Bible too lib for conservatives?
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| Thu, 12-03-2009 - 8:47am |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project.
The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus' quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.
The project's authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.
"Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it's professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible," said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, the project's online home.
Experts who have devoted their careers to unraveling the ancient texts of the Scriptures, many in long-extinct languages, are predictably skeptical about a project by amateur translators.
"This is not making scripture understandable to people today, it's reworking scripture to support a particular political or social agenda," said Timothy Paul Jones, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., who calls himself a theological conservative.
Take the famous passage from Luke: the Conservative Bible Project omits it not only because it's "a favorite of liberals," but because there's some dispute over its authenticity, based on the manuscripts it appears in.
Jones, the professor, said while some early Greek manuscripts omit Jesus' words, others include them.
"There are so many factors to consider when looking at that, but here it gets boiled down to 'liberals put it in,'" he said. "You've got people who are doing this who have probably never looked at an actual ancient manuscript."
So what did Jesus actually say while he was dying on the cross? "Mary! Remember to roll the IRA over!"
I don't practice religion to any real degree, but I was brought up in the Christian faith, and I'm sorry, but I want to remember Jesus as a simple, peaceful man who preached love and forgiveness and kindness. If he was a "well-meaning social worker", so what? I'd prefer that to Dick Cheney in a robe and sandals.
It's sad when the icon of a religion has to be re-invented to match the wants of the people. And I know Christianity in particular is a religion that has been twisted over the centuries to meet popular demand, but to me, Jesus will always symbolize kindness, love and giving.


LOL They should just scrap the New Testament entirely
Heck, IF I were to be interested in ANY version of the Bible now, it would be the one that they translated into Klingon!!
There is a debate going about this on one of the other debate boards. Having checked out the pages of this Conservative Project Bible, it seems unlikely to me that they are actually translating the text. It reads more like a re-interpretation of the King James. Given that it is set up like wikipedia, there is absolutely no way to make sure that the people providing "translations" have any clue about Greek.
About the project http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project
A sample of the work, the beginning of the Gospel of Luke in this case http://www.conservapedia.com/Luke_1-8_(Translated)
Here is a link for the Bible in Greek
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/%7Efisher/gnt/chapters.html
~~~~~ o o o ~~~~
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde
I might say that when we are young, we do bad things not knowing the harm we do.