Fæder ure,
þu þe eart on heofonum,
si þin nama gehalgod.
Tobecume þin rice.
Gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg.
And forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge,
ac alys us of yfele. Soþlice.
The words here may seem unfamiliar... This is English, but it is English as it existed a thousand years ago before William the Conqueror defeated Harold Godwinson in the Battle of Hastings. This is the Lord's Prayer.
Modern English has done away with the old second person pronouns almost entirely. There is little chance of hearing some one in the United States speaking to another with the words thee, thou, thy, or thine. Exceptions to this rule includes prayer and the scriptures.
As if using the pronouns is not difficult enough, older verb conjugations are found throughout the King James Bible. Most verbs associated with thou receive an est ending, and even those associated with the more familiar third person pronouns he, she, or it receive an eth ending.
Reading through scriptural passages using these older forms of English can be challenging at best. Many people have wondered why we do not move to a more easy to understand version of the Bible, or why we are not content with saying you, your, or yours in prayers... after all... don't they mean the same thing?
Even among the LDS faith, there is a common paradigm among members that God ought to be treated as a friend. If we do not speak to our friends in middle English, why would we speak to God in such a way? Let me assert that this philosophy is totally wrong.
It seems to me that a person who says that God is their friend is recklessly bold. People like Moses, the sons of Mosiah, and Joseph Smith were called "servant" (Numbers 12:7, D&C 5:2) and "instruments" (Mosiah 27:36). What man will claim he is closer to God than these men? Perhaps there are those that think they will bump fists with Christ when he comes again... but I believe that when he appears "every knee shall bow, and every tongue swear... (Isaiah 45:23).
If I found myself before the literal throne of God, I would probably not say anything at all. He knows every stupid thing I have ever done, and every stupid thing I have ever thought, and were I in that situation, what would be hidden from his all-seeing eye? He, the most powerful being there is, has exerted effort to help me, and I have not always even accepted his help. If I did find the courage to speak, I would certainly want to find words that would be uniquely suited to a conversation with the Most High...
Fortunately, the English language provides us with some archaic pronouns that can still be used to indicate a sincere and humble desire to be close to Almighty God: thou, thee, thy, and thine. These words also help to identify the words in the Bible as more than common speech, or a philosophical view of the life of Jesus. The language denotes that it is the word of God. He has rightly said "for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)
In his most powerful sermon ever, Jesus spent some time explaining that there is a right way to speak to God... and that in time, those that ask shall receive, those that seek shall find, and to those that knock, it shall be opened (Matthew 7:8) Though we do not quote it for every prayer, there are valuable lessons in the example that he gave when he said "after this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 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." (Matthew 6:9-13).
