which Protestant denominations do actually say the rosary?

[Matthew1949]

While I doubt that ANY of the Protestant denominations will pray the Rosary as we do, it is possible that the Episcopalians would do so.

Their Mass is similar to ours, and it would not be illogical to presume that they have some of the same prayers we have.

A few years ago, I was returning from a business trip to Dallas. The man sitting beside me seemed to be a Priest, as he was wearing a Roman Collar. During our conversation, he informed me that he was not a Catholic Priest but, rather, an Episcopal Priest.
In sort of a “kidding” fashion", I asked him about the differences betwee our respective churches. His reply was “none”. SHOCKING!
As the plane flew on towards Boston, he mentioned that his church is often called “Catholic Lite”: all the benefits without any of the guilt! (Actually, this means that there ARE some differences, but why quibble?)
Since they have pretty much the same prayers as we do, they would be the most likely to pray the same Rosary as we pray.

V.J.!!!
(psssst: any K of C members around here?)

 

[Matthew1949]

Sorry, but I must object to some of the errors you have made in your list of “objections”:

1. “praying to a saint is worship”.
   The 3 basic prayers used in the Rosary do NOT mention any “saints”, per se. When we say “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our deaths”, we are simply asking Mary to intercede on our behalf. It is NOT a prayer TO any saint!
   That prayer is to ask her to intercede on our behalf…with God, the Father.
2. The Rosary does NOT put Mary ahead of God. We do not “worship” Mary: we “adore” her.
   When we refer to her as “Mother of God”, we are invoking the Second Person in the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is ALWAYS at the top of the “pecking order”.
   Mary, as the Mother of the Son of God, must hold a special place in our hearts in terms of how we approach her. She holds a place above that of any other woman who ever walked the face of the earth.
   But, she is NOT God, and we do NOT consider her as such.

Part 6 is quite wrong: Don’t you recall the parable about the rich man who died, while a poor man, Lazarus, went to “the bosom of Abraham”? The rich man prayed that Abraham would do something for him, but Abraham said “no”. A second time, the rich man asked Abraham to do something: to send Lazarus back to the living so he could warn the brothers of the rich man.
Since this parable was told by Jesus, Himself (!), it gives an indication to me that there is nothing wrong with prayers of intercession.

1. Catholics know that Saints are not omniscient or omnipotent. We consider a person to be a Saint if there is evidence that he or she is in Heaven. Thus, the requirement of two miracles that must be fully verified.

This has been a long message, so I’m going to end it here. I’m open for discussion, if you’d like.

Live Long and Prosper.

Katholikos:

Did you get your info from catholic.com/library/Rosary.asp ?

The words you use are very similar if not identical to this Catholic Answers tract. But I grew up Protestant and I don’t agree with the premise. A few Protestants may say the rosary, but the average Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestant has many objections to it, including:

1. Praying to a saint is worship.
2. It’s a violation of the First Commandment; the rosary puts Mary before God or makes her at least equal to God. Catholics worship Mary and the rosary is proof.
3. Saints can’t hear or answer prayers
4. Prayers to the dead are necromancy
5. Christians can “go directly to God,” so it’s useless waste of time
6. There’s no mention of prayer to anyone but God in the Bible, therefore it’s unbiblical.
7. Catholics must believe that saints are omniscient and omnipotent if they think they can hear and answer prayers
8. The rosary is “vain repetitions” that the Bible warns against.

And the list goes on.

I’d have to see some evidence. There have been a couple of books written by Protestant ministers on the rosary, but praying to Mary is a “Catholic” thing, and most Protestants wouldn’t be caught dead with a rosary in their hands. That’s my experience.

JMJ Jay

 

[Zooey]

I know that Episcopalians say the rosary. (Some of them use a different set of beads; I don’t know how that works).

In my surfing of the net, I have come on several Lutheran sites that recommend praying it. Some pray the same prayers, again, others seem to have other prayers that they count on rosary beads.

I am a Methodist, & I pray the rosary; I even make rosaries.(Crocheted ones). I probably don’t pray it enough, but then, who ever does pray as much as we all ought to, anyhow?
I don’t remember when all this started. I know that I was just a little kid.( My family was maybe humoring me, but I appreciate them doing it…)

 

[John_Yurich]

The Lutheran Church says the rosary but they only say the first half of the Hail Mary Prayer that comes from the Gospel of Saint Luke. The Lutherans in the rosary also say the Lord’s Prayer and the Glory Be Prayer.

