The Bible

The Seven Benedictions found in Revelation

1. Blessed is the one who reads aloud, hears, and keeps the words of this prophecy. [Rev 1:3]

2. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. [Rev 14:13]

3. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on. [Rev 16:15]

4. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. [Rev 19:9]

5. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection. [Rev 20:6]

6. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. [Rev 22:7]

7. Blessed are those who wash their robes. [Rev 22:14]

Anne Miller of AOL News wrote a story on Wednesday about a conservative that says the Bible is too liberal.  At least the newer translations are.

Attorney and teacher Andy Schlafly, in response to what he has called “liberal,” “offensive” and “incorrect” translations, formed the Conservative Bible Project, a Wiki software-based site devoted to “clean(ing) up” the Bible.

While Schlafly has his critics, he has denounced their criticisms, calling them “liberals who are unhappy that their game is up.”

Am I alone in thinking how stupid this is?

“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength in the dust.  My face has grown red with weeping and the shadow of death covers my eyes, although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.” -Job 16:15-17

Katrina was God’s punishment for sin.  So are the deaths of soldiers in Iraq and the attacks of 9/11.

These were the claims of several religious conservatives and fundamentalists during some of our nation’s greatest tragedies.  , Pat Robertson, members of the Westboro Baptist Church and many others made headlines for their controversial statements about suffering in America.  Perhaps the most infuriating were Falwell’s comments after 9/11, where he blamed the ACLU, People for the American Way, gays, lesbians, abortionists and those who are their allies for the terrorist attacks on America.

After 9/11, Falwell and Robertson were essentially forced to recant because of the moral outrage against their words.  The outrage was not over who they were criticizing but over the claim that God hates individuals or that He causes suffering.  As R.C. Sproul observed, “We believe in a God that is infinitely capable of blessing people but incapable of cursing them.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Associate Press reported that the discontinuation of the TNIV will not commence until the revisions are complete in 2011.  This goes against the initial report, which implied that the TNIV would be discontinued immediately.

This revised Bible will be a revision of the NIV Bible, which was released in 1978.

Image taken from www.girltalkhome.com

Nicole Whitacre posted a new resource on Monday, an online edition of Matthew Henry’s “Method of Prayer.”

“His method, quite simply, is to ‘pray the Bible’ and so the website is full of prayers composed almost entirely of Scripture,” Whitacre wrote.

You can choose from eight different translations to read the Scripture quotations in, and in 2010, the site will be adding nine languages in additional to English for Henry’s writing, including Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic.

1) Official site of TNIV

2) Official site of Biblica, the non-profit translators of the TNIV

2) CBMW articles on TNIV

• http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-7-No-2/A-Brief-Summary-of-Concerns-About-the-TNIV
• http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-7-No-2/Translation-Inaccuracies-in-the-TNIV

3) JBMW articles on biblical manhood and womanhood:

• http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-13-No-2/Equal-in-Essence-Distinct-in-Roles
• http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-13-No-1/Why-Together-for-the-Gospel-Embraces-Complementarianism

4) Mars Hill pastor Rob Bell on his use of TNIV at his church

5) John Piper and Wayne Grudem’s book on complementarianism

6) Chris Ryburns: “Effortless Egalitarianism” (a post on Gordon Fee and egalitarianism)

On Tuesday, bible publisher Zondervan announced it had discontinued its publishing of the Today’s New International Bible, or TNIV.

The TNIV came under fire from many evangelical groups, such as the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, for altering gender-specific passages and thus changed their meaning.

“We believe that a flawed translation philosophy resulted in the TNIV presenting English readers with an unjustified rendering of the gender language of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible,” CBMW chairman Ligon Duncan said in a press release. “It is our sincere hope that this new revision of the NIV will do better.”

Zondervan first released the TNIV complete Bible in 2005 and since its release, the translation has caused debate among evangelicals about its accuracy.  While New Testament scholar Don Carson praised the TNIV, fellow scholar and complementarian Wayne Grudem wrote an extensive article on the CBMW website criticizing its accuracy.

USA Today reported that the TNIV will be re-released in 2011 with revisions.

This is part 3 in a series on biblical illiteracy and its effects on America and within the Church.

For being dead in my trespasses, I knew quite a bit about the church. For about ten years, I grew up in a local church and participated in the various activities they had for kids. I was in Sunday school, I was a shepherd in a Christmas pageant, I could even repeat to you the Apostle’s Creed (We believe in one God, the Father…). But if you were to ask me about God Himself or about Jesus, I could tell you very little. I knew church. I didn’t know the gospel.

Part of that may have been that I was just a kid and I did not think in theological terms. But my experience in the church is like so many in our so-called Christian nation. We go to church, we learn the basics about how to do good and we come out of it Christianized non-Christians. And this leads to the main modern effect of biblical illiteracy: a Christ-less Christian nation.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is part two of a series on biblical illiteracy and its effect on American culture and the Church.

I never thought of Billy Preston as a preacher.  But his words, more often heard in commercials nowadays, ring true in this age of biblical inerrancy.  ”Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.”  Preach it, brother!

His words remind me of many conversations I have had with people who claim to be Christians but who reject the gospel.  One story in particular comes to mind.  I had been trying to reach out a friend and we had once gotten into a fight because I basically told him that he wasn’t a Christian.  Needless to say, it was a while before I could share the gospel with him again.  When I finally got that chance, I simply shared with him the basic tenets of the faith.  I talked with him about Christ’s life, death and resurrection, that we must be born again and that no one could attain salvation based on merit.  After I finished talking, he simply said this, “I just don’t interpret it that way.”  This baffled me.  How could his interpretation lead him to a completely different basis for his faith?  How could we both be Christians and see God as two different Gods? Read the rest of this entry »

This is part one of a 9 to 10-week series on biblical illiteracy and its impact on America and within the Church.

My life’s ambition is to be a sponge.

While most will find that statement curious, I believe it is all by grace.  Sponges absorb liquids quickly.  They need no training or technological improvements to do their job.  My job is to know God’s Word.  Therefore, I long to absorb its contents like a sponge.  I want to cram its wisdom inside my head.  If I know nothing else, I want to know Scripture.

Many Americans, including evangelicals, do not hold this same view of the Bible.  With secularism on the rise and fewer people attending church, many simply have a Bible on the shelf just to have it on the shelf.  Some even share the view of atheist comedian Pat Condell, who once said, “If all you have is Scripture between your ears, then you’ve really got nothing between your ears.”  Unfortunately, American culture has turned the Word of God into another ancient book.  While some folks recognize the Word for its wisdom, I believe the majority of young American evangelicals, due to either ignorance or familiarity, fail to recognize its true quality.  In the Bible’s 66 books, you get to learn about the most important person of all time.  You meet the living Jesus of Nazareth. Read the rest of this entry »