this forums, there were former non-catholic members who came from various protestant denominations who became now members of our fold.

Please help me.

Thanks,

flewen

Yes they do have recited prayers. One example is “the sinners prayer”, also lets take a look at music. The “Christian Rock” or Hymns are often written as a prayer of one individual put to music. Much like the Psalms of David, these songs are prayers of others who in their personal relationship, cry out to God. So, they are all essentially reciting somebody else’s prayer when they join in song. I wonder if they attack people who read David’s prayers, or do they just skip over the psalms because that was David, in his personal relationship talking to God?

 

[joyous_revert]

Just my personal opinion, but I would say yes. I have some family members that are not Catholic and I have to say that, although they aren’t “written down and memorized” I have heard the same prayers over and over and over when we all get together. Example - blessing before Thanksgiving dinner.

Also, I want to weigh in on the “vain repetition” argument. Some scriptures:

Mt 26:44 And he(JESUS) left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words.

1 Thess 5:17 “pray without ceasing”

Rev 4:8 And the four living creatures, individually having six wings, were full of eyes all over and within,and day and night they never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ,Who was and Who is and Who is to come.

I especially like the Rev scripture- if you’re NOT supposed to repeat prayer, why do those in heaven repeat the same prayers eternally?

 

[JustaServant]

You also might want to ask them if Jesus was against “recited prayers”, what was He doing in the synagogue?

 

[thistle]

Easiest objection to overcome.
Evangelicals are locked into the mindset that spontaneous prayer is the only way to pray, they are dead set against pre-composed set prayers.
But the purpose of repitition is to discipline our prayer life. Like physical exercise it forces us to consentrate on the words, clear our brains of frivolous thoughts. It actually helps our spontanous prayer.
Pre-composed prayers are part of Sacred Tradition and are approved by the Church. So we know they are within God’s will because the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit.
So, how do you know a spontaneous prayer is within the will of God?
You don’t.
Using the “sponaneous” argument, we should not sing hymns that are pre-composed either.

So they denounce the Lord’s Prayer??

 

[JustaServant]

So they denounce the Lord’s Prayer??

The fundamentalists I was part of years ago said the Lord’s Prayer was not meant to be prayed (yeah, I know). It was instead a “model prayer” we were to base our spontaneous prayers on.

 

[thistle]

I have attended:
Church of God
Church of Christ
Baptist
Penecostal
Mormon
Non-Denonminational

just to name a few. I never heard a recited prayer.

In your list only the Baptists are Christians and they not only recite the Lord’s Prayer but many of them recite The Creed as well.

 

[bitznbitez]

thank you sir, but my question is,

do protestants/born again ministries have recited prayers too?

if yes, where can we find sources of it?

Outside of the Lords prayer you won’t find any beyond Lutheran/Anglican circles which do use printed prayers. But if you were to spend time listening you would discover that the prayers are a collection of recited phrases, as in a selection of phrases commonly used but arranged spontaneously in various orders.

Songs are also prayers. Chanting our prayers is the basis of much of church music prior to the hymns of the 16th century onward. Israel would pray the psalms and chant the psalms. So to in protestant churches, many songs they sing are in fact prayers, but they don’t realize the song is prayer. My favorite song for this example is the hippy era “Kumbya” which we all sang which was nothing but a prayer.

In any case for a scriptural example of written prayer we have :

• 150 Psalms
• The Lords Prayer
• Christ praying in the garden “using the same words” for an hour at a time.
• The angels in Heaven and the Elders in Revelation around the throne

Good luck.

 

[Ignatius]

i would like to ask from you brothers and sisters about recited prayers. Protestants especially born again ministries often attack Catholics in recited prayers, do they also recite prayers? especially their pastors? do we have sources of which we can counteract their claims?

Coz I know, in this forums, there were former non-catholic members who came from various protestant denominations who became now members of our fold.

Please help me.

Thanks,

flewen

Jesus said to and gave us the example of recited prayer.
Mat 6:9-13 Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.

By the way, the notion that you can only pray spontaneously is an extra-biblical doctrine of man. The bible does not tell us that we can only pray spontaneous prayers. In fact, the bible condemns following doctrines of man such as that.

 

[EricFilmer]

Protestants especially born again ministries often attack Catholics in recited prayers, do they also recite prayers? especially their pastors? do we have sources of which we can counteract their claims?

The question at hand is whether or not a Christian worship service includes the congregation praying in unison with the minister. In many services (including those of the “born again” communities), this element of worship is done in the context of singing hymns so, in this sense, those involved are doing the same things that Catholics do when reciting prayers. The only distinction is that they are technically singing rather than reciting, but the result is the same (i.e., a community is offering the same set of previously formulated words of worship to God).

At other times during a service, many Christians do not recite prayers for the simple fact that the only one talking is the minister. At these times the minister preaches and everyone else is supposed to listen.

Other Christians, however, engage in liturgical-based services where the congregation recites prayers in unison with the minister. This is a practical necessity, because if everyone just did individual spontaneous prayers there would be no unity in the action of the congregation (but just a chaotic ensemble of mixed words and phrases).

Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, and certain other Protestants engage in liturgical-based services, including the use of recited prayers. Therefore, the criticism of the people you mentioned would be leveled not only against Catholics (and Orthodox Christians) but many other Protestants as well. As a matter-of-fact, the Christians who object to recited prayers are a minority, and they are expressing an opinion which is neither biblical (i.e., where in the Bible does it forbid recited prayers?) nor historical (i.e., challenge them to quote one Christian prior to the Protestant Reformation teaching against recited prayers).

 

[maltmom]

The question at hand is whether or not a Christian worship service includes the congregation praying in unison with the minister. In many services (including those of the “born again” communities), this element of worship is done in the context of singing hymns so, in this sense, those involved are doing the same things that Catholics do when reciting prayers. The only distinction is that they are technically singing rather than reciting, but the result is the same (i.e., a community is offering the same set of previously formulated words of worship to God).

I’ve never thought about the praise and worship songs I sang in the Baptist church as being prayers. You are right!!! Thank you for posting this. If anyone ever comments to me about our recited prayers I’ll bring this point up to them.