Catholics, Why do you use “repetitions” in Rosary prayer when Bible clearly says not to do so?
Do you know What Does the Bible Say About Prayer? Prayer is the believer’s privilege but how we pray according to the Bible is just as important as how often we pray. We are told in the Bible to take our requests to God and we should not pray just to get things to consume for ourselves. We should pray for others as well. So how does the Bible tell us we should pray? Let’s examine this essential element of the faith known as prayer. God listens when we pray within his will. Always check your motives before making your prayer requests. If you are asking for something that is clearly not the will of God as defined in the Bible then you are praying outside of God’s will. For example, if you pray for God to take revenge on someone who has wronged you then this would clearly not be his will for he is a forgiving God and has reserved vengeance for himself. But if you pray for your enemies as clearly shown as God’s will in the Bible (Matthew 5:44), you may see things begin to work for the bett
Vain repetitions. You don’t know if an individual is praying in vain or not. You don’t know what they are thinking. The bible says God looks at the heart. When you say the Lord’s prayer that Jesus gave us to pray, you can spend an hour praying this. You can take each line and expound on it and meditate on it. You can also just repeat it without thing if you know it that well. This is where the MOTIVE for praying comes in. It is not just catholics, but all religions, all individuals, can just blah blah blah and be thinking of other things.
Catholicism includes a rich tradition of both informal (in our own words) and formal prayer just like our Jewish forefathers. The Church teaches “the memorization of basic prayers offers an essential support to the life of prayer, but it is important to help learners savor their meaning.” In other words, the Church emphasizes that formal prayer should not be mindless lip moving but instead a formal expression of clearly understood and heartfelt sentiments. The verse in question reads, in the King James Version, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Jesus is not talking of the repetitious prayer of the Jews in which Jesus would have participated in and who He would not call heathen. The important Greek word here for “vain repetitions” is battalogeo, or babbling. The heathens had a magical perception of prayer and thought the more they babbled to their gods, the more that that god would respond. I
No, the Bible does not condemn repetion in prayer: Matt. 6:7 – Jesus teaches, “do not heap up empty phrases” in prayer. Protestants use this verse to criticize various Catholic forms of prayer which repeat phrases, such as litanies and the Rosary. But Jesus’ focus in this instruction is on the “vain,” and not on the “repetition.” Matt. 26:44 – for example, Jesus prayed a third time in the garden of Gethsemane, saying the exact same words again. It is not the repetition that is the issue. It’s the vanity. God looks into our heart, not solely at our words. Luke 18:13 – the tax collector kept beating his breast and praying “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” This repetitive prayer was pleasing to God because it was offered with a sincere and repentant heart. Acts 10:2,4 – Cornelius prayed constantly to the Lord and his prayers ascended as a memorial before God. Rom. 1:9 – Paul says that he always mentions the Romans in his prayers without ceasing. Rom. 12:12 – Paul commands us to be consta
