Posted on 10/07/2005 8:38:02 AM PDT by Caleb1411
As evangelicals debate the inclusive-language Today's New International Version (TNIV), many liberal mainline churches have slipped far down the slippery slope in what they have done to the Bible.
In 1990, the National Council of Churches published the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), an inclusive-language rendition of the well-accepted Revised Standard Version (RSV). This translation keeps masculine references to God and to Jesus, but changes them for human beings, getting rid of the generic "man," putting "brothers and sisters" where the original just has "brothers," and using awkward plurals and repetitions to avoid the generic "he." Never mind that the messianic title "Son of Man" is now "a human being." What the NRSV did to the RSV is pretty much what the TNIV did to the NIV.
But that much inclusive language was not enough for many mainline churches. An Inclusive Language Lectionary, a rendition of Scripture texts read during the worship service, takes the next step of changing the gendered language for God. Today, the congregations who use this lectionary in Sunday worship pray to "our Father-Mother." Jesus is not the Son of God, but the "child of God." The pronoun "he" is not even used for the man Jesus, replaced with ungrammatical constructions: "Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us" becomes "Jesus Christ, who gave self for us" (Titus 2:13-14).
But that much tinkering proved not to be enough either. In 1995, Oxford University Press published the New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version. This revision of the NRSV not only uses gender-inclusive language for God and Jesus ("God our father-mother"), it also eliminates, in the words of the introduction, "all pejorative references to race, color, or religion, and all identifications of persons by their physical disability." In avoiding all "offensive language," "darkness" is changed to "night," lest it offend black people, and "the right hand of God" is changed to "the mighty hand of God," lest it offend left-handed people.
But that does not go far enough. The liberal Catholic group Priests for Equality published in 2004 the Inclusive Bible. "Kingdom" is both sexist and authoritarian, so the priests made up a new word, "kindom." Adam is not a "man," he is an "earth creature." And to avoid offending homosexuals or others in nontraditional relationships, the words "husband" and "wife" are changed to "partner."
But since radical theology depends on demonizing the "patriarchy" of the Bible, the Inclusive Bible includes footnotes admitting that "the actual Hebrew is even more brutal" and chastising the apostle Paul for his retrograde attitudes. Then the translators just change the text to something more suitable.
But the Inclusive Bible does not go far enough either. The Bible version Good as New: A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures uses what its introduction calls "cultural translation." Not only is it inclusive, it translates ancient terms into their modern-day equivalent. Thus, "demon possession" becomes "mental illness." Even names are changed: Peter, Nicodemus, and Bethsaida become "Rocky," "Ray," and "Fishtown." Religious terminology is eliminated, as not being in accord with our culture: "Baptize" is changed to "dip"; "salvation" is changed to "completeness."
The translation describes itself as "women, gay and sinner friendly." Thus, when Paul says that it is better to marry than to burn, the Inclusive Bible says, "If you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated." The Inclusive Bible follows the higher critics in leaving out the Pastoral Epistles and Revelation, and it follows The Da Vinci Code in including instead the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. This translation is endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the evangelical leader Tony Campolo.
But does any of this matter, as long as people are exposed to the Bible? Yes, it does. The bisexual deity "Father-Mother" is not the true God, nor is this made-up religion Christianity. These translations are not the Word of God. Just the Word of Man.
They're not serious, are they? Is this satire? Does anyone know if this is true?
The only member of his congregation who is not related to him by blood or marriage is a Christian Identity minister.
But the press prefers to identify him as a "Christian" or a "Baptist" when he is actually a neo-Nazi sympathizer.
Williams and Campolo have complimented the translation, but they ahve not to my knowledge officially "endorsed" it for use in ministry.
Eeeeek!!!
The difference is that with prior translations being changed, they were being adapted to current word usage -- they simply wanted to keep the translation readable to the current generation. With most, the original Hebrew/Greek was still utilized, and an effort to be literal and not paraphrase was made.
That is a far different motive than actually changing the meaning of the passages to suit sliding norms and mores.
If your Pastor is using the Father-Mother term - RUN AWAY!
A pox on their house. (you hear a spitting noise as he stomps off)
Give me the King James Version any day.
And he has done tremendous harm to our witness as a result. I was sitting next to a young woman on an airplane when she asked me what I did. When I told her, "I'm a pastor," she said, "You're not one of those Southern Baptist pastors, are you?"
She honestly thought that we were all like him.
People are so disgusted with mainline PCness, they are leaving in droves. In liberal Massachusetts, the UCC has gone from 210,000 members in 491 churches in 1965 to 90,000 members in 412 churches in 2005.
>> The bisexual deity "Father-Mother" <<
Funny... I missed the part where the article established bisexuality. Come to think of it, I don't believe my bible makes any mention of God having sex at all... Crazy liberals!
Seriesly,
(Or as series as any post spelling series like that can be...)
The term for possessing both masculine and feminine qualities or characteristics is "androgynous."
Hold on a second... in double-checking dictionary.com to see if there might be any synonymous terms for "androgynous" (since androgynous has certain connotations of sexual confusion), such as, perhaps, "bigendered," (not a word, btw), I discovered that this usage of the term bisexual is actually correct.
Sinead is very flaky, no question about it. But I accept her apologies regarding her act of hatred against Pope John Paul II, as they profuse, profound, and accompanied by a pervasive change in her world view. As far as I'm concerned, she is a decent, talented, and well, yeah, VERY FLAKY songwriter.
Very well spoken by your pastor. Our society is in the process of trying to create their own 'god', in their own image, the god of earth and self human love, not the G-d of Abraham, Issac and Jacob! This cafeteria god will be cast out by the G-d of the universe.
This is one aspect of Christianity that doesn't trouble Judaism as much. There is one single text of the Torah, letter-for-letter identical around the world and across the globe for thousands of years.
While the Reform congregations have what I've often termed as the "incredible shrinking siddur" where they can play out their politically-correct fetishes with gender-neutral language and what have you, they cannot change the immutable text of the Torah because of a web of millenia-old tradition designed to insure the accuracy of every last one of the 304,805 letters in each scroll:
http://www.aish.com/holidays/shavuot/last/text.htm
King James does not alter key contexts and concepts, like GENDER and soft-pedalling certain sins. The TNIV is an abomination and anyone who thinks it is okay is few bricks short of a full load on the orthodoxy department.
Another Moral Absolutes Pinger coming atcha.
Craziness abounds. IIRC, that Tony Campolo fellow was one of the "relgious" leaders who helped re-hab Clintoon after being Lewinskied.
If the Bible is going to be transmogrified into leftist twaddle, it's worse than any ordinary fiction book. It's like milk that looks innocent and nutritious, with poison added.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
My hubby and I went to a wedding in a Methodist church last month and the minister talked and prayer to God our "parent". Ugh. For a wedding present, I bought them a NJKV Family Bible. :)
This is hardly surprising though.
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