Is it possible that we could all agree to the "Our Father"

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I was wondering, is it possible that all faiths that believe in one God as a creator could agree to what we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer or Our Father”?

Because…
  1. We pray to our Father in Heaven
  2. We keep His name holy
  3. We desire for His kingdom
  4. We desire for His Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven
  5. We ask for our daily needs
  6. We seek His forgiveness
  7. We forgive others
  8. We ask for protection against temptations
  9. We ask that He keep us from evil.
  10. And then we say “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever”
Just thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find some common ground in prayer and pray this together daily for the whole world?

I am certainly not a scholar of other faiths, I am just wondering what kind of world I live in and what are we capable of, if we stop for a moment and try.

Peace
 
I believe Muslims, for one, specifically reject calling God “Father” since it entangles Him with the creation He is utterly distinct from.
 
This is certainly a prayer used by all Christians, I assume… I don’t know what some of the strangest protestant sects think about this prayer.
 
His_little1 said:
I was wondering, is it possible that all faiths that believe in one God as a creator could agree to what we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer or Our Father”?

Because…
  1. We pray to our Father in Heaven
  2. We keep His name holy
  3. We desire for His kingdom
  4. We desire for His Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven
  5. We ask for our daily needs
  6. We seek His forgiveness
  7. We forgive others
  8. We ask for protection against temptations
  9. We ask that He keep us from evil.
  10. And then we say “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever”
Just thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find some common ground in prayer and pray this together daily for the whole world?

I am certainly not a scholar of other faiths, I am just wondering what kind of world I live in and what are we capable of, if we stop for a moment and try.

Peace
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To his little one.the common ground in all prayers is God.He Is
 
His_little1 said:
I was wondering, is it possible that all faiths that believe in one God as a creator could agree to what we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer or Our Father”?

Because…
  1. We pray to our Father in Heaven
  2. We keep His name holy
  3. We desire for His kingdom
  4. We desire for His Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven
  5. We ask for our daily needs
  6. We seek His forgiveness
  7. We forgive others
  8. We ask for protection against temptations
  9. We ask that He keep us from evil.
  10. And then we say “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever”
Just thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find some common ground in prayer and pray this together daily for the whole world?

I am certainly not a scholar of other faiths, I am just wondering what kind of world I live in and what are we capable of, if we stop for a moment and try.

Peace
Click to expand...
I think there are some (very few) who might say Christ meant it as an example of how to pray, but using it repeatedly would be repetitive prayer. This is speculation on my part.

Jon
 
His_little1 said:
I was wondering, is it possible that all faiths that believe in one God as a creator could agree to what we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer or Our Father”?

Because…
  1. We pray to our Father in Heaven
  2. We keep His name holy
  3. We desire for His kingdom
  4. We desire for His Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven
  5. We ask for our daily needs
  6. We seek His forgiveness
  7. We forgive others
  8. We ask for protection against temptations
  9. We ask that He keep us from evil.
  10. And then we say “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever”
Just thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could find some common ground in prayer and pray this together daily for the whole world?

I am certainly not a scholar of other faiths, I am just wondering what kind of world I live in and what are we capable of, if we stop for a moment and try.

Peace
Click to expand...
I believe Judaism also objects to the Our Father.

Pax Christi,
Tim
 
Timothy17 said:
I believe Judaism also objects to the Our Father.
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Haha it certainly does in that it’s not too fond of imitating Jesus, but I can’t see how any of it is opposed to the Jewish religion. It’s the prayer of a Jew telling Jews how to pray, remember… 🙂
 
OK. Let me put it this way. What prayer could we say, that would include all, be accepted by all believers, but also be directed at God our Heavenly Father?

(You can’t use HELP!)🙂

Any ideas?
 
Yeah, what is the point of this? I do not understand this mania for inclusiveness towards all faiths that is found among some Catholics and other Christians. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, whatever you are…do your own prayers. The “Our Father” was given by our GOD Jesus Christ to His followers so that they would know how to pray. If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is God and that He is sent from the Father to whom the prayer is directed, then it’s not your prayer. Go pray your own prayers to your gods in your own synagogue, mosque, Hindu temple, or wherever it is you pray.

I really, really dislike this. It’s something like “sub-ecumenism”, not even trying to establish common understandings among Christian sects, but trying to unite all disparate beliefs on some base level, that is not even really possible, and which debases our holy Christian faith. It is not right at all.
 
It is desirable that Christians should pray for unity but not necessarily for unifomity in all expressions of faith. In fact, we Catholics do not regard the OP’s item number 10 (kingdom, power and glory etc.) as the actual words of Christ in the gospel. It is referred to as “the Doxology” a common pious expression that the monks who were making copies of the scripture added to their work.

Older Catholics may recall that this expression was not included in the liturgy until the Novus Ordo; and is even now separated from the actual Lord’s prayer. I guess this was a friendly gesture to protestants who had been accustomed to including the Doxology in their version.
 
JonNC said:
I think there are some (very few) who might say Christ meant it as an example of how to pray, but using it repeatedly would be repetitive prayer. This is speculation on my part.

Jon
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I have a friend who is Baptist and her church has rejected the “Our Father” for the more favorable “prayer from the heart.” I also know a few non-denominational churches that don’t say it. Looks like getting all Christians to agree on one issue is harder than anticipated 🙂

Peace Serenity
 
Bran_Stark said:
Haha it certainly does in that it’s not too fond of imitating Jesus, but I can’t see how any of it is opposed to the Jewish religion. It’s the prayer of a Jew telling Jews how to pray, remember… 🙂
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My thoughts as well, but nonetheless, there it is.
 
