Bible Translations

Many of us are familiar with those KJV only folks who declare the users of any other translation heretics and accuse them of conspiring to bring in a New Age one world church. It is unfortunate that the antics of these individuals have caused many to refrain from critically examining any and all translations of the Bible, so as not be named among their ranks.

It is important to remember that we must critically examine all Bible translations to see how true they remain to the original texts or manuscripts.

I was reminded of the importance of this as I was browsing through a copy of The Message, a Bible translation (I use that word loosely) by one Eugene Peterson. I had heard quotations from The Message before, and they seemed far from what I remembered the Scripture actually teaching.

I turned immediately to Romans 1 to see how this version handled the obvious references to homosexuality made by Paul. The following is Romans 1:24-28 taken from The Message and then the same passage taken from the New American Standard Bible.

Translation: The Message

"So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them--the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes! Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either--women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men--all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it--emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches. Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose." (emphasis mine)

Translation: New American Standard Bible

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper" (emphasis mine)

Notice the difference? With the stroke of a pen the act of homosexuality only becomes a sin if it is devoid of love. Also missing is the “due penalty of their error.”I have to ask, what is the motivation behind a translation like The Message? Is it accuracy to the original texts? Is it to make the Bible more readable? Or, is it political correctness? Makes you wonder doesn’t it.

God bless,
Pastor Duane

The New Synagogue Growth Movement?

I came across this article this morning and I was dumbfounded. Paul's word in I Corinthians 1:23 immediately came to mind "For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness”

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=1980

These synagogues don't need better techniques and more progressive methods, they need to hear the message of "Christ crucified." I cannot imagine sitting down with a group of Jewish religious leaders and never mentioning their need for Jesus Christ. Talk about a wasted opportunity.