47
votes
Accepted
What's up with churches and guitars in this joke from The Big Bang Theory?
Simply put:
Contemporary worship services stereotypically include both free-form prayers and music accompanied by guitars.
Traditional worship services stereotypically include the recitation of set ...
- 42.3k
31
votes
Accepted
Do Mormons secretly pray about you and then consider you included in their church?
If they were wearing name tags, they were probably official LDS missionaries. Even if not, Latter-day Saints are allowed to (and in fact, are encouraged to) proselytize informally and refer potential ...
- 890
19
votes
Accepted
What is the earliest known instance of a petition directed to Mary?
Sub Tuum Praesidium
The earliest known, extant petition prayer to Mary the Θεοτόκος (Theotokos), or Dei Genetrix (the Greek and Latin, respectively, for 'God-bearer' or 'Birthgiver-of-God') is found ...
- 8,260
15
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the Christian tradition of praying before eating?
It appears to be a custom that predates establishment of the Christian religion, but you can find a scriptural example in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25(KJV)
That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he ...
- 6,707
15
votes
Accepted
Are there any biblical examples of Early Church disciples praying to deceased saints in order to request their intercessory prayer?
Is there any biblical evidence that [asking dead saints for intercession] was a common practice in the early church?
The New Testament contains neither any example of nor any reference to this ...
- 326
14
votes
Are there any biblical examples of Early Church disciples praying to deceased saints in order to request their intercessory prayer?
Are there any biblical examples of Christians in the Early Church communicating with dead saints in order to request their intercessory prayer?
The short answer seems to be no.
There are no clear ...
- 67.8k
12
votes
Are Catholics not supposed to pray the St. Michael Prayer?
The faithful may recite the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel freely.
The prohibition from Pope Leo XIII is against the faithful’s use of the rite of exorcism—in other words, the pope is ...
- 13.2k
12
votes
Does God ever answer prayers from non-believers?
First, you can rest assured God answers the prayer of an unbeliever or non-Christian when they call upon the name of the Lord in faith. I'm assuming of course that the Holy Spirit has brought the ...
- 9,703
12
votes
Is praying futile given that God respects our Free Will and is omniscient?
There are lots of complexities around prayer, but this is not one of them.
It's true that many of the things involved in you getting bread to eat involve your own decisions, but many do not. For ...
- 31.5k
10
votes
What is the Biblical argument used by Evangelical Christians against the Catholic doctrine of the invocation of the saints?
There are two main Protestant arguments against asking the deceased saints to intercede for us:
It is seen as contradicting the Bible's prohibition on contacting the dead. These are found most ...
- 19.7k
10
votes
Accepted
What is the history of silent prayer?
There is indeed much evidence that silent prayer was taught and practiced in the early church. Several examples from the first few centuries will demonstrate this:
Clement of Alexandria (150–215) ...
- 42.3k
10
votes
Accepted
When the Pope says "We commend to the Lord the souls..." what does it mean exactly? It it a symbolic gesture, a prayer, something else?
Commend:
To entrust or commit to the care of someone else.
Thus: "We entrust and commit these souls unto the Lord's care / keeping / mercy."
Speaking as a non-Catholic, the Pope most ...
- 6,744
10
votes
Why are transgender prayer requests "too far"?
Question
You cite 2 examples of prayers that (according to you) are based on the premise that we know better than God:
Because you're poor, you judged that God didn't give you enough money in your ...
- 22.2k
9
votes
What's up with churches and guitars in this joke from The Big Bang Theory?
Worship styles are highly contentious within many churches. Several years ago our music minister died and when we replaced him, his successor started singing more contemporary songs than hymns. ...
- 1,394
9
votes
Do Mormons secretly pray about you and then consider you included in their church?
The Latter Day Saints allows investigators and seekers of truth to take the sacrament and to join church activities and quorums, for nearly full transparency.
You only become a member if you get ...
9
votes
Why did Jesus ask for forgiveness?
In Luke 11:1 one of Jesus’ disciples said to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray”. The NIV Study Bible Notes give this explanation regarding Luke 11:1-4:
The Lord’s Model Prayer was given here in answer ...
- 29.7k
9
votes
Why does the Trinitarian Formula start with "In the NAME…" and not "In the NAMES…"?
Does it imply that there is but one name for all the Three Persons, and that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not individual names?
Sort of; it's not that the individual persons don't have names, but ...
- 6,744
8
votes
What is the origin of the Christian tradition of praying before eating?
There are numerous biblical examples of this that serve as a basis for the practice.
At the feeding of the 5000:
Matthew 14:19 (ESV)
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and ...
- 42.3k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the Biblical support for praying for the dead?
Catholics and Orthodox do not subscribe to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which is the doctrine that says that the only source of authoritative teaching is Sacred Scripture. Instead, we rely on ...
- 2,795
8
votes
Do Muslims pray like Christians should?
Nehemiah's posture is only one of many recorded in the Bible.
Among the others:
Moses bowed low in reverence, and so did many others, but he also prayed with arms outstretched. (Exodus 9:27)
Abraham ...
- 31.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Does St. Gertrude's prayer have any (semi-)official standing in the Catholic Church?
Prayers that are supposed to automatically release souls from purgatory are "declared to be apocryphal" (i.e. false) and are prohibited, according to the Acts of the Holy See 32 p.243, as promulgated ...
- 31.5k
7
votes
How can one offer Christ's sacrifice to God?
Part of the answer can be found in Colossians 1:24.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that ...
- 2,718
7
votes
Why do Catholics ask for things from an omniscient and omnibenevolent God?
One nice thing about the Catholic Church is that, because they have 2000 years of history to draw from, they have written a great deal about most every question of faith and have codified it as well. ...
- 6,337
7
votes
Are LDS required to take their hats off when they pray?
Just to be sure, I have checked with every resource I am aware of, and there have been no formal declarations even associating the removal of a hat with prayer in LDS doctrine or theology.
From my ...
- 938
7
votes
Accepted
Has the Catholic Church ever attempted a local substitute for the word Amen?
The short answer is Yes.
Some French speaking communities often employ the Ainsi soit-il ending at the end of some of their prayers. Although the use of Amen is by far the norm, many people who ...
- 67.8k
7
votes
Do Mormons secretly pray about you and then consider you included in their church?
From experience as one who has both been one of those two men on the street, and am currently serving as a Ward Clerk, and whose responsibility it is to keep the records of my local congregation (...
- 248
7
votes
Why are transgender prayer requests "too far"?
First, from a quote in your comment
"Tell me that it is rational to talk to the Force of Being as though
this were your closest confidant"
No, wrong. God is not a 'force'. Yes, Jesus ...
- 6,568
6
votes
Accepted
When was the acronym ACTS first used to refer to components of prayer?
1883. The earliest printed example I have found specifically referring to the acronym ACTS is from a serial story by "Marion Harland" (Mary Virginia Terhune) that was printed in an August 8, 1883 ...
- 42.3k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the biblical basis for those in heaven being able to pray for the living?
You already mentioned that you had seen support for this in the Apocrypha (otherwise known as the Deuterocannonical text). As such, it became a Tradition to ask the Saints for intercessory prayers, ...
- 555
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