John

 

[_Joshua]

medina15:

Many Protestants now say the rosary, recognizing it as a truly biblical form of prayer – after all, the prayers that comprise it come mainly from the Bible.

Could you please tell me which Protestant denominnations do actually say the rosary?

Thanks,

J. Medina

I don’t know of any Protestans that say the Rosary, but have seen some with Miraculous Medals.
My grandmother (Protestant) used to have a picture of the Sacred Heart on her wall. (deceased)

We have a local Passionist community that is renouned for it’s healing, many Protestants went there for healing,children etc: and many were cured.
They’re all welcome, but why did they need to go there in the first place, what about their own Ministers ?

Three weeks ago, I was in a Protestant man’s house, I couldn’t believe he had a picture of the Sacred Heart.
Over a year ago a Protestant lady in my house said, she would love to go to Mass, but felt awkward, like everybody staring at her.
She seemed to have this desire to go to a Catholic Church, so I encouraged her to go and nobody will look at her like she has two heads.
Before she left she asked me how could she obtain Holy water, I told her she could go into a Catholic Church anytime, and obtain some.
Anyway I had a plentiful suply in my house so gave her a bottle of Holy water, she wrote to me later thanking me for it.
Anyway regardless of what denomation they come from, may God lead them to the truth.

 

[John_Yurich]

(Joshua),

The Lutherans say the rosary. The Lutherans also make the Sign of the Cross and the Lutherans also believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist(They call it the Sacrament of the Altar) although they refer to the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist as consubstantiation which is not that much different then transubstantiation. In Luther’s Small and Large Catechisms Luther stated before praying to make the Sign of the Holy Cross. When Lutherans say the rosary they make the Sign of the Cross then they say the first half of the Hail Mary Prayer which comes from the Gospel of Saint Luke then they say the Lord’s Payer then they say the Glory Be Prayer.

John

 

[Ignatius]

medina15:

Many Protestants now say the rosary, recognizing it as a truly biblical form of prayer – after all, the prayers that comprise it come mainly from the Bible.

Could you please tell me which Protestant denominnations do actually say the rosary?

Thanks,

J. Medina

Can you please share with us where you got information that protestants pray the rosary? I don’t believe that is correct. Thank you.

 

[Shibboleth]

Ignatius:

Can you please share with us where you got information that protestants pray the rosary? I don’t believe that is correct. Thank you.

As I stated in my first post Lutherans do pray the Rosary but it is the pre-Trent version.

Prayer beads in general have been used by many Protestant denominations over the ages. But as asceticism gained a bad name these practices sort of dropped off. There is of course the whole misconception, translation, and just bad theology used against repetitive prayer.

The Lutheran’s that pray the Rosary like myself are usually very orthodox in belief and practice so you might not realize that they are praying a Rosary. Most that I know of have a tassel instead of a Crucifix on the bead chain for the purpose of wiping tears. This is the older form of the Rosary Beads not normally seen in use today.

 

[wcknight]

Matthew1949:

…(psssst: any K of C members around here?)

Yes, Council 2797 Bethesda MD

And I think there are a few others as well. Vivat Jesus, brother knight…

Wow, Protestants praying the Rosary !!! Quite shocking ! I thought I would never see the day, after all the Mary bashing (on other sites), the Fundies must be shaking in their boots. What’s the world coming too ! What will they steal next ???

Before you know it, there will be prayers for the dead, belief in the real presence in the Holy Eucharist, Purgatory and God forbid, Church tradition and papal infallibility !!!

After a while you won’t be able to tell a Protestant from a Catholic without a score card…

All I can say is, Halleluyah !!! it’s about time. Maybe they are working themselves around to our way of thinking afterall. After 400 years, I hope we can be reunited in Christ real soon.

wc

 

[Ignatius]

Shibboleth:

As I stated in my first post Lutherans do pray the Rosary but it is the pre-Trent version.

Prayer beads in general have been used by many Protestant denominations over the ages. But as asceticism gained a bad name these practices sort of dropped off. There is of course the whole misconception, translation, and just bad theology used against repetitive prayer.

The Lutheran’s that pray the Rosary like myself are usually very orthodox in belief and practice so you might not realize that they are praying a Rosary. Most that I know of have a tassel instead of a Crucifix on the bead chain for the purpose of wiping tears. This is the older form of the Rosary Beads not normally seen in use today.

Wow! More unity is a wonderful thing.

 

[Subrosa]

Katholikos:

The words you use are very similar if not identical to this Catholic Answers tract. But I grew up Protestant and I don’t agree with the premise. A few Protestants may say the rosary, but the average Evangelical or Fundamentalist Protestant has many objections to it, including:

Some Catholic viewpoints!

