Posted on 03/26/2011 4:38:57 PM PDT by NYer
After they heard that the latest translation of the New International Version of the Bible will now use gender-inclusive language such as "he or she" instead of just "he", PETA saw an opportunity to change one other thing. The organization has petitioned the Committee on Bible Translation to suggest that its next translation remove "speciesist" language, by referring to animals as "he or she" instead of "it." “When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area...it wasn’t much of a stretch to suggest they move toward inclusively in this area. Language matters. Calling an animal 'it' denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God," Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vice president for policy, told CNN.
PETA said it hopes the switch to include more gender-inclusive language will spark translators to readdress the ways animals are referred to in the Bible. "Updating the Bible's language regarding animals would not only reflect modern writing trends but also reinforce the idea that animals are living beings valued by God, not inanimate objects. Jesus taught us the importance of mercy and compassion, and this update would encourage mercy and compassion for all God's creatures—including those who have feathers, fins, and fur," Friedrich wrote.
But David Berger, the dean of Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel graduate school of Jewish studies, said shifting the language would be difficult, given the original Hebrew: "In Hebrew all nouns are gender-specific. So the noun for chair is masculine and the noun for earth is feminine. There’s simply no such thing as a neutral noun. It’s unusual to have a noun that would indicate the sex of the animal."
David Lyle Jeffrey, a professor at Baylor University who teaches about ancient texts and the Bible's relationship to literature and the arts, sympathizes with PETA, but isn't sure if it would be true to the text: "When you get to the point when you say, 'Don’t say it, say he or she' when the text doesn’t, you’re both screwing up the text and missing the main point you addressed."
Ping!
It’s a wacky and crazy world out there.
And how many PETA members actually read Bibles? They’d better skip large portions of the old testament.
The Word of God is not to be trifled with for the convenience of Earth worshipers.
What was that commandment? “You shall have no other gods before Me?”
That is why I stick only with the King James version of the Bible. All these new versions change the Word. I stick to the original translated from the Greek.
I thought the line about man having dominion over the Earth covered it for me.
I respect your choice of KJB, the NET and NASB are more accurate translations.
That is why I stick only with the King James version of the Bible. All these new versions change the Word. I stick to the original translated from the Greek.
Absolutely. Me, too.
They don’t seem to have a problem depicting a woman as a piece of meat....
Someone please tell me - is the world going abso-effing-lutely nuts, or is it just me?
The Holy Bible is the Bible as passed down through each successive generation and not one word of it should be changed for to do so would be committing an unforgivable sacrilege and blasphemy.
Hello. PETA. The Ark?
"Thou shall not sleep in thy doghouse, but on top thereof, says O' Charlie the Brown!" :)
Unfortunately there has been a lot of triflin’ goin’ on. The NIV folks just might accomodate.
The audacity of PETA to revise the word of God! Can they bebe lead by other than Satan hiself?
The Bible is already very animal-friendly. We’re only allowed to eat them as a result of sin. We’re admonished to hold their lives in regard, as righteous men. They’re His creatures, who groan in anticipation of the coming of the Son of God as we do. It’s all there, check it out nominal Christians and non-Christians.
PETA, on the other hand, worships death. PETA thinks animals in it’s care are better off dead and kills with no compassion and no regard. They are not righteous.
They can take their God-hating religion elsewhere, as far as I’m concerned.
PETA, who the hell cares?
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