Dad & Mom From The Stars: The Lord's Prayer
Updated: Feb 1
The Lord's Prayer in Christianity’s Bible has 66 words. Full English translations of the original Aramaic lord's prayer stretch upwards of 120 words. Why? Because Aramaic is a complex, textured language that often takes 3-6 English words, if not a phrase, to fully convey meaning from a single Aramaic word. In other words, the prayer has been shortened through translation over the years. Several scholars such as Neil Douglas-Klotz over the years have attempted to re-interpret this prayer using more and different words to convey rich, Aramaic meanings. My writing here is sort of a mashup of those sources.
Here is one specific example of how the Lord’s Prayer has shortened:
"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." This is the Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English condensed translation. This is the one we know.
Compare that to the original Aramaic:
"Our Father and Mother of the Cosmos, Creator of Light. Focus your light, sound, and vibration within us." This is the original Aramaic, as spoken by Jesus.
Both of the above translations come from this Aramaic sentence:
Abwoon d’bwashmaya nethqadesh schmakh. Technically, both of the above translations of this sentence above are proper. I won’t say correct or accurate. This particular translation is far too nuanced for such absolutes.
Interestingly, this use of the word “Abwoon” is the first formal expression of this idea in the Bible of an informal, intimate relationship with God by God’s own design. The version of this word we are familiar with is “Abba”, or “dad”/”daddy”. “Abwoon includes the feminine and makes a literal cosmic connection, not a figurative spiritual one. Jesus says, “Dad and Mom from the stars, givers of light, focus the family power within me.” Slightly different idea from “hallowed be thy name”.
Here are a few other pearls of wisdom lost in translation from the Lord’s Prayer:
“Build your reign of unity now- through our fiery hearts and willing hands. Your desire then acts with ours, as in all light, as in all forms.” Instead of “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.”
“Loose the cords of mistakes binding us as we release strands we hold of others’ guilt.” Instead of “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
“Don’t let us enter forgetfulness, but free us from unripeness.” Instead of “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This is an interesting one. I can tell that one of Neil’s concerns in translation was keeping as condensed a version as possible. I feel like he overdid it on this one. I may suggest: “Don’t lose us to materialism. Don’t let us forget who we are. Turn our eyes from temptations from within and from without. Free us to walk straight your path.”
“From you is born all ruling will, the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all from age to age it renews.” Instead of “For thine is the kingdom, power, and glory forever.” Jesus is speaking to his own literal father, Anu, as he models for us how to- NOT JUST SPEAK- but relate to the Collective. This one, I can shorten. “But for You, I Am not.”
One day, if I fail to evolve beyond my disgust and vomitous disdain for the Catholic and Christian Church, I will write a history of “Words In The Employ Of Religious Institutions- A Masterclass In The Manipulation Of Language For The Purpose Of Control”. Long title, I know. It would be a long book. In other words, don’t get me started, for this is not the place or the time.
Words matter.
For instance, consider the translation of this word, "Abwoon." This is a perfect example of how one word in Aramaic conveys deep, rich meanings that are erased or fundamentally altered by a simple twist of a single word in translation. Jesus spoke Aramaic, but the written language of the time in that culture was Greek. At the same time, geopolitics mandated that all formal, legal, and official documents be recorded in Latin. So it's complicated.
Regardless, that word "Abwoon" was spoken and intended. Mom and Dad. Dad and Mom. We in the West tend to say "Mom and Dad". In older, more patriarchal societies, it tends to be "Dad and Mom". This version of the word- ABWOON- exists SOLELY for the purpose of conveying the idea of both parents, "mater and pater", or "parents" if the Latin helps. If you take away the mother, it's parent- singular. And that's a whole different word in Aramaic- "Abba". So my point is that there is no mistaking, in THIS case, "Dad and mom- parents" for "dad alone". Someone, somewhere, at some time in a dark, candlelit room that smelled of parchment and pigment and ulterior motives... SOMEONE... pause for effect... made the choice to change that word. Choice, not mistake. To change the meaning in the narrative. "Don't write Abwoon. Make it Abba only." Father only. Pater Solus, NOT Pater Et Mater, or Parentes...again, if the Latin perspective helps. I am using Latin because that is where the "mistake" was initially made: in the translation from the Aramaic and Greek to Latin. In the Latin, the lord's prayer begins "Pater Noster..." Our father. Centuries later, the choice would be repeated as the Latin began to be translated to English. Words matter. Words linger. So do choices. It is notable that many Greek translations reveal the same omission.
It would be the 20th Century before any real efforts were made to translate the original Aramaic direct to English. That process quickly became problematic for one very big reason: theology was already set. Any direct translation from Aramaic to English adds meaning that directly challenges established theology. That's why there are so many for-sale translations of the New Testament: NIV, NKJ, NKJV, ESV, and NASB. Everyone knows there is more meaning out there. Everyone just has a different opinion on how to add that meaning without breaking theology. Hint: you can't, so save your money. Or not...there is a version out there, published in 2012 by Andrew Gabriel Roth. You can get it on Amazon as a USED hardcover for $449. This version was drawn from the Aramaic Peshitta texts, the oldest there are.
Jesus Himself acknowledged this predicament during his ministry- we just didn't receive it clearly at the time. In Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5, we find the Parable of the Wine & The Skins. The long & short of it was that what he was teaching would never be contained by the theology of the time. In that culture, wine was stored in leather bladders to ferment. As it ferments, it expands and stretches the leather. Once a leather bladder was used, it could never be used again, or it would stretch too much and break and the wine was LOST to the ground. His point was, you must change your container, or framework, to receive, understand, and execute My Way...or it just won't work. Put bluntly, YOU must change internally, for YOU are the container...YOU must GROW with each new Truth received. Theology- or humanity's established, collective PAST experience with God- becomes a barrier. An obstacle. Theology cannot contain Truth. Truth perpetually remains ahead of Theology. It's physics. Truth will always break Theology.
I will point out one final thought. Jesus began his Lord’s Prayer with a reference to the Melam of the Gods- the glowing radiance often depicted in literature as a halo. Why? Because prayer begins with activating our power. Jesus calls down light, sound, and vibration. Melam. That is perhaps the most-missed point in this prayer. We aren't asking. We are connecting. We are activating our own power and radiance and we speak our prayer into existence both in the name of our Creator and with his power as it joins ours.
The Lord’s Prayer was not a poem to be recited before class or in huddles during ballgames. The Lord’s Prayer is a transcended state of mind. The Lord's Prayer is a musical melody of activated faith in meditative motion. The purpose of the Lord's Prayer isn't positivity, calm, confidence, worship, tingling feel-good's, or faith...though these may be instrumental means to the end, or, certainly, results of the process itself. These things don't power the prayer. What powers the prayer is resonance. Resonance is the goal, the purpose, of the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is transmutation.
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