Is it ok to write your prayer?


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its not very LDS of me but I do have a prayer space, hoping to have one in the garden when I move - right now it has a green plant to remind me Heavenly Father and Jesus created the planet and its beautiful, a candle to remind me that Jesus is the light of the world and a picture of the San Diego Temple to remind me my main goal in life is to return myself and my family to Heavenly Father, that we want to go home. I also use an oil burner and have something nice and smelly in it. I have a red ribbon on it to remind me of the atonement and that the blood of Christ was shed for me and I want to add a Water feature to remind me Christ is the source of life and will sustain me through the day

That sounds beautiful, the symbolic meaning of your precious space.

Just like your red ribbon, the carpet on the Parish floor of our Catholic Churches is red also to remind us of the sacrifice Christ made for us.

There are also sanctums in the Church, one for Mary and one for Jesus, even though the whole Church is about Jesus. I often wonder why we have the sanctum for Jesus? :mellow:

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Confused...

If you could specify what exactly is confusing, someone may be able to clarify.

What you quoted was paraphrased for the True to the Faith book (i gave you a link to that in another thread) from an article by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley which you can read here: LDS.org - Ensign Article - The Symbol of Our Faith

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That sounds beautiful, the symbolic meaning of your precious space.

Just like your red ribbon, the carpet on the Parish floor of our Catholic Churches is red also to remind us of the sacrifice Christ made for us.

There are also sanctums in the Church, one for Mary and one for Jesus, even though the whole Church is about Jesus. I often wonder why we have the sanctum for Jesus? :mellow:

The red ribbon came from the Christingle

This is my favourite Roman Catholic building - the Holy Ghost is incredibly strong there I used to love sitting and praying the Lady Chapel was my favourite, it still is one of my favourite places to meditate and pray

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The red ribbon came from the Christingle

This is my favourite Roman Catholic building - the Holy Ghost is incredibly strong there I used to love sitting and praying the Lady Chapel was my favourite, it still is one of my favourite places to meditate and pray

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This is a Catholic Church!? It looks beautiful but it also looks a bit different to the churches I know personally. I guess things are different in America.

You were Catholic then? :D

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If you could specify what exactly is confusing, someone may be able to clarify.

What you quoted was paraphrased for the True to the Faith book (i gave you a link to that in another thread) from an article by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley which you can read here: LDS.org - Ensign Article - The Symbol of Our Faith

It says why you shouldn't wear crosses and yet the Chaplains wear them anyway.

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This is a Catholic Church!? It looks beautiful but it also looks a bit different to the churches I know personally. I guess things are different in America.

You were Catholic then? :D

lol its in Liverpool no I wasn't Roman Catholic - I was very eclectic prior to my baptism, immediately prior to my baptism was probably not quite hindu/buddhist/pagan but have incorporated a lot

Oh and we can wear a cross as a piece of jewellery I know some church members have family pieces - I guess like I have my Great Gran's sacred heart in my scriptures

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The LDS Church has a couple of set prayers as well--the most prominent being the one that accompanies what we call the Sacrament (our equivalent to your Eucharist).

But LDS meetings will usually open and close with a prayer offered by one of the congregation; and those are almost always extemporaneous.

The difference is that the set prayers in the LDS Church are a part of specific ordinances, not traditional prayers.

It says why you shouldn't wear crosses and yet the Chaplains wear them anyway.

What do you mean by "chaplains"?

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Wingnut, he is referring to the quote i gave him from True to the Faith which says:

The cross is used in many Christian churches as a symbol of the Savior’s death and Resurrection and as a sincere expression of faith. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we also remember with reverence the suffering of the Savior. But because the Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of His death as the symbol of our faith.

Your life must be the expression of your faith. Remember that when you were baptized and confirmed, you covenanted to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ. As your associates observe you, they should be able to sense your love for the Savior and His work.

The only members of the Church who wear the symbol of the cross are Latter-day Saint chaplains, who wear it on their military uniforms to show that they are Christian chaplains

The only explanation i've seen for LDS chaplains (i believe this is referring to military chaplains) wearing the cross is that it's for identification, as it says above "to show that they are Christian chaplains." The above quote should not be taken as expressly forbidding LDS to wear crosses but as an explanation as to why we usually don't. As Elgama said, there are some LDS who do wear a cross. I have yet to meet one, but i have heard of it.

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Wingnut, he is referring to the quote i gave him from True to the Faith which says:

The only explanation i've seen for LDS chaplains (i believe this is referring to military chaplains) wearing the cross is that it's for identification, as it says above "to show that they are Christian chaplains." The above quote should not be taken as expressly forbidding LDS to wear crosses but as an explanation as to why we usually don't. As Elgama said, there are some LDS who do wear a cross. I have yet to meet one, but i have heard of it.

Thanks. I didn't read the full quote the first time, and I was confused because "chaplain" isn't something we have in the LDS Church. Except in the military, and then they aren't necessarily specifically Church-related or Church-representative.