1. Praying to a saint is worship.

Can you tell the difference between worship and asking for help. Prayers to saints come in the form called “Prayers of Intercession” Tha last part of the “Hail Mary” states: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
Hardly worship. Just asking for help. See James 5:16-18
Mary is the chief among saints, not worshipped. Just venerated.

1. It’s a violation of the First Commandment; the rosary puts Mary before God or makes her at least equal to God. Catholics worship Mary and the rosary is proof.

Do you preach “Sola Scriptura” This says “Bible only.” You put the Bible above God. You read the bible, quote the bible, you have Bible churches and Bible colleges. You preach the Bible to the neglect of God and Jesus. You put the Bible above Them. That is Bible worship. This manmade dogma is a later distortion and addition to the Christian faith—something that was unheard of both in the early Church and in Scripture itself. This dogma—which you treat as infallible—states that the Bible and not Jesus is the only source of truth. Your churches have a podium in the middle where you preach the Bible, not God or Jesus. That is proof that you worship the Bible.

How do you like it?

1. Saints can’t hear or answer prayers

Revelation 8:3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.

Holy ones are saints.

1. Prayers to the dead are necromancy

Luke 20:35-38
35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Luke 9:29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
30 And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Whaddaya think? Moses and Elijah, dead guys or what?

Continued…

 

[Subrosa]

1. Christians can “go directly to God,” so it’s useless waste of time

Rev. 21:27 … nothing unclean will enter it, nor any (one) who does abominable things or tells lies…

Matthew 12:31Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

What do you think “this age or in the age to come” means? This world and the next, maybe? You got sin, you ain’t gettin’ in! http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon10.gif

1. There’s no mention of prayer to anyone but God in the Bible, therefore it’s unbiblical.

See quote from #3, also see Acts 8:59-60. Who is he praying to?

1. Catholics must believe that saints are omniscient and omnipotent if they think they can hear and answer prayers

See #3 Not Gods, just good friends of His that we ask for help.

1. The rosary is “vain repetitions” that the Bible warns against.

1 Thesselonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing”

Revelation 4:8 The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.”

Actually, The Rosary is a meditative prayer cycle. As we pray, we meditate on certain aspects of Christs life. Here’s a link. Check it out for yourself.
How to Recite the Holy Rosary.

Hope this helps!

Katholikos:

I’d have to see some evidence. There have been a couple of books written by Protestant ministers on the rosary, but praying to Mary is a “Catholic” thing, and most Protestants wouldn’t be caught dead with a rosary in their hands. That’s my experience.

So true! http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon10.gif Proud to do it! You guys are missing out! http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon9.gif

God bless!

 

[Shibboleth]

As Katholikos’ name implies he is a very devout Catholic. Actually I would put him in the master category of defending the Catholic Church. He has put me in my place many times.

He was simply pointing out things that he witnessed before conversion.

 

[StJeanneDArc]

A few weeks ago I was having dinner with 3 other ladies who are all Episcopalian. They were discussing what one of them should get for a confirmation gift for her 12-year-old nephew. I suggested a rosary, as that was the very thing I had just bought for a 14-year-old boy who I was sponsoring. Well, the 3 of them looked at me with astonishment and declared that Episcopalians absolutely do not pray the rosary.

 

[alterserver_07]

I Haven’t heard any group of Protestants take it up with there leaders, but individuals I have heard of, but a lot of them covert to the Catholic faith.

 

[Shibboleth]

Subrosa:

Some Catholic viewpoints!
Can you tell the difference between worship and asking for help. Prayers to saints come in the form called “Prayers of Intercession” Tha last part of the “Hail Mary” states: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
Hardly worship. Just asking for help. See James 5:16-18
Mary is the chief among saints, not worshipped. Just venerated.

You will get no argument on this from this Protestant but I would be very careful on how things were worded. Most litanies are pretty cautious and acceptable in my humble opinion.

Do you preach “Sola Scriptura” This says “Bible only.” You put the Bible above God. You read the bible, quote the bible, you have Bible churches and Bible colleges. You preach the Bible to the neglect of God and Jesus. You put the Bible above Them. That is Bible worship. This manmade dogma is a later distortion and addition to the Christian faith—something that was unheard of both in the early Church and in Scripture itself. This dogma—which you treat as infallible—states that the Bible and not Jesus is the only source of truth. Your churches have a podium in the middle where you preach the Bible, not God or Jesus. That is proof that you worship the Bible.

