do christians have prayers?

or is it more like, make it up has you go kinda thing?


i mean no disrespect by this at all btw....


i'm just saying because i'll say an our father before i eat, and my christian friends never join me, idk if its because they dont know it or what but ya....

also i went to a catholic school for 8 years so most prayers come to me naturally and when i say them they seem to have more meaning everytime and i just think its a great way to express you love for god.

list of fav prayers:
Apostles greed
our father
hail mary
and of course, the rossary


anyone else say these prayers? or know of them? lol i hope some at least knows them

I think you mean apostles creed, not greed.

I believe most catholic churchs follow the Book of Common Prayers. It's not the only form used, but it's meant to give a good starting point for the most common types of prayers. Some observe creeds and the BCP, but not all.

So you're really asking two things here I think, one about creeds, and the other about the Book of Common Prayers.

There are certain said prayers in the bible, but as a Christian, I know our church doesn't really have set prayers. We believe we talk to God when we pray, and because of that, our prayers change often. Hey, the shortest prayer in the bible is still a good one though.

Lord, Help.

I've not done much research into this, but while Luke states "when you pray, say", Matthew says "After this manner" or 'in this way'. I've always taken it as a guideline for how one should pray rather than the prayer to say as is the advice that comes before, "do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." As with fasting and other elements of our faith, prayers should not be done for show or to hear our own words.

Now certainly you can pray any prayer you wish, but as to whether or not you should pray certain ones word for word; I've never believed so.

The 'make it up as you go' generally comes when I hear from God. I'll pray for a specific desire (praise, thanks, wants) and if I feel moved in another direction then I do so. I can recall when I was younger wanting so much to sound mature and correct in my prayers. My father is a pastor so I picked up some long-windedness from him

I believe that prayer is one of the most intimate forms of communication with God so let your heart speak above all. If your faith endorses a specific set of prayers I don't see anything wrong with that, but is it the only way? Not at all.

This post was edited by Durance Of Love on Apr 26 2011 06:30pm

lol cant believe i had greed not creed ><

and ya thanks for breaking it down for me, hard for me to express religon, specailly when i'm typing it

The Book of Common Prayer is Anglican actually. There is a text called the Roman Missal that describes how to conduct the mass and I think that includes the Catholic church's official translations of the major prayers. I imagine it's like the Armenian church though, where the common prayers are mostly passed on as traditional prayers and aren't official. In all (that I've been to anyway) Armenian churches they have translations next to the Bibles behind the pews.

DViolent, I grew up in a very Evangelical community and most everyone I knew was at least familiar with Our Father. Hail Mary was quite a bit less common, since a lot of communities try to avoid the veneration of saints. If I recall, there should be a point during the Catholic mass for personal prayer though. I know there is during the Armenian mass.

Oops, you are correct, thanks for the correction.

Not sure if this is the kind of answer you're looking for, but one of my friends likened prayer to having a conversation with God.
I'm not sure whether you meant when people pray at night or before a meal or whatever.

without knowing your budddies beliefs

its most likely because they are all unbiblical in the way the catholics teach

This post was edited by slacker057 on Apr 27 2011 09:20pm

Christian vs Catholic! O_o

You can be one or the other or both...

...and still by definition, miss relationship with the Father, through the indwelling of His Spirit, by not receiving the gift of redemption provided by the Son Jesus (Yeshua) Christ, the Messiah.

We have been left a few examples of prayer by Jesus, many subjects in Scripture, some by people of Faith after that time that are very useful and the best thing about a relationship is talking on a personal level.

John 10:27 (King James Version) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

If we do hear His voice, how are we known to Him? Especially in a way that follows?

To echo His words is not personal or delving into the relationship.

We must not only be eager to follow but also, be open enough to converse with Him, which leads to openness in the relationship.

If He leads us to move in a direction, we cannot walk towards it without Him.

That us akin to saying "You want me to do that? I can do it! I'll get back to you when I do it for You."

If His strength is made perfect in our weakness, how more so can we leave Him on the sidelines while we by pride do what He told us?

Formal prayer is a good start...

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (King James Version) Pray without ceasing.

... though under this condition you will eventually have to just start getting real, personal and show God who you are by your own words.

Maranatha and May the Lord of Shalom reign in your heart!

This post was edited by WhirlingDervish on Apr 27 2011 11:25pm