Why do Christians say lord, god, or Jesus so much when they pray?

Question

Sorry for picking on Christians in general. I know not all faiths do this, but many do. The Baptists I think are the worst. They say Lord at the start, end and every time they get a pause in the prayers they say (in church, out loud, they may even do it in their heads not real sure)

Do they think that god has a short memory and if they don't remind him he'll forget who they are talking to?

I'm being rude, so your answers can be rude, but I really want to know. Is there something in the Bible that dictates this?

Answer 1

It doesn't matter how you pray, as long as you do.

Answer 2

They are pause words like "uh". While giving a speech, the speaker may pause often searching for words and utter, "uhm...." While praying, especially in a group, a person may replace his pauses with words for God like, "Lord", "Father", etc. It used to be my pet peeve when they would use "we just ask" and "we just want to" and "we just ____" Fill in the blank. You can learn more about the use of pause words in a book or class on public speaking or psychology.

While this is acceptable behavior, it is not biblical doctrine, and may be a sign of weakness, insecurity, laziness, etc. The Word of God encourages us to carefully choose our words in prayer and not be lazy or go on repeating phrases.

I know that there are a lot of dead baptist churches, but I would encourage you to look past appearances, withhold judgment and look for the good in everything. The great thing about the Baptist Church is that it holds fast to the bible while many churches get weird and say strange things that are contrary to the bible. Baptists may not always practice what they preach, or preach it in weird style, they do preach the truth, the Word.

I know how you feel. I'm often discouraged when I see people being "religious" but I remind myself that I am to follow Jesus and encourage the Church, and even offering correction when it is appropriate and spoken with love.

Answer 3

Demotis: I take it, that you feel that the "lord" thing is being over done by Christians- some more than others? I can not answer for all Christians but for me, I do so to demonstrate respect and reverence for God's Supreme authority and office He holds. In all reality, there are many titles or names from the Bible that describe Him apart from just "lord" , "God," etc. God has many names (dozens of them), which describe WHO He is. The reason for these many descriptive names for God is that any one name only applied, limits God. In a few different places throughout the Bible, God refers to Himself as the " I AM ". Simply put, God is continually becoming more and more (growing), that only one descriptive name does limit Him. In a spiritual relationship with God, a Christian finds that just the name "Jesus", "God", "Lord" are very limited adjectives which describe who Jehovah - Yahweh - El- Shadai ... is. You are not being rude but being inquisitive and present an excellent observation, in your question posed.

Answer 4

God looks on the heart, how one phrases things is less important. In the case of the model disciples prayer... the our Father... Jesus taught the disciples to use pretty personal language for that day... Father...daddy... on the other hand the prayer leads off with Father and after that says Your (or Thy) three times

the person is addressing God and perhaps part of it is that some people what to emphasize a personal relationship with God through Jesus rather than something merely mechanical

Answer 5

As one trained in Communications, I can tell you these are what are called "verbal pauses." They are no different than "uhh" and "umm."
When we don't know what to say, but are uncomfortable with silence, we use these. We westerners feel as though we have to be running all the time and we bring this into our communication.
Those whose religious approach does not use written prayers are placed under an added stress when offering public extemporaneous prayers...we don't have it prepared beforehand, so that's why Baptists and other fundamentalist do that.

Answer 6

Because they have a showy form of devotion.

Jesus addressed this issue when he taught his disciples to pray. He told them not to pray in public like the Pharasees, but to go into their innermost room and lock the door.

Also, he told them not to say the same things over and over again, but to pray like this: Our father, who is in heaven.... you know the rest.

The untimate irony of the Lord's Prayer is that people use it in exactly the way that they were told not to, praying publically so that others will see and hear them and repeating the same prayers thoughtlessly.

Now for the tie-in. ;) Even though the people you asked about are saying something different, they are, in essense, doing the same thing. They pray not because their heart moves them to do so, but because they want you too see how pious they are.

When people pray out of obligation, rather than from the heart, they struggle to come up with the words and tend to repeat certain ones like Lord and God.

It's similar to people saying "um" in converstaion. You normally hear this when people are attempting to speak eloquently or they're saying things that they really don't mean or care about. These little intergections are like brain hiccups. They show up when speech is forced.

Similarly, when prayers are forced, you hear similar things.

Answer 7

Some people do get pretty showy when they pray.
God doesn't care for that at all. Prayer should be more like a conversation with a loving Father.
Not just a presentation of a wish list to a sugar daddy.

Answer 8

IMO the better use of prayer is to "listen"rather than speaking: God is not the one of need of knowing what to do with your life.... It is no harm to the loved one to be continually told they are loved though, in fact it may benefit the relationship, so long as other important things are not neglected.

For another example: "God bless." - I this say/write this for your sake, to remind you of the Worthy One, and human love of God which I share, and not to command God to bless you; that is a foregone conclusion, and I have no say one way or the other.

Answer 9

There's two Lords, Gods, and another Jesus to sort out,
in which things are an allegory, a triple mystery in Col 2:2.
http://www.godshew.org/Allegory.htm

Funny thing is they all close eyes and look down to pray.
What's up, rather down, with bowing to earthy god: law?

I wonder when they'll realize "Christ is the end of the law".
So then a true "Christ"-ian would be anti-law, not pro-law;
having the mind of Christ would be grace us, not awful lawful.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 10

Oh god how can i answer this, dear lord. Jesus christ, my lord, oh god you are so wonderful, lord be with me oh lord my god jesus of god in the lord of lords to the god of gods in jesus. Because they are ******* idiots ok! I love when some pray and they make it sound as if they know this illusion so well, its like hey god you are so good to me and lord one more thing i just want to say that.....
bunch of knuckle heads if you ask me. Repetitive non trusting paranoid dillusional schizophrenic druged up idiots! That's why, have a good day sir!!

Answer 11

1. In the Old Testament the word, Lord, was only used to refer to God. Early Christians called Jesus Lord because it was a way of affirming their believe in his divinity, that he is the Son of God.

2. When you're in love with someone, you love to say their name, when you speak with him/her. Perhaps, that's why Christians say the name of God or Jesus so much.