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Prayer
Christians and Jew's alike pray to communicate with God, they believe that
this brings them closer to Him, pray can be seen as a kind of 'conversation'
between God. Of the two religions, Judaism has more formal
prayers. In Judaism there are set times for prayers; morning, noon, evening and
at meal times and nearly all prayers are formal written text. Christians on the
other hand have no set time for prayer, though some people may choose to pray at
certain times. They also have formal written prayers, however many Christians
use extemporary prayer - praying in their own words rather than from a written
text. Christian prayers are characteristically offered to God, thru Jesus
Christ under the leading of the Holy Spirit, on that basis that Jesus cleared
away the 'blocks' between God and human beings. The best known Christian prayers
is The Lord's Prayer, there are many different variations on The Lord's Prayer,
below is an example:
"Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread
forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from the evil one. Amen."
(Matthew 6:9-13)
The two religions both mark the end
of the prayer by saying 'Amen', and most prayers (formal or extemporary)
contains; praise and adoration of God, regret for sins and seeking of
forgiveness, thanksgiving for the blessing of God and frequently a specific
request of God. This form is evident in The Lord's Prayer.
Sabbath is the Jewish holy day of
the week, this is a day without work and falls on Saturday,
while the Christian's holy day lands on Sunday. On this day the believers go to the Synagogue and Church
respectively to pray and listen to sermons. Special services are often held
during the year to celebrate certain events.
These two religions both use
visible symbols of prayer, for the Jew's its the Tallit,
Tefillin and the Yarmulka.
They also use prayerbooks that
contain prayers used during worship. Christians use the Rosary, crucifix and icons
as aids of prayer and worship.
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