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God Doesn’t Want Your Thoughts and Prayers
Scriptures are clear that prayers without action are worthless
Over 2,000 years ago, before there were prayer books, the first monotheists, the Judeans, brought animals and other sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem to connect with their God. To atone for sins. To practice the spiritual part of being Judean.
While later writings suggest that psalms or other songs likely were sung at the Judean Temple, it wasn’t until the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E. that Jewish leaders instituted regular communal prayer as a substitute for the Temple sacrifices.
These visionary leaders understood that if the Jews (from “Ju-deans” in case you missed the connect) were going to survive without their land-based culture and spiritual practices, they needed a system to remain Ju-ish outside of Judea. It’s one of the reasons Jews didn’t die off like most ancient groups. One part of that vast system of Judaism was prayer.
The exiled Jewish leaders in Babylonia (today Iraq), and later in Europe and North Africa, were the first ones to publish and disseminate organized prayer books. Jewish leaders since then have not substantially changed the fundamentals of those prayers, although some groups like Hassidim added many contemplative devotions to God in the 18th century.