Whoa, whoa, I wasn’t trying to start any fights here. My point was as a Catholic-Christian, I wondered if it was possible for two or more people, from different faiths to pray in a way that would not only please God, but find some common…I’ll use the term friendship. After all, are we not all God’s children?

I haven’t figured out how to pull the quotes out of other responses, so I’ll try to address them as best as I can…

Yes, adding the 10th point “for the kingdom, the power,…” was added for the benefit of other denominations. I know it is separate in the Mass.

I’m not trying to be anti-Catholic in any way by trying to include others. As a matter of fact, I understood that to be a peacemaker was to be living the beattitudes.

It occurred to me on the day that we celebrate the “Chair of Peter” that the world is still too diverse most of the time. How is it that after all Jesus did for the salvation of the world, the world still is so divided? ( I know, sin, evil, the devil trying to mess things up):mad:

I guess in the back of my mind at the time I first posted I was thinking, “If we could all pray together,somehow, truly desiring to give glory to God, asking for and giving forgiveness, having our daily needs, and avoiding evil, wouldn’t the world get a little better?”

Are not the two greatest commandments to Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor?

Have you ever been to a Catholic Wedding or Funeral, and when it comes time for the Lord’s Prayer, someone in the congregation “keeps going” and then silently trails off?
Now, at that point, what is your reaction (if you’re Catholic)? Do you feel uneasy, sorry for the guy, mad? Or do you somehow want to show charity or compassion for the person?

I want that person to feel welcome in the Catholic church.

I know what we have is precious, in spirit, in truth, in history, in tradition. I also understand that some of the world has forgotten what the Catholic church has contributed to the whole of Christianity. Did I mention that I’m a Cradle-Catholic, fifth generation still serving in my parish…

I didn’t want to start something bad. I wondered if I could start something good.

I didn’t say it would happen. I just wondered if it was possible.

Obviously from the bitter comments, I got my answer…for now. No harm, splinters from the Cross…

Peace anyway!
 
The quote function is very easy to use. Simply highlight a piece of text by clicking the left mouse button and dragging it over the text you want to quote. It should turn the text white over the blue background that represents what you’ve highlighted with your mouse. Then you can let go of the mouse button and go directly to the http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/editor/quote.gif button (this is the “quote” button). Click that button and it should wrap the highlighted text in quote tags. Don’t click any other button or space before that or your highlighted text will be deselected and you will have to start the process over.

Let’s test it:
Testing…testing
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Don’t pray with other religions
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Don’t give unbelievers what is holy
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See? Pretty simple.
 
His_little1 said:
OK. Let me put it this way. What prayer could we say, that would include all, be accepted by all believers, but also be directed at God our Heavenly Father?

(You can’t use HELP!)🙂

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
How about “Lord have mercy!” I say that all the time.

I’ll point out that the passage “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” seems to indicate a petition to God to grant us forgiveness in proportion to our forgiveness of others or perhaps our recognition that there is a prerequisite for being forgiven by God.

*If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15)*Jesus own words seem to back this up yet Catholics who mention this are often quicky accused of believing in “Works salvation”, accused of denying God’s endless mercy or of watering down Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross by using our own efforts to “Earn” our way into Heaven.

Much to the points made about some denomination’s rejection of the Lord’s prayer, walk up to any Evangelical or Fundamentalist and simpy ask if God’s forgiveness is conditional or proportional in any way and you will get a very swift response stating that there are no preconditions to God’s forgiveness nor is there any limit to God’s mercy. Yet the passage above and Jesus’ own instruction to us about how we are to pray stands like a lion in their path.

I’ve heard some Evengelical theologians try to explain away the words in the Lords Prayer by stating that Jesus was using a technique called “Indexing” which it is claimed, was a form of teaching used in the ancient world. The claim is made that Jesus was just covering a series of general topics that should be addressed with God each time one prays, much like a table of contents or index, rather than Jesus teaching us an actual prayer to say.

It’s not just about the prayer, but about how it is used and understood. I still think “Lord have mercy” is about as good as anyone is going to get.

-Tim-
 
His_little1 said:
Have you ever been to a Catholic Wedding or Funeral, and when it comes time for the Lord’s Prayer, someone in the congregation “keeps going” and then silently trails off?
Now, at that point, what is your reaction (if you’re Catholic)? Do you feel uneasy, sorry for the guy, mad? Or do you somehow want to show charity or compassion for the person?
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I usually chuckle to myself, silently. “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids”, kind of thing.

Just be wary of diluting your faith down to a base level… I’d say.

Peace be with you,
Phil
 
Bran_Stark said:
Haha it certainly does in that it’s not too fond of imitating Jesus, but I can’t see how any of it is opposed to the Jewish religion. It’s the prayer of a Jew telling Jews how to pray, remember… 🙂
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Yes, I think also, I have read some Rabbinic scholars who refer to God as father in some of their writings. I could be mistaken. will have to wait till I get back to the U.S. to check it out. Peace 🙂
 
If I am not mistaken some Christians use the following Jewish prayer in their services. This would appear to me the closest thing to an “agreed” on prayer:

Numbers (Bamidbar) 6: 24-26

כד יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ. {ס} 24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee; {S}
כה יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ. {ס} 25 The LORD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; {S}
כו יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם. {ס} 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. {S}
 
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