Prayer pet peeves! - Think Christian

While chuckling at this post parodying the prayer styles of various branches of Christianity, I'm reminded of two amusing-but-annoying little prayer habits you encounter all the time in evangelical circles. Raise your hand if you've run into one of these:

The word "just" inserted about five times per sentence, as in "Dear God, we just pray that you would just heal Sister Margaret" or "we ask that you would just touch their hearts." I even catch myself doing this, and it drives me crazy. What is the word "just" doing in there? I can't think of any grammatical purpose it serves, and I can't even guess how we all got started on this habit.
Is this a lecture, or is it a prayer? as described in this comment. You know the routine--when the person praying proceeds to repeatedly remind God of the various things He's said and done in the Bible. I can see the value of verbally declaring our belief in the teachings of the Bible, but this always makes me wonder if the person is trying to pray to God and deliver a stealthy sermon to the congregation at the same time. If you've got something to say to the congregation, just say so--don't try and sneak it into the congregational prayer!

OK, enough snark--I acknowledge that these are harmless little prayer quirks, and you're not a Bad Christian if you do them. But if you ever catch me using the word "just" indiscriminately in a public prayer, you just have my permission to just whack me with a copy of the King James Bible (after I'm done praying, of course).

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Comments (3)

I usually hear the type of prayers with "just" from the "young adult" crowd...those in between 20 and 35 years old - and also from those who more closely related to the "contemporary Christian music" movement. I can't tell if that's the reason for their "justs" or if it has to do with the way that this particular generation is raised.

I believe "just" is a device used by evangelicals, pentecostals, southern baptists and like minded sects to appear "genuine"---I also believe they copied the device from popular evangelicals such as Swaggart, the Bakers, and their ilk. Alternatively, its' a grammatical "prop" (like "um") that means nothing.

For me, it becomes a distractor and highlights a certain try at "bargaining" between the "penitent" and the Lord.

I very much agree with your pet peeve. I think people use this in the same way as they would use the word, "only." "Lord God, I only ask that you heal...etc..." It is like the person is trying to not ask too much of God, and feels the need to caveat the request with the word: "just" - like I will ask you for just this much....not one iota more! Does this make the prayer sound less demanding and more humble? Not to me. Argh! Thanks for "just" listening!

Comments (3)

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