DID JESUS REALLY NEED TO TEACH JEWS HOW TO PRAY

DID JESUS REALLY NEED TO TEACH JEWS HOW TO PRAY?

Hugh Fogelman

The New Testament’s “Lord’s Prayer” brings two important questions to the forefront. Which version of the Lord’s Prayer did Jesus supposedly teach when giving his Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes)? And, were Jews so ignorant that they needed Jesus to learn how to pray?

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount and teaches the disciples the “Lord’s Prayer. Ask yourself, on this specific occasion, exactly who was Jesus teaching – Jews or Gentiles? Who needed to learn how to pray? According to the New Testament (NT), Jesus preached ONLY to the Jews. So in reality, the NT paints the Jews as ignorant, not knowing how to pray. Christians, in their “Jesus intoxicated” state, never realize that their bible paints a bad image of the Jews in Jesus’ time ― as being ignorant of their Torah, their Laws, their Hebrew Bible and now the ability to pray.

On the question of NT disciples (Jews) not knowing how to pray, Ex-Pastor Craig Lyons ¹ wrote to me that:

“The gentile NT writers in the gospels, on purpose, portray the disciples as dumb, lost, brain dead, and stupid ― never seeming to understand Jesus and what he is saying. Without realizing this, the writers makes Jesus incompetent almost for choosing these guys; this is a form of anti-Semitism. Judaism and dumb Jews being replaced by the genius of Rome later ― get the drift?”

Rabbi Yossi Markel says: “The Lord’s Prayer seems to be a composite of several common themes that are found in Hebrew prayers:

· Avinu Shebashamayim ―our Father in heaven

· Yisborech Shimcha ― blessed be Your Name. etc.

It seems to be an extremely shortened and incomplete version of the Shmone Esreh as it only asks for 2 things ― livelihood and forgiveness. It was probably a common prayer taught to the extremely ignorant; remember, according to the False Testament his [Jesus] followers were pictured to be uneducated riff-raff.“

Continuing, Rabbi Daniel G. wrote: “Remember, Christianity, in the Fourth Century had an agenda to make Jesus look good in order to sell their new religion to the pagan-Gentiles. Today, Christian missionaries [to the Jews], getting right down to it, are pagans now trying to portray Yushka [Jesus] as a good, observant Jew so that Jews will feel less guilty following him. Even for Christians, I'm surprised at the hoops they're jumping through trying to make the Lord’s Prayer the Kaddish. One can clearly see how far-fetched it is when you compare them side-by-side.”

Jewish historians reveal that; ”In the first century the Jewish children at five years old had Leviticus memorized – the whole book. This is how a Jew was taught to approach God. And by puberty, bar mitzvah or the like, they had the Torah memorized.”

Supposedly Jesus' disciples came to him and asked...teach us to pray..."(Luke 11:1). This is an insult to Judaism. How dare the NT authors imply such gross Jewish ignorance ― that Jews did not know how to pray! Luke 11:2-4 gives another version of the instructions on how to pray. This is still another form of Jew-bashing in the NT. These men had been raised from their youths as Jews. They had studied the Torah and they knew how to pray!

Jews were taught to pray long before anyone the so-called advent of Jesus. Two famous Jewish prayers, the “AMIDAH” and the “KADDISH” were and still are the backbone of Jewish society. The Amidah prayer can be found in the 5th century BCE. The Kaddish, although not Scriptural, is Rabbinic and was composed in Mishnaic times, circa 100 BCE. Every Jew knew both of these prayers. There was no need to teach them this.

· The Amidah ² is a person's opportunity to approach G-d in private prayer.

· The “Kaddish”, ³ known as the mourner’s prayer recited following the passing of one's father and mother, and for one's brother, sister, spouse, son or daughter. It is commonly thought of as "the prayer for the dead." In reality, it is an affirmation of the belief and trust in the Almighty. Kaddish is a public declaration that God's Name will be sanctified and that Jews long for that time.

Jews have been praying these prayers hundred of years before Jesus’ infamous speech. And still the NEW testament writers had the chutzpah to say Jews had to be taught by Jesus how to pray.

Christians consider their bible, the NT, having been given direct from God and therefore, perfect, without fault – inerrant. Don’t you ever wonder why no pastor will give sermons comparing more than one gospel account at a time? Are two gospels ever compared in the same sermon? NO! Instead you will always hear from the pulpit, the clergy starting out saying, “according to the gospel of XXXXXXXX.” The clergy is afraid that someone might begin to think independently? So, let us compare the TWO “Lord’s Prayers.”

The first “Lord’s Prayer,” found in Matthew 6:9-13 (King James Version), has 72 English words!

⁹   After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
¹⁰   Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
¹¹   Give us this day our daily bread.
¹²   And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
¹³   And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The second “Lord’s Prayer,” found in Luke 11:2-4 (King James Version) has 67 English words!

²   And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
³   Give us day by day our daily bread.
⁴   And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Shmuel Golding ⁴ wrote:

“{In] Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches only 38 Greek words to his disciples – whereas, the same Jesus according to Matthew (6:9) taught his disciples a prayer containing 57 Greek words. Which Lord’s Prayer is the authentic one?”

The Living Bible portrays both Matthew’s and Luke’s versions in red ink to indicate that Jesus actually spoke those words. So, as Shmuel Golding asked; “Which Prayer is the authentic one?” They both can’t be genuine.

I remember in college we were once given a test to recite the Preamble to the Constitution. One student said it perfectly, word for word, while another student made short cuts, leaving out many important words; guess which student received the bad grade? The same thing applies to everyday life; short cuts lead to sloppiness, to error and a failing grade. The New Testament is no different.

Footnotes:

1. Craig Lyons, M.Div: 902 Cardigan, Garland, Texas 75040

2. [ http://www.geocities.com/buddychai/Religion/Amidah.html ]

3. [ http://www.yahrzeit.org/kaddish_eng.html ]

4. Shmuel Golding, The Light of Reason, Volume 3, page 17. (Jerusalem Institute of Biblical Polemics)

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