When a christian, or a group of christians pray in public...?

Question

Is it just for show??? To make themselves look good in the eyes of men rather than in the eyes of their god?

Matthew 6:6 says...But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

So, is somebody (or a group of somebodies) misunderstanding the concept behind this verse? Or is it something else???

Since I was asked to do so, I will define public prayer. I define public prayer as prayer outdoors, in public, within easy eyesight of people of many faiths, or no faith.

I still consider prayer in church, and in the home as "in private", because that's where prayer belongs, even by the admission of your own Bible.

Demonstrating your beliefs in a public arena such as a park, a parking lot, a grocery store, a mall, etc. would be examples of prayer in public.

Answer 1

Here Here!

Intent is important with prayer. Are they praying in public to draw attention to themselves or are they doing it for some legitimate holy reason.

As to not take the verse out of context:

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

But I like your question. I agree with your point.

Answer 2

Very good question.

A couple of things are at work when you see this that you may not have considered. One, spontaneous prayer is a very big part of some evangelicals' lives. It's very natural for them, when in conversation with another believer or believers, to say "let's have a prayer about it" and they do so right then and there, wherever they happen to be. In most of these cases I believe it's very genuine and not done for show. They certainly don't mind that others can see and hear them praying, but it's not intentional.

Some do pray in public and make a great show of it, of course, and by observing their demeanor you can usually discern that there's a bit of drama going on.

Second, I also think it's important to take the environment and circumstances into consideration. A group of people praying in a hospital waiting room, for example, wouldn't bring Matthew 6:6 to mind at all.

Answer 3

No it's pretty plain what it means, and the verses either side reinforce that message.
Matthew 6;5
And when thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synogogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward.....
.....
6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repititions, as the heathens do: for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
When I last mentioned it to a Christian, after I had just been to their church for a service, he muttered about the verse sounding familiar, and changed the subject

Answer 4

Christians pray publicly for, I'm thinking, two reasons

1. It gives you a strong cultish feeling when doing so. It's intoxicating, gives you a rush of power. Like a magical adrenaline or something. This is nothing new in human history, not by any means new at all.

2. I'm sure in many situations when they are being dramatic publicly, Mat 6.6 is not something they're considering at all.
For some brands of "christianity" the tradition is such that Almost anything is justifiable if in a vein of "Bringing the GoodNews" somehow to others who are in more or less apocalyptic need of "saving".

There were martyrs once in roman theaters, but the endless sheer desire to frvently "demonstrate" Christianity in ostensible ways to others is remarkable.

Answer 5

I think praying in public either requires a very big ego or a very humbled one.
To me, personal prayer is a must where i can pray about my deepest hurts and desires. Public prayer is difficult for me as i have a great deal of pride and people often mock outside prayer as foolishness, so to still do it is either coming from a humble place of self acceptance(both of your divinity and your sin) or from a pompous,"i am better than them" stance.
Anyway.
Like everything in life, there are different degrees of prayer.
Its similar to meditation in that you can pray for long and deeply alone but in a public place your prayer will be challenged by your pride and self deception that is used to tackle you ego and the shame of feeling your own sin in a public place. Often you will feel that others feel it too.

Answer 6

The bible also states somewhere in there that we shouldn't preach on the street corners "like the heathens do". But like in any group, you have your outcasts/troublemakers/ignorant/etcetera. The bible also states, "Beware of those who come in My name". Satan will use weak Christians to do his bidding - those who give the real Christians a bad name by taking things from the bible to justify their hate agendas, cramming religion down peoples throats, etc. A real Christian has read the entire bible and lives by it. You can tell the difference if you set down and actually talk to any who claim to be one. I get tired of the stereotyping of Christianity. Its like racial sterotypes..."all whites are KKK*", "all blacks are gold teeth wearing thugs", "all mexicans are lettuc pickers" and "all Christians are hypocritical zealots". It gets annoying, ya know? Especially when people who cast the dispersions don't set down and take the time to really *talk* to a Christian/Christian poser.

Answer 7

define public prayer plz. if u mean in a church with every one else there, God appreciates when we pray in numbers so thats the point. if u meant in front of random ppl... i duno y, i certainly dont.

Answer 8

Every read remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remove the plank from your brothers eye. If they want to pray why should you want to deney them the right to pray. Seems like a pity problem with your and not them.

Answer 9

You are exactly correct.

Modern pharisees. sheeesh.