@Laela
Can you list the scripture in the Bible where it says Jesus instructed us not to pray repeating empty words ?
Also Do you or have you ever prayed the Our Father prayer? Or Psalm 23?
Please tell me where it says in the Bible that I shouldn't use and repeat prayers written by others who have come up with more eloquent prayers than I can?
As an undergrad in college I studied Classical Greek & Greco-Roman literature and philosophy, which definitely gives insight into their religious beliefs and practices in antiquity. They believed that using certain language and style in their invocation, that their prayers would be heard but they didn't often change the language and style because they did not want to draw attention to themselves personally--look at the Greek and Roman mythological literature--the last thing you wanted was one of the Greco-Roman gods to zoom in and focus on *you.* Thus the prayer formulas were simple, repetitive, respectful but not too flashy. It lacked personal relationship.
This is the type of prayer that the Greeks and Romans employed, but this was not the type of prayer employed by Jews and Christians. For Judeo-Christianity, God is a personal God who *seeks* a relationship with us. He calls us each by name, He wants us to know Him personally. Thus our prayers will have differing language and style according to our needs and our spiritual growth as we walk with Him. The book of Psalms is a great example of this. As mentioned in another post, Jesus Christ Himself teaches us the "Our Father" prayer, and believe me, Christians all over the world have recited the "Our Father" more than once in their lifetime, so is that vain repetition? Certainly not.
This is what I mean when I said a lot of criticism or attack of Catholicism is borne of ignorance. You'll notice in these attacks a stark ignorance of history and historical context, as well as what the Church actually professes and teaches.
Who do you think put the books of the Bible together? Baptists and Lutherans and SDA didn't exist in 200's AD or 300's AD. The Christians who existed in the 100's AD, 200's AD, 300's AD--how much do you want to bet people who like to attack Catholicism have not studied or read the documents, history, and theology from these centuries? Protestantism didn't exist until the 1500's, which means that Laela would have to argue that Christians weren't "really" Christians for one thousand four hundred years. MOST Christians who have ever lived on this planet belong(ed) to the Catholic Church. This isn't a slam against our Protestant brothers and sisters, but rather I'm trying to put into context that when a person wants to come out swinging saying "Catholicism is false, it's not Christianity," that they are basically condemning most Christians on the planet, both living and dead.
Did you know that in the 4th Century, we have this amazing Catholic bishop to thank, who was exiled and almost killed for upholding the truth that Jesus Christ is both True God and True Man? That bishop's name is Athanasius. But according to Laela, he's not even a Christian, because he was a Catholic.
Who upheld the doctrine of the Trinity? Because the word TRINITY or explicit explanation of THE TRINITY is not in Scripture, so according to Laela, I guess we ought to abandon the doctrine of the Trinity because of this. So, you see, simply saying, "That word isn't in Scripture, or it's not explicitly defined in Scripture" is not a good reason to proclaim something as un-Christian or un-Biblical. In fact, the idea that something HAS to be in Scripture in order for us to uphold or believe it is NOT even in Scripture. In fact, you'll find that the Apostles themselves communicated teachings and truths that weren't written in Scripture or was communicated orally. There's one letter of Paul the Apostle that did not make it into the Bible because it is simply lost to us in history. We know it existed because Paul mentions its existence (in one of his canonical letters which we DO have in the Bible), but Paul, as well as the other Apostles, relied on teaching orally, by personal example, and through Scripture (i.e., the Greek translation of the Old Testament). Remember, the first Gospel wasn't written until 40 years after Jesus' resurrection--so were Christians hanging out waiting for doctrine for 40 years? No. The Apostles taught mostly orally, and when the Gospels and Epistles (letters) came along, Christians accepted them as part of the Apostles' Deposit of Faith. We need BOTH the Apostles' writings (New Testament) and their Tradition (Oral Teachings and Examples).
That is highly disingenuous but maybe that's it...when there is an answer correcting the error and misconception in respect, it is not received because that person had an agenda. But goodness, we resolved this ages ago and here it is, regurgitated again. On purpose and contrary to the purpose and rules of the CF, in a spirit of confusion 
. Shrugs. What can you do? LOL.
. He addressed this issue first! I am happy I spoke with him. I'm going to continue praying on it and praying for all involved. Father will be praying for me too. I am also happy that my feelings are now validated because everyone was trying to make me believe that I'm crazy.
any thoughts? ^^^
