[Vision2020] Public prayer on public money

[Donovan Arnold]

Chas,

I do not think that is what Christ was getting at.
Christ prayed in public and with others all the time,
and others prayed with him in public.

If you read the previous passage you see that Christ
in this passage was talking about people that claimed
to be Holy and did prayer and gave only in the public
eye to gain praise from other men, not from God. He is
saying pray for God's praise, and give for God's
praise, do not pray and give for man's praise.

If we are to take your literal interpretation of his
words, churches would not have mass and worship, which
is public prayer. Not to mention most people at that
time did not have doors on their rooms, just the door
to the outside of the house.

But more importantly, this is not about one religion,
this is about allowing people to preform a task that
is important to their spiritual and emotional well
being that does no harm to anyone else. 

Donovan J Arnold



--- Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com> wrote:

> First, a preface: I am not a Christian.  I might
> truthfully be
> considered a recovering ex-Christian.  When I was a
> Christian, I
> prayed frequently, and I found it beneficial. 
> However, I always
> minded Jesus's own words regarding prayer:
> 
> "And when you pray, you must not be like the
> hypocrites; for they love
> to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the
> street corners, that
> they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they
> have received their
> reward. But when you pray, go into your room and
> shut the door and
> pray to your Father who is in secret; and your
> Father who sees in
> secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6 RSV)
> 
> I haven't had time to read every message in this
> thread, so I
> apologize if this quote is yet another reiteration. 
> Still, I would
> hope that the founder of Christianity's word are
> relevant -- and we
> are talking about Christian prayer, realistically --
> so what else
> needs to be said?
> 


		
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