Repeating the verse from message 3:
quote:
5"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
riVeRraT writes:
That verse is about hypocrisy, not praying in public.
Verse 7 seems to be the hypocrisy aspect of praying in public. {Added by edit #2 - OK (do'h), there's more about hypocrisy there than just verse 7. But so what. It makes the anti-public prayer message even stronger. You're being an advocate of hypocritical prayer.}
Faceman, in message 13, writes:
I've always loved those verses, since I hate praying in public. It always feels like I'm just saying "ditto" to whatever the lead person is praying about.
Watch out for doing that "meaningless repetition" thing.
quote:
...when you pray, go into your inner room,...
I'm sure that, even in a crowd, one could "go into your inner room", and pray without making a public display of it. Or does prayer to you mean you have to include some sort of physical display? In other words, make a show of it?
Moose
Edited by Minnemooseus, : Screwed up a quote box.
Edited by Minnemooseus, : Edit #2.