I kind of like the Lord's Prayer

[davedan]

There I said it. This is a bit of a tangent off the Petty Prayers thread.

I like the Lord's prayer, not as  a christian, because I am not a Christian, nor for any religious meaning. Nor do I have any illusions that it was first constructed by a person named Jesus. But for an examination of the words of the second part as it appears in Luke:

    Give us each day our daily bread,
    and forgive us our sins,
    for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
    And lead us not into temptation."


Give us just what we need for day.

Forgive us what we owe you and we forgive what we owe others.

I really rather like that it is something that I think is helpful and while self involved is also selfless.

There that's my dirty secret out.

[Captain Jack Harkness]

So do you like the entire prayer, or just that part?

[davedan]

Pretty much that part although you know it's basically half of it.

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

I've always liked the 23rd Psalm and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

I still have The Lord's Prayer memorized from when I was a kid.

[Morgenleoht]

I'm more partial to the Song of Solomon...

[Eniliad]

I'm more partial to the Song of Solomon...

Hooray for Bible Porn!

[N. De Plume]

Pretty much that part although you know it's basically half of it.

Yeah, but the first half is kind of meaningless if you aren’t Christian. That’s just, “God, you are great and we wanna do whatever you say!”

[davedan]

There is a way of looking at the first half which I kind of like to -

At the time when the Lord's Prayer was first started - Probably around the 1st century AD or slightly earlier (given that a version is in the Didache)
Our father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come

- Now there are a couple of ways of looking at this. Firstly in an eschatological sense -that is 'thy kingdom come' - so that the world ends.

In a zionist nationalist sense - at the time Judea was occupied by the romans so the Kingdom could be a jewish state.

Or as an imploration for a utopian society. To make the world like the kingdom of heaven. I don't mind the last sense.

[N. De Plume]

Yeah. But you also got the “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” bit.

[MaybeNever]

Or we could look at it in a scatological sense, which is to say it's kind of shitty to hope for the end of the world.

[sandman]

The part of the Lord's Prayer that a lot of self-labeled Christians need to re-read is this bit:"And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." In other words, Jesus himself said to request that God treat us the exact same way we treat other people.

Gonna be a HELL of a lot of really surprised "Christians" when they meet their maker...." Gee, I'm Sorry There, Bob, But I Swear To Me That You Kept Praying That I Treat You The Same Way You Were Treating Others, And All I See Here Is A Long, Long List Of How You Kept Trying To Deny Others Happiness Based On The Lameass Fact They Were Different From You. Tough Luck, Bob, And Say Hi To Lou For Me When You Get Down There, OK?"

[Osama bin Bambi]

They'd never do that. It's too Christlike.

[Smurfette Principle]

The theme song to The Vicar of Dibley is Psalm 23 set to music. It's gorgeous.

I also have a Youtube playlist of religious songs that I like because damn Catholic church music sounds awesome.

[Osama bin Bambi]

The only reason my grandmother goes to church is for the atmosphere and the music. She said that it was RUINED FOREVER when they translated the prayers from Latin to English, though.

[Old Viking]

The prayer's OK.  The prayers are often obnoxious.