[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Do you pray with your mind also? Would you be offended if I said you didn't? How about OBW? How about OBW's family that still meets with the LRC?

ZNP, first of all you’re taking this too personal. Critiquing and challenging teachings and practices does not have to be taken as a personal insult. Again, I see nowhere where Mike or anyone else (except maybe awareness, and he’s kind of grandfathered in as the board antagonist) has crossed the line into personal insults. And if you are offended by my citing a perfectly applicable portion of scripture, well then I just don’t know what to tell you about that.

The question is you don't see where Mike is mocking. My response is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". I consider it very much over the line if someone criticizes and complains about my prayer and my time with the Lord. I personally do not practice "pray reading" as described by OBW, not even when I was in the FTTT. No one ever pressured me, I just prayed quietly while others did all of that. But on the other hand I never criticized. I have heard one argument that in the LRC you have to adopt this practice or else you are not "one". Yet, this approach of attacking this practice is to me no different, just the other side of the pendulum.

You contradict yourself here. You say that you “personally do not practice ‘pray reading’ as described by OBW” and yet you say that it’s “very much over the line of someone criticizes and complains about my prayer and my time with the Lord”. If you do not practice pray-reading as described by OBW and others here, then why are you so offended by the criticisms? You say “on the other hand I never criticized”. Great. Nobody here is forcing you to criticize anything (though you are free to do so), but I am going to ask you to give the freedom and grace to others who feel that the way pray-reading is practiced in the Local Church is neither scriptural nor especially profitable.

Ultimately, I have seen a lot that I would be critical of in Christians, particularly sin and the flesh. I think criticizing pray reading is not on my list.

Great, pray reading is not on your list. So be it. You have your list and I have mine. So long as a poster’s “list” does not include flaming and insulting other members, extra strong or foul language or other forum no-nos, then they can post here.

I have known many, many saints in the LRC that had been there for over 10 years and I can't think of any that stands out as being "mindless".

Who called anybody “mindless”? Please point that post out to me. I hope you have a lot of time on your hands cause you’re not going to find it. I think you may find some of us criticizing the mindless way that pray-reading is practiced in the Local Church. Sorry ZNP, but your saying that “I didn’t pray-read that way” is not a good defense of the practice of pray-reading as it has been practiced in the LC since the early days.