The Lords Prayer
Hi, thanks for answering my last questions, we both thought you answered them very well. But we got another one.
We both went to see Scott Hahn last friday, and during his talkes we prayed like 4 times. She noticed that the lords prayer was shorter than how she knows it. We both looked through our bibles and we noticed that on my two bibles it was shorter than on her bibles.
Why is that? When she saw that, she emidiatly showed me a passage were is says we shouldn't changes anything in the bible.
But I was like we aint the ones who took 7 books out of the bible. We may have a verse shorter than theirs, but they are 7 books short. Not to mention the missing chapters of Daniel and Esther. But all I said is that we wont get anywhere cause us catholics believe they changed the bible too, so it wouldn't get us anywhere by argueing about it. I would really apreciate it if you can tell me why on our bible the last verse is shorter.
QUESTION from Tizoc on August 4, 2003
ANSWER by Staff on August 6, 2003
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Dear Tizoc: The Protestant bible, Revised Standard Version, gives the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4 as: "And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation." Matthew 6:9-13 in the RSV says: "Pray then like this: 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 debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil." The phrase "they will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" that we usually pray is not in the version in Luke. What is called the doxology is, "For Thane is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever" is in "some" manuscripts, but not in all. The earliest manuscripts to NOT include it. The King James Version does includes it in the main text, but other Protestant versions that are more accurate than the very flawed King James do not. There are more than 300 translation errors in the King James Version. The Protestant versions such as the Revised Standard Version (which is a revision of the King James correcting its errors) and the New International Version have the doxology in a footnote. The Protestant New American Standard Bible has the doxology in the main text but bracketed with a footnote that the doxology was omitted in the earliest manuscripts. No credible Protestant bible scholar would assert that the doxology is the more accurate form. The earliest manuscripts did not include it. And certainly no credible Protestant bible scholar would fault the Catholic Church for not including it since the Bible itself does not include in in Luke or in Matthew except as a footnote. Bottom Line: It does not matter if this doxology is said or not. According to biblical scholars the doxology was not originally included in the Lord's prayer and thus we do not include it normally. Nevertheless, this prayer was a model prayer that Jesus used as an example. We can certainly do not have to use the exact words... which is a funny thing for a Protestant to demand anyway. Protestants usually criticize the Catholic Church for "written prayers" instead of spontaneous prayers "from the heart." Ah, well, no one every claimed that Protestants were consistent :)
God Bless, |