You didn’t quite answer JT’s question about the Lord’s Prayer. It seems like you are implying that the Lord’s Prayer contains insufficient gospel.

“I sometimes wonder if this is a distinctively evangelical sin. Of course it is by no means exclusively so. But how commonplace it seems to be to hear a fellow Christian’s name mentioned in some context or other—and the first words of response demean his reputation, belittle him, distance him from acceptance into the fellowship—although this is a brother for whom Christ died!”

Since when have we been commanded to minutely analyse someone’s prayers? Were you praying with him, or just listening in so you could criticise him?

Suppose Rick Warren had stood and prayed just the words of the Lord’s Prayer – nothing else – would we then have had so many negative comments? My sad suspician is that we would still have had some!

Makes me glad to be in Scotland since it sounds like church in the US can be a scary place for a pastor with congregations of “we know best” critics.

If you’ve read Sinclair Ferguson’s “Twenty Resolutions from James” you’ll know that Resolution 7 reads: “That I will never stand on anyone’s face with my words.”

Hmmm.

Peter Humphris, Scotland, UK

CR: Roman Catholics recite the Lord’s Prayer in every mass.

So yes? It is amazing that you fault Christ for not teaching his follower to pray well enough to fit into your(truly?)Reformed mold. If any Roman Catholic earnestly prays the Lord’s Prayer he or she is most likely saved.

Also, people should note that prayers are not sermons. They can be instructive, of course, but they were mainly an address to God that gives praise, thanks, and humble requests. Let’s not make it more complicated than it is, folks.

My suspicion is that people are speaking here out of blind hatred for Rick Warren– if Piper or Macarthur had said these same things there wouldn’t be 92 comments. That’s pathetic, and no different than the idiots who go bonkers every time they hear Bush’s name.

Also, since Rome uses the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, what else do we need to jettison? I think they have the same New Testament as us. Can we use that? This line of reasoning is absurd.

And the Apostle’s Creed. I used to go to Catholic Mass, when I first came to Christ.

“Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”
Another Catholic saying during the mass.

But the bottom line is that the gospel of Catholicism is a works gospel.

Rick Warren’s gospel is a grace alone through faith alone gospel, which he tries to not offend anyone with.

I’d like to respond to your post but it’s just too late and I’ll don’t think I’ll get to you before the comments are moderated (closed).

Sorry.

Roman Catholics recite the Lord’s Prayer in every mass.

“Rick Warren had to list many names given to Jesus through different religions – namely Muslim’s ‘Isa – who was not and is not our Jesus of the Holy (Christian) Bible”

Arabic Christians call Jesus “Isa”. Islam doesn’t own Arabic. Jesus was called ‘Isa’ by Arabic speakers before the Koran . English “Jesus” is a imperfect rendering of the original name found in your Bible and that doesn’t make you a pagan.

Im glad RW chose to include Jesus’ name as used by Christians of other heart-languages. I thank God Christ is known and cherished around the globe and is not just a god of english.

Peace be with you,
السلام عليكم
In Jesus’ name
ਹਜ਼ਰਤ ਇੱਸਾ ਦਾ ਵਸਿਲਾ ਹੈ

The problem is, there was no congregation. When a pastor gives a pastoral prayer during a church service, his goal is to focus the prayers of the congregation. The assumption is that he is praying with a body of believers that are at least trying to be of the same heart and mind. Warren was praying in front of however many hundreds of millions of people were watching/have watched the inauguration–people from all sorts of different views on every imaginable topic–and so he had to take that into account.

I agree that his prayer shouldn’t be judged by the standards of personal private prayer, but it can’t be judged by the standards of pastoral prayer either. The situation doesn’t fit into either of those categories, so it’s completely useless to complain about it’s failings based on those standards.

What standards should we judge the prayer by? Well, I’m not sure that Christian pastors have any business standing up and praying before the inauguration of a new president at all so I don’t know if there are any good standards to judge by. But it seems like the proper attitude from the church would be more one of gratefulness for what he said right and for the fact that he didn’t say anything patently wrong, rather than complaining and engaging in so much in-fighting over all the things that he didn’t say.

@JT: That’s a good question. I have no idea.

JT

That is very sad to read.

All other complaints are an exercise in spiritual arrogance at best.

Because O knew he could count on getting a prayer like this one. Symbolic inclusivism, with no Gospelly aftertaste.

You remind me of Lewis’s Dufflepuds, cheering on their leader’s brilliance.

We’re all discussing the content of Rick’s prayer, but has anyone discussed the fact that he was asked to pray in the first place?

If I were him, I hope that my first question (to myself) would be,
“What in the world am I doing wrong as a pastor, that someone like Barack Obama would ask me to pray at his inauguration.”

Yes yes, I know, it was a political move on Obama’s part. But the fact remains that a Mark Dever or a John Macarthur would NEVER be asked this by Obama. Yet Rick was. Why?

So who is worse, the commentor commenting on Rick, or the commentor commenting on the commentor.

As though Warren’s goal was to somehow include enough “party platform points” to clearly differentiate his prayer from soft-Christianity or other belief systems

Even if RW had, the truly reformed would of found something to criticize. He is eeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvviiiiiiiilllllll.

Larissa