Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
It made me think about the LC practice of pray-reading, taking one phrase and going over and over again, building "emotional context" or subjectivity into the word, but losing context in meaning, as the original sentence was once part of a narrative, with a beginning and an ending. In other words, there was a story there, once; now there was just a verse in a vacuum, filled with whatever imaginary things one might choose to put.
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Perhaps coming from Ohio, I have mixed feelings here. Christians have long taken a few words out of context and applied them to every situation in life -- e.g. "
no weapon formed against us will prosper" -- but each of us can name dozens more.
As far as repetitive vocal sayings go, my golden rule is simple --
Is your heart and spirit connected to your mouth? As such, repetition is not bad, but when there is an internal disconnect, then the warnings of Jesus about vain babblings ought to be heeded. In this regard, context does help us, as
aron has said, like lanes on the road to direct our prayers in the right direction.
The LSM system plays on emotional highs based on the lung's "volume control." The size of the audience also exaggerated the "high." The louder the "amens," the more fuel was added. It's amazing what people will say or do when given a camera and a microphone. Remember that famous line about 15 minutes of fame?
LSM really went off the rails during the semi-annual trainings of the "new way" era. WL, purportedly a perfected spiritual man, allowed all sorts of revelry in the name of God. I remember the rising star JJ going off with contemptuous ridicule while speaking on the conclusion of the Acts 15 council. WL loved to be extolled even at the expense of the Apostles.
Bottom line for me is our fallen nature loves vain glory. Remember to always connect your mouth with your spirit! If you can't scream Bible phrases -- aka pray-reading -- in private, then don't do it in public.