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Dominic, the Nave of that Cathedral is really something. Couldn't help but thinking how different our Sunday Services would feel in the round.

its one amazing building comes close second to the San Diego Temple for my favourite religious building. The spirit the Archbishop's have had that served the area has always been strong the one's I have met have been amazing. Can't find a decent picture of it at night at least they used to floodlight the crown from the inside and the light would shine out from the stained glass.

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Dominic, the Nave of that Cathedral is really something. Couldn't help but thinking how different our Sunday Services would feel in the round.

That Cathedral was very strange to me. It didn't look normal at all.

My LDS friend took me into her church and showed me the chapel, it was so plain and white! Not like my Church at all! :huh:

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its one amazing building comes close second to the San Diego Temple for my favourite religious building. The spirit the Archbishop's have had that served the area has always been strong the one's I have met have been amazing. Can't find a decent picture of it at night at least they used to floodlight the crown from the inside and the light would shine out from the stained glass.

That sounds gorgeous! :D

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I find myself in a position where it's difficult to find sufficient time to kneel and say all the things I want to say during a prayer (mostly due to work schedules - I often fall asleep at night while praying!). I do have down time at one of my jobs each day where I spend some time writing between clients and I thought why not take some of that time to write a prayer letter? I would take a knee and pray during this time, but I'm in a office setting and a letter may also help me organize my thoughts better.

I don't know that there is any doctrine either way on this, but what are your thoughts? Is this simply silly or is it ok? One of the benefits is later on I'd have a record of my prayer to look back on.

Any thoughts?

I believe it is okay to write a prayer once in a while. But I also believe that it is most important – even critical to keep in touch with G-d in prayer every day. For me, I like to start each day with a morning prayer and review my plans and intensions for that day. Then at night I like to include in my night prayer a short report of how thing turned out and my impressions concerning what happened. Also, during the day, I like to takes short moments of prayer to point out specific things I may wonder about, have questions or desire some guidance or assistance. For me, it is a very rare occurrence to be involved in a long drawn out prayer – and this usually occurs when I find myself in difficulty.

The Traveler

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I am not LDS (yet), but I thought I'd add another perspective:

I see nothing wrong with writing your prayers, perhaps to recite at a later time. This is no different than someone writing a hymn (and many consider hymns to be prayers). As someone said, the important thing is the faith behind the words you are saying, whether they are spontaneous or pre-written. A frequent reference is the "vain repetitions" prohibition in the Bible, and some use it as proof against any sort of repetition or use of pre-written prayers. However, I think that this misses the key word in "vain repetitions": vain.

From Websters:

1 : having no real value : idle, worthless <vain pretensions>

2 : marked by futility or ineffectualness : unsuccessful, useless <vain efforts to escape>

3 archaic : foolish, silly

4 : having or showing undue or excessive pride in one's appearance or achievements : conceited

So, I may say a prayer written by someone else, or a may say a spontaneous prayer. The important thing is that I actually believe what I am saying, that I believe that God is listening and does answer prayers (sometimes the answer is no), etc. If I am just reciting a pre-written prayer without that faith, as if it is some sort of magic spell that will do what it says just because I am saying it, then that is a vain repetition.

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I have heard on multiple occasions that hymns are prayers, and they are written down, so I think writing down your prayer, especially at a time where words are difficult to come by, is a great idea.

Of course, I also believe one of the points of prayer is to get to know, personally, our Heavenly Father. Prayers, I believe, should be conversations, not one sided rehersals. Perhaps you could write your prayer and read it to God, and then wait and listen to what He has to say about it.

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... Perhaps you could write your prayer and read it to God, and then wait and listen to what He has to say about it.

Why not?

Is there anything wrong with pondering on what you'd like to say to the Almighty? I don't think so. Perhaps in the pondering and writing you'll be impressed of a personal revelation, or helped to know what you should be asking of your Father in Heaven for.

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Many times I journalize my prayers. I find I am not a very disciplined "prayer" so I discovered that writing it down like I am send Him a letter makes me slow down and compose my thoughts better...and to avoid my mind wandering which is my habit to do so. I have improved my praying technique (that sounds so cold but you know what I mean) by writing it down so now I pray both ways - depending on my focus that day, or lack of. It also gives me a written record of my ups and downs and has satisfied that "journaling" habit that I wasn't working on before. Baby steps.

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I find myself in a position where it's difficult to find sufficient time to kneel and say all the things I want to say during a prayer (mostly due to work schedules - I often fall asleep at night while praying!). I do have down time at one of my jobs each day where I spend some time writing between clients and I thought why not take some of that time to write a prayer letter? I would take a knee and pray during this time, but I'm in a office setting and a letter may also help me organize my thoughts better.

I don't know that there is any doctrine either way on this, but what are your thoughts? Is this simply silly or is it ok? One of the benefits is later on I'd have a record of my prayer to look back on.

Any thoughts?

as long as its from the heart, and you don't end up using it over and over again inplace of your faith, (ie vain repetition)... I think writing down a prayer is a great idea; Writing helps you focus and remember. Edited by Blackmarch
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