Lords Prayer help needed please!?

Question

Im trying to rewrite the Lords prayer in modern day language using slang and phrases used by teenagers etc whilst still keeping the meaning. Any ideas or help?

To put this in to context I help at a sunday school and a lot of the kids there dont understand the Lords prayer the language doesnt relate to them, im not trying to change the meaning or message or anything like that, just put into a way that our kids will understand and remember. With all the gun and knife culture going on at the miment i think its really important that these kids have something to hold onto which means something to them

Answer 1

Don't do it. Leave it alone.

Do not add to or take away, if you are a Christian you should know this.

Answer 2

The Lords prayer was never meant to be repeated and repeated as a prayer by itself. The whole point of it was to provide a guideline of how prayers should be constructed. ie. a couple of notes....

1 - God in heaven, let your name be sanctified (get to know Gods name, because it's NOT lord, God, Father - those are titles only, check out Psalms 83v18), in other words people are to praise his name and let it be known.
2 - Let your kingdom come on the earth, as it already is in heaven. In other words, there is already a perfect kingdom in heaven, and now we should want that also to be upon the earth. (God or Jesus doesn't actually rule this world at this moment in time, Satan does - 1John 5v19)
3 - Daily bread - be thankful for what food etc.. you have available, don't make the pursuit for more and more (excessively) you're goal.
4 - Forgive - we cannot ask God for forgiveness if we don't forgive other people.
5 - Keep us from temptation and the wicked one - we have to make a conscious effort not to put ourselves in temptations way. This is like asking for the strength and wisdom to refrain from doing bad, and to help the person stay seperate from the bad things in the world around.

I hope any of that helps.

Answer 3

Jesus said that sexual immorality actually comes from the heart. Believe it or not, porn is fueled by something spiritual. It's not really a physical thing, it's actually something spiritual. Watching porn and having real sex are very, very different. A lot of guys are stuck on porn more from the fact that they are either angry or hurt or something else. You show regret in this question here, and that is a good sign. Don't be too down on yourself. Your flesh betrays your spirit. God can and will help you. Keep the faith. It will pass.

Answer 4

I copied this from the Message Bible: hope it helps:
(might give you some ideas anyway)

"Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are,
Set the world right;
Do what's best-
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with You and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything You want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes.Yes."

Personally I like next version better, from The Century English Version Bible:

"Our Father in heaven,
help us honor Your Name,
Come and set up Your Kingdom,
so that everyone, on earth will obey You.
as you are obeyed in heaven.
Give us our food for today.
Forgive us our doing wrong,
as we forgive others.
keep us from being tempted,
and protect us from evil.


Then there is the Easy To Read Version Bible:This one is good too. I think most teenagers could relate to it. It's about as simple as you can get. {There were two words listed in parenthesis, so I listed them here exactly as written}

Out Father in heaven,
we pray that Your Name will always be kept Holy,
and that the things You want,
will always be done here on earth,
the same as in heaven.
Give us the food we need for each day,
Forgive the sins we have done,
the same as we have forgiven the people
that did wrong to us.
Don't cause us to be tempted(tested)
But save us from the Evil One (the devil)

Maybe between the three versions, this could help you. I don't adivise adding slang or phrases used by teenagers though, they need to use respect and honor when addressing God. Raise them up to exalt the Name of God, don't lower God to teenager slang. It'll send the wrong message about who God is. They probably already know some slang that uses His Name in vain. Teach them something they don't know. Teach them something new! To honor God.

Anyway, God Bless†

Answer 5

This is taken from the New Century Version Youth Bible (Matt. 6: 9-15)

Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
May your kingdom come
and what you want done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us the food we need each day.
Forgive us for your sins,
just as we have forgiven those who sinned
against us.
And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One



Think you'll agree, this quite a good translation for understading the Lord's Prayer.

Sorry if it hasn't been much help, or it isn't realy what you wanted.

Answer 6

Oh Great Creator that lives in Heaven
Your name is Holy and blessed
We pray that your desire will be done here on earth just as it is done in Heaven.
Give us for today all the things that we need to get us through.
Forgive us for going against your will and hurting you,
But have mercy for we have also forgiven those who have hurt us.
Give us strangth to withstand the temptation
and keep us from the evil snares that await us.
For There is no other Kingdom but yours, you are the power, you are the glory, none other.
Let this come to pass as stated.

Don't know if this will help but I tried.

Answer 7

The Lord's prayer is perfect as it is. Educate your teenagers to read and write and to speak correctly and they will have no problem with understanding the Lord's Prayer.
Unfortunately humans have a way of taking God's standards and lowering it down to their standards versus striving to reach up to God's standards.

Answer 8

My one advice is apply the prayer to your own life. If it is a model to us as Christian then our own prayers should line up in a sense. Like glorifying and honor God starting out. Then put it in their slang or encourage them to do it. Explain each part to them and ask how would you say it to God? Really encourage them to take a role in application to themselves.

Answer 9

There are a few modern translations out there at the moment-try researching " The Message Bible" and either use that or use it as a framework.

Answer 10

For the easiest and best way, go to wachtower.org and click on New World Translation. That way you get modern english carefully translated from the oldest manuscripts. So you not only get it modern, you get it right.

Answer 11

i had to do this exercise at school

take out the old fashioned words and use modern ones
respect or reverred for hallowed
i want your government to be the highest authority on the earth as well as in heaven
provide for us and protect us and show forgiveness towards us when we do things wrong as we will show forgiveness towards those who hurt us in your name
and here say we all.

Just some suggestions to get you thinking along those lines.