Okay, I’m going to do something very bold. I’m going to declare that there’s an essential piece missing from The Lord’s Prayer and attempt to edit it.
First, let’s start with what we have and a line by line explantion.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
It is said that this prayer is how Jesus taught his followers to pray. The first thing to note is that it says Our Father, putting Jesus’ followers on his same level as a child of the Father.
Then it says “who art in heaven.” So if Jesus was on Earth while he was saying this prayer, the Father was still in heaven, then Jesus could not have also been the Father. Unless… The Father was inside of him as is described in John Chapter 1 verses 1-5.
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
What this basically means is that God is within all of us, but we don’t even comprehend it, we don’t even realize it.
What Jesus was trying to teach his followers was to become Gods like he had been taught to be a God while in Egypt.
John 10:34
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Psalms 82:6
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Some people will try to say that the word gods are “lower case.”
That was just a trick of the translators. If you go back to the original Hebrew you’ll see that the word used in Psalms 82:6 and Genesis 1:1 were exactly the same word.
Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Same word in Hebrew Elohim, but in one place the translator decided to make it God, in another because he didn’t understand the true meaning of the text (or was trying to hide it) he translated it as gods.
The Yod Mim on the end of the word Elohim in Hebrew (im in English) makes the word plural.
Read the Hebrew Transliteration for yourself.
http://biblehub.com/lexicon/genesis/1-1.htm
http://biblehub.com/lexicon/psalms/82-6.htm
Genesis 1:1 should really be translated:
“In the beginning Gods created the Heaven and the Earth.
Oh snap, that puts the entire concept of monotheism on its head.
If you want to go into a discussion of the Trinity and the origins of the Trinity we can, the Trinity is not a monotheist concept though.
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
This is a supplication for the Father’s kingdom to come and the Father’s will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven. This means that the Father’s will wasn’t happening on earth at the time and the desire was for His kingdom to come to earth. (more on what the Kingdom of the Father is later)
Give us this day our daily bread.
Please Father provide us our basic needs. Food, clothing, shelter.
And forgive us our trespasses,
Here we are asking the Father to forgive us for the mistakes we have made and the transgressions we have made against others.
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
Here’s where we learn to forgive those who have wronged us. This IMO is one of the most powerful parts of this prayer.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
The current first Chapter of the Qur’an, The Fatiha states:
Ihdinas siraatal mustaqeem
Siraatal ladheena an ‘amta’ alaihim
The translation is “Calm us for the way of the ones, who stand up straight, (The Agreeable). The way of those who You have bestowed your grace”
Same concept.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Here Jesus is teaching his followers to give the power and the glory to the Father, NOT HIMSELF!!! To the God inside of him, not him.
Amen.
Amen is in reference to the Ancient Egyptian God Amun. All three monotheistic religions, all that have their roots Egypt of they are honest, end their prayers in Amen.
Quoting Wikipedia:
Amun (also Amon, Ammon, Amen; Greek Ἄμμων Ámmōn, Ἅμμων Hámmōn)[citation needed] was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet. With the 11th dynasty (c. 21st century BC), Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu.[1]
After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I (16th century BC), Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, as Amun-Ra or Amun-Re.
Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom (with the exception of the “Atenist heresy” under Akhenaten). Amun-Ra in this period (16th to 11th centuries BC) held the position of transcendental, self-created[2] creator deity “par excellence”, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety.[3] His position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods.[3]
As the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece.
Now, there’s a whole lot of history in those few paragraphs. The highlights are that Amun was known as the King of Gods.
Okay ya’ll, are you ready for it? Amun was the Father that Jesus and his followers were praying to in The Lord’s Prayer, and the little “Amen” at the end is the seal/confirmation of this fact. Muslims end their prayers with Ameen and Jews also end their prayer with Amen, all in reverence to Amun.
Also note that in the Roman pantheon Zeus was based on Amun. Now let’s go for a brief detour. The Tetragrammaton in Hebrew is Yod He Waw He or YHWH in English. This is the secret name of God but the true pronunciation has been lost (or more correctly stated, continued to remain secret).