How do you like it?

I like it just fine but just as others misconstrue the Roman Catholic reverence of Mary you are misunderstanding Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura comes first and foremost from faith by way of God’s Grace. By that faith we believe the Gospel to be true and the Gospel directs us to the scriptures. However, because we are sinful and fallible creatures we will misunderstand, mistranslate, or twist from time to time the meaning of the scriptures due to lack of knowledge, lack of intelligence, pride, sloth, or what have you. This is a problem with our limitations and sinful nature and not with the scriptures.

Revelation 8:3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.

Holy ones are saints.

Not only that the word translated ‘holy one’ and ‘saint’ throughout the Bible is the exact same word in Greek - same with the Hebrew texts - there is not a different word for Holy One and Saint. In addition if I remember correctly it is the exact same word translated from Aramaic texts. Problematic if translations are doing this to obfuscate the original purpose of the text but not so bad if the translator did it to differentiate when the text talks about those born of this realm and those that were not…

Personally I think the Revelations verse should be translated the same as ‘hagos’ is in Luke 4:34 - so I agree with you on this fact.

The Hebrew word is Kawdowshee or something like that, I cannot remember off the top of my head.

Luke 20:35-38
35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Luke 9:29 While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
30 And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Whaddaya think? Moses and Elijah, dead guys or what?

Good point, but I do not have the power to know who is in heaven and who has not… you have the Roman See on this issue. If I had faith that the Roman See had the power to decipher exactly who was in Heaven then I to might ask certain Saints to Pray on my behalf. Unfortunately I do not believe that the Roman See has this ability.

 

[Subrosa]

Shibboleth:

I like it just fine but just as others misconstrue the Roman Catholic reverence of Mary you are misunderstanding Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura comes first and foremost from faith by way of God’s Grace. By that faith we believe the Gospel to be true and the Gospel directs us to the scriptures. However, because we are sinful and fallible creatures we will misunderstand, mistranslate, or twist from time to time the meaning of the scriptures due to lack of knowledge, lack of intelligence, pride, sloth, or what have you. This is a problem with our limitations and sinful nature and not with the scriptures.

Thank you for being honest in answering my comments.

I’m sorry. I was being facecious. I know what Sola Scriptura is.

My point is that people who say Catholics worship Mary is about as foolish an argument as the one I gave about Sola Scriptura. Of course protestants don’t worship the Bible. Catholics worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as triune God. I have no doubt that you do, also.

People who make the accusation that Catholics, and Orthodox for that matter, worship Mary should first find out the truth, then square what they say with the eighth commandment.

 

[Subrosa]

Shibboleth:

Good point, but I do not have the power to know who is in heaven and who has not… you have the Roman See on this issue. If I had faith that the Roman See had the power to decipher exactly who was in Heaven then I to might ask certain Saints to Pray on my behalf. Unfortunately I do not believe that the Roman See has this ability.

Actually, it’s not that easy. To achieve sainthood, a person’s life is examined after thier death. The life they have lead must be worthy of holiness. No drunks or druggies here!. Next, three miracles have to be proven and attributable to them. (Not a hard and fast rule). There are other criteria, also. All saints are measured by one yardstick…

Matthew 7:20 Thus you will know them by thier fruits.

Thanks, again.

 

[Subrosa]

Oh yeah, something else about this.

1. The rosary is “vain repetitions” that the Bible warns against.

The word vain, does that mean selfish and insincere? That is to say, when you pray you don’t really mean it? Can I paraphrase this, “Insincere repetitions”?

The repetitions in Revelations, were they vain? :ehh:

How about sincere, or not vain repetitions? Is this what the angels were doing? Did they mean what they were saying and is this what makes the difference? Thier repetitious prayer seemed OK with the Lord. So, sincere repetitious prayer is OK then.

Like the Rosary, It ain’t OK if you don’t mean it sincerely. It’s only OK if you are sincere and not vain.

Ergo…“Pray without ceasing”

The peace and love of the Lord be with you.

 

[Subrosa]

For those who don’t know the “Hail Mary”, a catholic prayer, I would like to explain it, verse by verse. (It’s short!)

1.“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” Luke 1:28

1. “Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” Luke 1:42

3.“Holy Mary, mother of God” Luke 1:43

1. “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen”

The petition is addressed to the mother of Christ, who loved her Son and had a special relationship with Him, as all mothers have with thier children. She was there at His birth, throughout His life, and at His death.

She is also, by implication, the mother of christianity. See Revelation 12:17 Let me know if you need me to explain this.

With love,
Jerry