When I first joined the church, I learned that prayer works. I learned that we could talk to God as one person talks to another and that he can and does communicate with us as well. Almost 2 years later, I went to the MTC and while there, I was taught that good LDS people say thee, thou, thine, and thy in their prayers. (Not in any sort of negative way, merely in that it was innocuously mentioned that I should use thee,thou, thine, and thy in prayer). I personally found that this detracted from my prayers. I spent too much time thinking about what I was saying and whether I was saying the right things. This took away some of my ability to listen to the spirit, and from the ability to feel any sort of closeness to God. It emphasized God\u2019s \u201cOtherness\u201d and made him feel farther away. Also, it emphasized what I was saying, rather than what I was listening for.<\/p>\n
Making matters worse, as a new member, if I ignored this prescription, as it wasn\u2019t working for me, it felt more like something was wrong with me, or I felt guilty because I was \u201cbreaking rules\u201d. It labeled me \u201cheterodox\u201d to be outside the norm. So I kept at it, even though it made me feel farther from God. Making matters worse, it bothered me enough that I stopped using sentences which required the use of \u201cYou\u201d or \u201cThee\u201d in them, and so for a while, I was limiting my capacity to pray.<\/p>\n
Over time, I have both grown more comfortable saying thee, thou, thine, and thy, as well as more comfortable not feeling heterodox if I do not use those words in prayer, as I have come to realize this linguistic effect is meaningless. I find myself saying \u201cWe are thankful for\u201d, rather than \u201cwe thank thee\u201d or \u201cthank you for\u201d as this is how my mind apparently has resolved the issue. <\/p>\n
Which brings me to my point, it is my opinion that using the words thee, thou, thine and thy are merely a cultural affectation, and are spiritually unnecessary. Furthermore, they can cause unnecessary struggles for those who are converts to the church, creating an unnecessary additional barrier to entry into the family of the church, and in communication with God. <\/p>\n
I am not asking members to stop saying thee, thou, thine, and thy, as I realize they are \u201cused to it\u201d and so being asked to not say thee, thou, thine and thy would make them feel a lot like I felt, all those years ago, when I was asked to use thee, thou, thine, and thy. That is not what I want at all. I am asking that we leave more room for you and your not being merely some juvenile form of prayer. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s my Opinion. Your Mileage may vary.
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