Why do people fold there hands when they pray, and bow there heads? WHere did that come from?

Question

I see peopel who say "I am about to pray" and pray in the same "position" everybody does it. Where does the position come from?

Answer 1

Well, the simple answer is that they don't. If you mean the typical Christian way, hands folded or put together in front of you, it had it's origins in the postures of supplication that individuals were expected to affect before statues of their gods in the Pre-Christian era. It's a symbol of being empty-handed and completely defenseless before God. Some Christians, however, hold their hands up while praying, and that's symbolic of accepting the Holy Spirit from on high. Shi'a Muslims and members of some Sunni schools of Islamic Law join their hands beneath their chests while they pray, also as an act of supplication, while other Sunnis hold them out in front of themselves, likewise symbolic of being empty-handed. Buddhists and Hindus do all manner of things with their hands depending on what kind of Buddhists or Hindus they are and what kind of ceremonies they are undergoing.

Answer 2

certain I do except i do not fold my fingers. I bow on my knees as a demonstration of appreciate and that i close my eyes so i can concentration on Him and not in any respect be distracted. i prefer to furnish God my undivided interest at the same time as i'm praying.

Answer 3

--A specific positions commanded by God in the Bible, does not exist--because it is not mechanics that count with God.
--What ever position any one in the Bible, who was sincere assumed, was of a personal nature & not of any major significance as to God accepting or rejecting that supplication!

--Note what Jesus expressed as the important things & the hypocritical things:

(Matthew 6:5-8) “5 “Also, when YOU pray, YOU must not be as the hypocrites; because they like to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the broad ways to be visible to men. Truly I say to YOU, They are having their reward in full. 6 You, however, when you pray, go into your private room and, after shutting your door, pray to your Father(NOTICE--no specific position--my comments) who is in secret; then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you. 7 But when praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. 8 So, do not make yourselves like them, for God YOUR Father knows what things YOU are needing before ever YOU ask him.”

--No mention of any special position, by Christ is referred to anywhere in his teachings. After all was he not the master of all prayers?

Answer 4

Abraham did it and so are the muslims after him:

Genesis
17:3 And Abraham fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

Answer 5

it is the way muslims pray ...prophet Mohammed pbuh taught us to pray this way ...i dont know the reason but Prophet Abraham pbuh also prayed to God the same way...

Answer 6

i think it is so you dont get distracted at least the bow your head... close your eyes so no one is embarresed to raise tehir hands for salvation or prayer... and folding of hands...ummm no idea..

Answer 7

I don't know...I get on my face on the floor sometimes; other times I kneel, sometimes I pace around