Search results

Interestingly, there are variant manuscripts regarding the John 14:14 version you used. There is a version that says "if you ask me for anything" and there is a version that says "if you ask for anything." Now, I will say that the earliest surviving manuscripts include "me" but the fact that...

There is no instruction (for believers, for Christians, the church) to worship Jesus. I have not moved the goal posts. I am clarifying what I meant.

The common denominator is that we both believe in the Bible, I think. Regardless of whatever you or I believe, we are both reading the same book. You can still discuss praying because the Bible talks about praying, you and I believe in praying, and from the text therein we can draw out what it...

Hmm, maybe. What does the word "prayer" really mean then? I looked up proseuchomai from Matthew 6:6, and the lexical summary says it means "to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship." Do you think it's just a coincidence no one in the Bible ever applied proseuchomai to Jesus?

Yeah, Jesus said you can ask him for things in John 14:13,14. If that means "Pray to me" then when Jesus said "No longer ask me anything" in John 16:23, then that must mean "Don't pray to me." In 2 Kings 2:9, Elisha said to Elijah "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” But...

Noted, but your approach seems to blur the line between prayer and other forms of communication into non-existence and apply subjective criteria for defining prayer, i.e., "Jesus was in heaven so it's prayer" where the Bible doesn't really seem to be saying that. You recalled where I mentioned...

Not addressed to Christians.

Right. I would say that God isn't limited by peoples' misunderstandings of how to pray. If your heart is in the right place, and I am sure it is, that isn't something God is blind to, even if you're not praying according to Jesus' teachings. God transcends religious traditions and doctrines of...

Easy, Jesus directs people to that conclusion with his explicit instructions to pray to the Father. There are also no instructions to worship Jesus in Scripture. I don't think that's an accident. Matthew 6 6But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who...

Let's just agree to disagree. I have been in what seem like debates that go on for years, with little to no progress, and both sides becoming more entrenched in their views, because people feel passionately about what they believe. I would add, zeal is not the yardstick for what is true. That...

Yes, absolutely correct. Prayer is for the Father only. Is asking me for things prayer? No Is asking you for things prayer? No Is asking Jesus for things prayer? No

I believe it proves that there are no instructions to pray to Jesus in the Bible.

John 16:23,24 supersedes John 14:13,14 in the biblical timeline, i.e., ask nothing of me, ask the Father.

Good analogy. I believe there is a reason for everything. While it's true I don't believe Jesus is God, I just see that people are often not following the Biblical example and instruction regarding prayer. I expected different perspectives and accusations, that's fine, I am used to seeing that...

Side question, if there are no clear, explicit, "Pray to Jesus" verses (so far I haven't seen any) then are there any examples of Jesus answering prayers, responding, forgiving sins, or otherwise, after he was taken to heaven and commanded to sit temporarily at God's right hand?

Please point out how this is an instruction to pray to Jesus. I am quite sure that there are no instructions to pray to priests or high priests in the Bible.

Follow Jesus' instruction and his examples is the way to get prayer right. Agreed!

No it doesn't have everything to do with the OP. Just pointing out that there are no instructions to pray to Jesus in the Bible. So far, no one has proven that wrong.

Great rhetorical question. The answer is he didn't and, of course, he didn't teach his followers to pray to him either. Even if "me" was in the original, it doesn't follow that this is a teaching regarding prayer. This applies to that context, not the instructions he left for believers to...

No argument from me. If Jesus was standing right next to us having a talk, it wouldn't be a prayer. So it doesn't really make sense that it becomes a prayer when he changes geographical locations. Someone said earlier "because Jesus is in heaven" then that it is a criteria for praying to Jesus...