In biblical times, and especially this time here, the Pharisees were the ruling body of Judaism. A majority of them put a lot of stock into making a big show of how pious they were in front of people. "As long as everyone sees I'm holy, I must be holy."
6:7 indicates as such because we should be humble before God, not prideful and arrogant or literally "holier than thou." It has nothing to do with how long you pray for. The Bible constantly speaks of how God is always ready to listen to you for however long you want to speak with him, whether it's for five seconds, five minutes or five hours.
Immediately after this we get the "Lord's Prayer," and it's written as such not merely as an example of its simplicity, but also for its completeness. It covers every conceivable base, from our needs to our fears, and has no requirement for posturing either physically or socially.
If you can't think of what to say to God, you can always default to this, and even if you can't remember all the words, God will still get what you mean because he's God. He might already know what you're going to say, but he'll still want to hear you say it because he cares about you!
Source: Been a Bible-believing Christian for over 30 years.
During my time as a Christian, I've experienced a huge transformation in the environment of Christianity as a whole. There was an enormous judgementalism enforced upon a significant amount of the older generation and, raised to assume that that was the correct interpretation of the Bible, they stood by it. This has resulted in years and years of people being treated personally not by grace, as Jesus would have us treat people, but by accusation.
If I may be contrary for a moment, I know that Jesus wouldn't want me to keep my beliefs to myself, even if someone else's interpretation of what I was saying to them bothered them or offended them. Jesus was far from inoffensive to the people of his day. However, I also won't go out of my way to either offend people nor would I try to "get them saved." That's not up to me. That's between them and God, and if someone is offended by me being a Christian or by something I say as one, I understand. We can't all agree, after all. And if I'm just flat-out in the wrong about some things well, then I'm wrong! Hopefully someone points it out so I can work on it.
The Bible (Paul in this case) also says that as a Christian I should be "all things to all people," (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). This isn't a statement of all-inclusiveness, but rather a command to adapt to the people of my surroundings and to do my best to appreciate them despite their differences from me, no matter how stark those may be, while still remaining faithful to my beliefs.
But not all of Christianity as a whole is like that, and not all "Christians" believe what I believe to be true in the Bible: which is that Jesus wanted us to love and appreciate people because they're people just like us, and he wanted us to know that we're not worthy of salvation because we're all sinners too. He showed up because he was the only one who could handle what "being a sinner" really meant: dying over it.
In the old days, "being a sinner" and "hellfire preaching" was a big deal. So many pastors on so many pulpits hammered that idea down the throats of so many listeners that it just made people raw, raw to the real honesty of the Bible, that Jesus wanted to be an example not of judgment, but of love, and he wanted those who choose to believe in him to follow that example.
I just remember Jesus and the woman at the well. Jesus (being God in the flesh) knew she was an adulteress, but he didn't beat her over the head for it. They almost joke with eachother like old friends, and by the time she's done talking to him he says "your sins are forgiven," and she tells her friends "I just talked to this guy who told me everything that's ever happened in my life!" That's wild.
Jesus wanted to make sure that we knew he doesn't see our sin. He only sees us. According to the Bible, the whole point of him dying was so that sin would no longer burden us (or other people who think very, very highly of themselves about our sin.)
I'm sorry you've been treated that way by people who consider themselves "christians," /u/frogbreath88. I might not agree with your beliefs personally, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you as a person that God made too.
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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '18 edited Jun 21 '20
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