Opinion: Can God lead us into temptation? Readers respond to the pope’s quibble with the Lord’s Prayer

It’s been a while since we’ve had a proper theological discussion on the Los Angeles Times’ letters page. Of course, the form — between 100 and 200 words per entry and with the focus on a single point — doesn’t lend itself to lengthy exchanges on morality, mysticism or spirituality.

Comes now Pope Francis, whose discomfort with a single line of the Lord’s Prayer — the one asking God not to lead us into temptation, which he believes unfairly takes the blame off Satan — lends itself nicely to a theological discussion in letter form.

The Times published a few letters on the topic earlier this week, but readers continued their discussion on a prayer known and regularly recited by millions of people.

The Rev. Jeffrey Myers of Frankfurt, Germany, looks deeper into the Lord’s Prayer:

The line of the Lord’s Prayer in question — “and lead us not into temptation“ — may at first glance be slightly confusing, but this has less to do with issues of translation than with challenges of interpretation. While Pope Francis believes that the common rendering of the verse was “not a good translation,” the traditional English version of the prayer is indeed a solid rendering of the standard Greek texts.

More of concern to us now should be the second part of the verse in question: “but deliver us from evil.“

In world filled with hurt and fear, armed to the teeth and seemingly bent on self-destruction, may our heartfelt prayer be used by God to overcome evil and bring light into darkness — that the steps of all God’s children be guided onto the path of peace.

Beverly Hills resident Jeanne Mount attributes good and evil to God:

The pope needs to read his Bible.

Shortly before my father died, I went to visit him. He asked me how I thought evil came into the world, and I told him I thought God made evil. “Well, you’re right,” he said, “and it says so in Isaiah.”

When I got home, I looked it up: Chapter 45, Verse 7 of Isaiah says: “I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord God do all these things.”

It was the last time I saw my father alive, and it was his last lesson for me.

Ricardo Nicol of San Clemente suggests his own revision:

I think I have better wording for the English version of the Lord’s Prayer than the present “lead us not into temptation,” or the pope-proposed “don’t let us fall into temptation,” which doesn’t feel quite right because once you “fall” into temptation, you already are in sin territory.

For the English version, I think, “keep us from temptation” would be better. It puts “temptation” in its proper context as a preamble to sin and evil, it is shorter than the other proposed versions, and it has a sound and cadence similar to the present Lord’s Prayer.

Could you pass this on to Pope Francis for his consideration?

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