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"Our Father which art in heaven."--Matthew 6:9.

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Fat:
 "Our Father which art in heaven."--Matthew 6:9.

      I think there is room for very great doubt, whether our Saviour intended the prayer, of which our text forms a part, to be used in the manner in which it is commonly employed among professing Christians. It is the custom of many persons to repeat it as their morning prayer, and they think that when they have repeated these sacred words they have done enough. I believe that this prayer was never intended for universal use. Jesus Christ taught it not to all men, but to his disciples, and it is a prayer adapted only to those who are the possessors of grace, and are truly converted. In the lips of an ungodly man it is entirely out of place. Doth not one say, "Ye are of your father the devil, for his works ye do?" Why, then, should ye mock God by saying, "Our Father which art in heaven." For how can he be your Father? Have ye two Fathers? And if he be a Father, where is his honor? Where is his love? You neither honor nor love him, and yet you presumptuously and blasphemously approach him, and say, "Our Father," when your heart is attached still to sin, and your life is opposed to his law, and you therefore prove yourself to be an heir of wrath, and not a child of grace! Oh! I beseech you, leave off sacrilegiously employing these sacred words; and until you can in sincerity and truth say, "Our Father which art in heaven," and in your lives seek to honor his holy name, do not offer to him the language of the hypocrite, which is an abomination to him.

C.H. Spurgeon

Frank T:
Isn't there some where in the Bible where it warns against meaningless  repetitive prayers?

Fat:

--- Quote from: Frank T on July 31, 2013, 08:08:11 am ---Isn't there some where in the Bible where it warns against meaningless  repetitive prayers?

--- End quote ---


"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. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:7, 8 NASB)

michaelf:
Our Father which art in heaven  is hardly meaningless

Lord give us victory in this football game might rate as such however

Frank T:

--- Quote from: michaelf on August 01, 2013, 03:29:31 am ---Our Father which art in heaven  is hardly meaningless

Lord give us victory in this football game might rate as such however

--- End quote ---

I didn't mean to suggest that the prayer was meaningless, but as Mr. Spurgeon is pointing out that the prayer was not given to us as a recital poem to perform every day when we get up. It then becomes meaningless.
 
The other point of it being blasphemy when used by an un-saved person who's father is Satan is another problem with this prayer being taught in the churches as a standard one fits all prayer.

I want my relationship with God to go passed that point of this casual morning greeting ritual. I would like to communicate with Him.

I bet that you never say this prayer when you are alone in your closet with Him, do you? No you say this in a public setting as a communal recital.

Am I wrong?

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