[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Opening Post by Raptor

If you think the Local Churches teaching and practice about pray-reading is wrong, find the main points in their publications about pray-reading and point out the mistakes. Talk about how in your experience their practice of pray-reading is wrong. But don´t throw out scriptural and healthy pray-reading. The Recovery does not have the copyright, monopoly or ownership over pray-reading.

Actually there are not many widely disseminated Living Stream publications covering the practice of corporate pray-reading, so it's hard to find any published mistakes to point to. My problem is with pray-reading as it is practiced in the Local Church. It is not scriptural, and it is not healthy. Proclaiming "Oh Lord!" before one word, and then "Amen" before another, and then "Hallelujah" before another is not found in the Bible. My experience of 40+ years (in and out of the Local Church) is that the corporate practice of pray-reading - as it is practiced in the Local Church - does not lead to the individual believers knowing the Lord and his Word, or true worship to God, which should be the goal of any corporate church practice.

There is a very good reason why many, if not most, Christians who visit the Local Church are turned off when they encounter corporate pray-reading - and it's not because they are moo-cows who are not used to the heavenly music - it's because it doesn't match what they have read in the Word, or what they have experienced in corporate gatherings and worshiping with legitimate, orthodox Christian churches and ministries.

Many of the references given by Raptor and others do exemplify "scriptural and healthy" pray-reading, but none of them are what I would consider even faintly close to what is practiced in the Local Church. I was in Orange County California for many years during the LC heyday of the 1970s. I "set my clock for 6 O'Clock" to be "right on time for the morning watch!" I was with hospitality from all over the country and the world - with hundreds of saints - and the practice of pray-reading was virtually uniform as I recall. I have been to a number of Local Church meetings and conference meetings in the last few years - still the same practice. Still not scriptural. Still not healthy.

I apologize to my valued and esteemed brother Raptor. I know it seems like I'm just trying to be contrary, but actually I'm trying to speak the truth in love as I know it. It seems to me that you and Sons toGlory! have tried to make the case that pray-reading as it has been practiced in the Local Church is scriptural and healthy, yet you brothers have not been able to make any such case. And I'm here to tell you that there is no such case to be made.
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