How does Jesus of Nazareth feel about prayer in school and public places.?

Question

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Matthew 6:5-6 (New King James Version)


I'm not a genius but, if it is the word of God, sounds like he is saying to ", when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place".

So why would a Christian want to pray in a public place exactly, and not go to his or her room?

Answer 1

How often do you see my name agreeing with you.. Most of the time your questions are so outrageous that I won't even consider answering but this time I agree. There is NO WAY to force faith on any one. Public prayer is Pharisaical. Preventing someone from praying or talking about their faith is not American. In short people that pray in a pubic venue is non Christian. People that want to prevent it are anti American... Jim

Answer 2

God is God no matter where you are. He is just not God in the privacy of your own home, or your church. I agree that if you pray for others to see you then your motive is wrong- but if you really desire to pray at school, your rights should not be taken away. Praying in a secret place is something that honors the Lord, but He also says, pray without ceasing- so how can anyone tell a believer that "this is not the time to pray".

Answer 3

I do not see anything wrong with praying in schools, as long as those praying share the same religious beliefs, or if the prayer is not biased to any particular doctrine. In many schools, Christian children hold prayer groups when they are on their breaks, and those groups are nondenominational, and do not impose a particular doctrine on the rest of the participants.

In some schools, children are allowed to use one of the classrooms for their prayer groups. And the faculty does not discriminate, because they give the children equal time to hold their prayers .

Isn't it great when we can accept others even when they believe different than us??

Answer 4

As a Christian Pastor I naturally lead the congregation in prayer and pray for those seeking prayer.
However, my prayers are a personal matter between me and God and therefore I don't pray standing on the street corner.
I do however say grace, quietly, at restaurants.
You should know better than to generalize.

Answer 5

I believe in prayer in school and other public places. What the Bible is saying is not to make a public display of God or of praying to God. I quite often pray in public, doesn't mean I am shouting or raising my voice, mostly it is just a soft wisper to God

Answer 6

Doesn't it also say in the Bible to pray without ceasing? Are you going to live in your room? I believe God wants us to be respectful when we pray. He doesn't expect us to stand out on the street hollering our prayers up to him. Some people do this for attention to themselves I believe. The attention should be on and to God alone. All for the right reasons. You can pray as you drive down the street. Pray for that person walking in the heat or cold, for God to get them safely to thier destination, to keep them warm or cool enough . Pray for comfort of those people driving down the street in a funeral procession. Pray for that person who looks lonely, sad, . In some cases it also takes action. If you see someone is having a bad day, walk up and give them a nice hello, a God bless your day kind of greeting.God Bless everyones day today!

Answer 7

I would just like to add a little about prayers...
the individuals praying must have faith in God and in his being "the rewarder of those honestly seeking him" (Hebrews 10:22,38, 39)
Also it is knowledge of God's will that governs the contents of a person's prayers, for the supplicant must realize that, if his request is to be granted, it must please God.
When Jesus was giving an example of how to pray and what to pray for, he was talking to his disciples. He was not giving them a prayer to copy word for word, but was telling them the things which were proper to pray for. The first thing he mentioned was to pray that God's name be sanctified, or honored. Most people don't even use God's name, so how can they give it any honor?
Second, he told them to pray for God's Kingdom to come (because that is God's means of sanctifying his name and setting things right.) He told them to pray for God's will to take place as in heaven, also upon the earth( one must have accurate knowledge of what God's will is)....then it would be proper to ask for personal things that we need, such as food...then we should ask for forgiveness of OUR personal shortcomings and transgressions (this should be asked on a personal basis and upon recognition of our own shortcomings...most children don't have any real understanding of this). We can ask for protection from the wicked one and temptations(most children have no idea what this means either)....then Jesus goes on to tell us that it is pointless to pray and ask for forgiveness if we have not forgiven others....Saying a memorized pray in schools really has no meaning and is not from ones heart. I remember praying in school, but not because I felt it, but because I had to. But right along with the prayer to God, we pledged allegiance to the flag and our country...isn't that a little twisted and contrary to the prayer, what we should pledge allegiance to is God. PERIOD!
Mant who pray inschool are not Christians, so what is the purpose. Also the Bible tells us to pray to the Father, who is Jehovah, in the name of his Son, Jesus. That is essential for our prayers to be answered.

Matthew 6:9-15

Following is a link to a very good article about the Lord's prayer, and also within that page are many other links concerning prayer.

http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2004/9/15/article_02.htm

Answer 8

you're taking scripture out of context. This scripture is talking of no longer boasting. there's a place that we could consistently be with God the place it is not approximately satisfaction.What He replaced into asserting replaced into if we pray with satisfaction just to be seen of fellows then it relatively is all the advantages that we are going to obtain(human beings noticing us)and we could have no reward in Heaven. yet as quickly as we enter into that place with God the place it is not approximately being seen of fellows yet relatively think of approximately what God thinks approximately us, using fact He is conscious if the prayer we are praying is coming from our coronary heart or no longer, that's then that God rewards us.there is not any greater advantageous reward than understanding that individuals Can see Jesus in you and understanding that He in you additionally could make a distinction of their existence, no longer purely in this existence yet interior the existence again. If Jesus replaced into asserting that it replaced into incorrect to wish in public, then why did He pray mutually as He replaced into on the go? And He replaced into praying for people who have been status around. i can't communicate for each guy or woman elses college, yet as far as ours is going there continues to be prayer in our college (and that's a public college).there is often a student or somebody who says a public prayer at graduations, PTO conferences, Ect... and that i could have faith that hence we've this form of stable college district... we've not pushed God out!!!

Answer 9

as with all scriptures you have to read behind what was said there is nothing wrong with praying any where and every where as Jesus told us to but we do not need to make a big show of it. God knows our every thought. but it is also good to spend quite time alone just you and God with the bible to help.

Answer 10

Jesus was talking about the Jewish religious leaders who prayed and worshipped to be seen by people as looking proudly holy rather than than praying with humility. You can pray publicly but if it is for looking showy like the pharasees often did then God refuses to listen to such prayers as you already got the reward you wanted.