The JWs and the Rosary

[jschwehm]

1.Pick up a rosary and use it to pray (although the practice of using a rosary is not supported at all in the Bible and is openly acknowledged to be a practice that was absorbed by the Catholic Church from non-Christian religions.)

Here is a more accurate account of the history of the Rosary.

newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm

While other religions may have similar practices this neither condemns nor endorses the practice. Would a JW consider going from door to door a non-Christian practice simply because the Mormons and Catholics also do it? I doubt it.

As the Bible says we are to focus on whatever things are good. Meditating on the life of Christ as scene through the eyes of His Mother (which is what the Rosary does) is a good thing.

Some object to the Rosary on the grounds that repeating the same words over and over again are inherently wrong. However, what does the Bible say about this type of prayer?

In fact, the New World Translation, the JWs own Bible endorses this type of prayer in Revelation 4:8 as it tells us how the four living creatures in heaven pray constantly day and night before the throne of Jehovah saying: “Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.”

Notice this is the prayer they repeat day and night before God’s throne and obviously God has no problem with it. Again it is the intent or what is in the heart of the person praying that is important. If we are repeating the words as some form of incantation because we think we can have God do “magic” for us then it is wrong but if it is in the form of adoration to the Lord and it comes from our heart, then what is the problem?

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

As you can see Jesus himself prayed the same words three times in a row. If repetition is the problem, then would not Jesus be guilty of breaking his own teachings? Paul in II Cor 12, also prayed the same prayer three times asking God to remove his thorn in the flesh, was Paul guilty of breaking Jesus teachings too?

Matthew 26:44

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NASB: And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. (NASB ©1995)​

GWT: After leaving them again, he went away and prayed the same prayer a third time. (GOD’S WORD®)​

KJV: And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASV: And he left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words.​

BBE: And he went away from them again, and a third time said the same prayer.​

DBY: And leaving them, he went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.​

WEY: So He left them, and went away once more and prayed a third time, again using the same words.​

WBS: And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.​

WEB: He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.​

YLT: And having left them, having gone away again, he prayed a third time, saying the same word;

 

[Jaypeeto4]

The JWs, like many fundamentalists, are especially concerned about the repeating of the “Hail Mary” prayer. First of all, they don’t believe that prayer should be offered to anyone the Father.
They are hard pressed to explain why Steven, when being killed, prayed directly to Jesus, whom they do NOT regard as God.
They think that to pray to someone you can’t see automatically equals “worshiping” that person. It does not. The word prayer originally meant to simply speak to some one or ask someone something, whether that person was “special” or not. That’s why in older english, you hear people saying to one another, What, pray tell, did you mean by what you said? and stuff like that.
Prayer is simply speaking to another person, whether physically present or not. It is not “conjuring” the spirits of the dead, because in praying to the saints, no attempt at all is made to conjure the spirit of the saint to appear in this world.

The JWs, like fundamentalists, also have a problem not only with the FACT of the Hail Mary, but ALSO with the fact that it is repeated 10 times in each decade of the rosary. First of all, the Hail Mary salute/prayer is intended, in each decade, to be a kind of “background music” to help focus your mind and body so that you can meditate on the particular Scriptural mystery being meditated on in that decade (for example, The Miracle at the Wedding at Cana, or The Finding of Jesus In the Temple). It is not mere mindless vain repitition, it serves a purpose.

But JWs and ultra fundamentalists never look into these things to try to understand. They judge by surface appearances. They see a buddhist with a round string of beads. Then they see a Catholic holding a rosary, which is made of beads. VOILA !! The Catholics simply MUST have BORROWED the rosary FROM the Pagans. Not so !!

God bless,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[yessisan]

Yes, we’re pagans, haven’t you heard? Anything that they can relate to the CC has to be pagan to the JWs. I’m pretty sure Jaypeeto and Jeff know that very well.

This is a bit irrelevant, but I had to share it with you. DH saw my rosary prayer book and a bunch of pages I printed out from the net to see how to pray it correctly, they were in the kitchen. WHen I went to get them they weren’t there. One day, I was in our home office, and guess what? He had hidden them inside and in the back of a cabinet in the office.

If he knew I dedicate my daily rosary to his conversion…

 

[Rawb]

One day, I was in our home office, and guess what? He had hidden them inside and in the back of a cabinet in the office.

I lived with a JW who would hide my rosaries! I had to look for them each night before bed or if I wanted to pray them during the day. I wonder if that’s another thing they teach them in those Kingdom Halls?

 

[yessisan]

I lived with a JW who would hide my rosaries! I had to look for them each night before bed or if I wanted to pray them during the day. I wonder if that’s another thing they teach them in those Kingdom Halls?

I wonder… (JWs, please don’t take this as an insult, it’s just an inside joke).

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

actually I was told by an elder to hide them–or anything else ‘demonized’–and when a few days pass and the person thinks they are gone for good to take them off somewhere and destroy them with fire. You two are lucky you found your stuff before it was destroyed. I was pressed into evil service once to ‘steal’ and destroy a very good (JW) friend’s garden gnomes collection while helping her pack to move. I still feel bad about it–she loved her garden gnomes and they were expensive ones too. I packed them in trash bags and made sure they accidentally got left on the curb the night before trash pick up in front of the neighbor’s house. She is dead now and I hope she has forgiven me for such nonsense.

Ravyn

 

[yessisan]

actually I was told by an elder to hide them–or anything else ‘demonized’–and when a few days pass and the person thinks they are gone for good to take them off somewhere and destroy them with fire. You two are lucky you found your stuff before it was destroyed. I was pressed into evil service once to ‘steal’ and destroy a very good (JW) friend’s garden gnomes collection while helping her pack to move. I still feel bad about it–she loved her garden gnomes and they were expensive ones too. I packed them in trash bags and made sure they accidentally got left on the curb the night before trash pick up in front of the neighbor’s house. She is dead now and I hope she has forgiven me for such nonsense.

Ravyn

I did hear something similar to this when I attended the meetings w/DH. But hey, I hid a rosary in DH’s truck and I’m pretty sure he won’t know it’s there. I did it so I feel safe when I drive it, and so God keeps an eye on him too. IF he ever found this he’d be pretty mad, he already called me superstitious for keeping one in my car.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

I lived with a JW who would hide my rosaries! I had to look for them each night before bed or if I wanted to pray them during the day. I wonder if that’s another thing they teach them in those Kingdom Halls?

You lived with a JW? I knew a JW and he said they were forbidden to live with a non-JW!