French Christians have started using a revised version of the Lord’s Prayer on December 3, 2017, the first Sunday in Advent. Priests have asked churchgoers to recite the updated line: “Do not let us enter into temptation” (Ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation), reports Catholic Herald.
In the traditional translation of the prayer, French believers were saying “Do not submit us into temptation” (Ne nous soumets pas a la tentation). Many theologians have debated over this line, saying God should not be associated with sin. Instead, the sinner must hold the bigger responsibility for sin, and not God.
While some approved of the change, some were critical about it. The national council of evangelicals of France, Conseil national des Évangéliques de France (CNEF), approved of removing the implication that God “is somehow responsible for temptation but it waters down God’s sovereignty.”
When Jesus taught people about how they should pray, he was speaking in Aramaic. Apostles Matthew and Luke translated the Lord’s Prayer into Greek, which was then translated into Latin. The Latin version was recited in Catholic masses around the world.
In 1966, the Second Vatican Council allowed the use of the nation’s native language when saying the Lord’s Prayer.
Bishop Guy de Kerimel, the French Catholic Church’s chief liturgist, said the 1966 interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer was ambiguous. French bishops have decided in March to update the most popular prayer among Christians.
According to The Guardian, the new version was slated to be introduced in 2019. The French clergy decided to adopt it earlier.
French-language Protestant churches agreed with the change. It was already used in Africa and Belgium in June.
While some approved of the change, some were critical about it. The national council of evangelicals of France, Conseil national des Évangéliques de France (CNEF), approved of removing the implication that God “is somehow responsible for temptation but it waters down God’s sovereignty.”
Theologian and traditionalist French Catholic priest Guillaume de Tanoüarn said “faith is a struggle” and doesn’t spring from “a world of metaphysical teddy bears.”
Sources:
Catholic Herald
The Telegraph