In order to hide things the ancients would often write just the consonants and remove the vowels, so the true meaning would only be known those who already knew. Kinda like a reminder of what the words or story are but if someone were to find the writings they wouldn’t be able to outright read it.
Kinda like this, see if you can recognize this popular American song:
“H sy cn y s. B th dwn’s rl lght.”
Now because we all know the Star Spangled Banner so well (in America) that was easy, but if someone didn’t know the song it would have been much more difficult.
The Masons do this still today. (I’m a Mason so I know what I’m referring to. When I can dig my books out, I’ll show you what I mean.
Anyway, so we’ve got this YHWH and even today scholars aren’t really sure how to pronounce it. Some say it is Jehovah, except there is no J sound in Hebrew, Arabic or Aramaic. Some say it is Yahweh and while that’s closer, could someone explain what Yahweh as a word means in Hebrew?
So let me tell you the true and secret pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton. It is YaHuwa. Ya in the ancient languages Arabic/Hebrew and Arabic means Oh. Kinda like Oh you. Or hey you. Or in slang today, Yo!!! Huwa means he, so put together they would literally mean “Oh He.”
The best translation by way of interpretation is “Oh He who is who He is.” This relates back to Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks The Lord who shall he say sent him, and The Lord answered:
Exodus 3:14
And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
What this mean simply is I am that I am, or properly translated with correct grammar, I am who I am. In other words, what you see is what you get. In even simpler terms, “I’m secure is myself and I know who I am.” As the sage Imhotep implores us all to do is to Know Thyself. This being in physical form in Exodus chapter 3 (read it you’ll see the being is physical) was saying “Look, I know myself, and that’s why I’m a God.” (more explanation on that later)
So now we get back to YaHuwa, and we see that that is saying the exact same thing as I am who I am, except it is saying “Oh He who He is.” Third person instead of first person. So the phrase started as something a person or group of people would say, to becoming something that was said about him/them.
Phew!
Okay, following so far?
So we’ve got this YaHuwa which through lost pronunciation became Jehovah and was sometimes abbreviated as Jah.
Okay, now to tie it all together.
Jah plus Zeus is…
That’s right, Jah Zeus or Jesus.
That’s where the name of Jesus comes from.
All of that is now off topic slightly from where I started. I started by saying I felt something was missing from the Lord’s Prayer, and this is it.
We need to apologize to those people we have wronged. Apologizing to the Father for me hurting my wife/sister/brother/son/daughter/friend might be enough for the Father to forgive me, but what about my wife/sister/brother/son/daughter/friend? Sure elsewhere in the Prayer it implores us to forgive others, but we all know not everyone is willing to forgive before an apology has come. Many won’t forgive even after an apology comes, but always apologize and leave it on the table for them to pick up.
This constant and reciprocal pain can carry on for generations. Real or perceived wrongs between cultures/religions/ethnic groups can wage war for 1000s of years. (and have)
So how about we all take a deep breath, and a step back, and just say “I’m sorry.” “I’m really sorry for the pain I’ve caused you.” “I’m really sorry for hurting you.” “I’m really sorry for lying to you.” “I’m really sorry for stealing from you.” “I apologize from the bottom of my heart for…” The creators of Alcoholics Anonymous knew this fact when they created the 8th step of the 12 Step Program.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
Not an apology to the Father, but an apology to the actual person or people we’ve wronged. These apologies aren’t only necessary from individuals but nation states owe other nation states apologies. Neighborhoods and ethnic groups owe others apologies, and is more likely, they both owe each other apologies.
Now I’ve been thinking for a while on what the wording would sound like and keep with the flow and spirit of the original prayer, and to be honest I’m having some difficulty.
So here is my stab at the NLP (New Lord’s Prayer), please make suggestions
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
Give us the courage to ask forgiveness
from those we have wronged.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amun Ra
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None of these ideas are unique to me, I am but a humble student of Malachi.