Bible contradiction? Should Christians pray in public?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Did God command the Israelites to make him burnt offerings?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Christians should not pray in public.

“5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)

Christians should pray in public.

“So they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”” (John 11:41-42)

“Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger and dispute.” (1 Timothy 2:8)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit Matthew 6:5-6 as affirming the claim “Christians should not pray in public” against two passages (1 Timothy 2:8 and John 11:41-42) as affirming “Christians should pray in public.”
4. The skeptic did not correctly interpret Matthew 6:5-6.  One cannot extrapolate “Christians should not pray in public” from Matthew 6:5-6.  That is, Matthew 6:5-6 does not prohibit prayer in public in general (public prayer in of itself) but Jesus in Matthew 6:5-6 is prohibiting prayer for this purpose: “so that they will be seen by people” (Matthew 6:5).
   1. Let’s look first at Matthew 6:5.  Jesus in Matthew 6:5 even said he’s addressing those who are “hypocrites” and hypocrites literally is someone who is “two face:” Their face in public seems like they are pious to God but their true face is there’s no prayer and piety with God.  So in context Matthew 6:5-6 is prohibiting hypocritical and outward prayer that is only for show, that seeks praises and high view of men.  Such an individual would get their reward already but not true reward from God (Matthew 6:5b).
   2. Also Jesus prescription of private prayer in Matthew 6:6 is not prohibiting public prayer in general. Don’t forget the context is Jesus is addressing the issue of hypocritical prayer of someone who is outwardly praying for show.  In this case the antitdote is the person should have a private prayer life and that’s what Matthew 6:6 is saying.  Matthew 6:6 does not say all public form of prayer is prohibited at all times and in all situation.
5. Given point 4 that Matthew 6:5-6 is not a prohibition against public prayer there’s not a Bible contradiction here.  At the same time the two passages of 1 Timothy 2:8 and John 11:41-42 which  gave examples of Jesus and the Church praying in public it does not contradict the teaching of Matthew 6:5-6 about the need for private prayer since neither 1 Timothy 2:8 nor John 11:41-42 prohibit private prayer.  Private prayer and public prayer are not mutually exclusive.  Granted there can be wrong ways to pray whether in public or in private but public prayer and private prayer in of itself is not wrong and both can be practiced by a Christian according to God’s Word as a guideline.
6. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
7. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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