2 Tim 4:3-5
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations….”
It looks like we may not have enough Bible translations yet, another one is about to hit the market. We will eventually have Bibles enough to satisfy even the New Agers, a tweak here and a tweak there and the Gospel is actually disappearing before are very eyes.
In all fairness I have not read it yet, but in all fairness be careful. With the list of contributors and commentators we have every reason to be on guard. Chris Seay is highly regarded for his “innovative” thinking, and Chris Seay is a leader in the emerging church discussion and president of the Ecclesia Bible Society, the producers of this Bible. In The Voice Chris retells The Gospel of John with devotional commentary. Before you spend your hard earned money you may want to find out whose Voice it really is. BEWARE!
Steve Blackwell
Nashville, Tenn) June 17, 2008 – Thomas Nelson, Inc.’s Bible group is set to release The Voice New Testament in October 2008, featuring the first completely new Bible translation available to readers in several years.
The Voice represents a collaboration of historians, poets, storytellers and songwriters which provides a true interpretation of the traditional Bible text while including historical and cultural expansions of the story. With additional background on setting and characters, the project’s screenplay-like format is ideal for group studies and dramatizations, and the inserted devotional commentary will further help readers understand the context of the biblical story.
About 40 different authors are believed to have been inspired by God to write the Scriptures. The Voice retains the perspective of the human writers. Most English translations attempt to even out the styles of the different authors in sentence structure and vocabulary. Instead, The Voice distinguishes the uniqueness of each author. The heart of the project is retelling the story of the Bible in a form as fluid as modern literary works while remaining true to the original manuscripts.
Featured writers, scholars, artists and musicians for The Voice include the president of Ecclesia Bible Society and internationally acclaimed speaker and pastor Chris Seay (project founder); Blue Like Jazz author Donald Miller; internationally known speaker and author of over 12 highly acclaimed books Brian McLaren; theologian, author, and futurist Leonard Sweet; and nationally renowned author Lauren Winner. The translation and literary style of The Voice have been checked by biblical reviewers, theological scholars and a biblical archeologist, among others.
Replicating the manner in which the Bible was originally available in the church’s first century beginnings, The Voice translation has previously been introduced to the marketplace through the release of single books of the Bible, including Acts, Matthew, Luke, John, Hebrews, Mark and the soon-to-be-released The Voice of Romans. However, the release of The Voice New Testament marks the official launch of The Voice translation, bringing the previously released Scripture projects and the remaining Bible books together into one complete New Testament offering. The Thomas Nelson scholar/author team is also currently working on the Old Testament books which when finished will form The Voice Bible in its entirety.
For more information on The Voice New Testament and The Voice translation, visit www.hearthevoice.com or www.nelsonbibles.com.
21 replies on “The Voice: A New Bible For The New Age”
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» The Voice: A New Bible For The New Age – IndyWatchman
It's clear from the reading of everyone's posts, especially those in response to mine, you all have never been to Ecclesia. You don't know the heart of the leadership there.
indywatchman, you CLEARLY are speaking out of ASSUMPTIONS about Ecclesia. I'm telling you that I am JUST as afraid and worried about new age dogma as you, if not moreso. I have never shied away from arguing against new ageism. And from personal experience, I am telling you that your fears and assumptions about Ecclesia (and the Bible they wrote) are completely unfounded. Everything you think you know about this church, you are wrong. Everything you hope would be in their teaching, is there.
Please do not judge (discern against) something before you get to know it.
You sound like the girls who come to my salsa class and just assume just because I'm a salsa instructor I must be a player who only wants to get every girl in class into bed. I'm a faithful follower of Christ and my dance instruction is used as an instrument for God. Partner dancing reinforces healthy human relationships, and I highlight those facts in class. Any girl that uses her preconceived notions about my position to "discern" that I am damned to hell is wrong. And so are you when you "discern" that Ecclesia is worldly.
I'm telling you that it is not.
Alex,
I have never met Hitler either but I know his heart. Have I just assumed that he was evil? No, I have heard the evidence, I have watched the movies, I have read his own writings, and I have seen firsthand the results of his evil heart. Am I being judgmental or making faulty assumptions? Every cult can make the same claims you are making, and if we use your reasoning how would we ever be able to rightly discern their falsehood without becoming involved with them and risking the snare of the Devil? Why do I need to come to Ecclesia when I have access to their material, I can read their promos and translations, and talk to others who have been there; their worldliness is apparent to even the newly born again Christian with discernment.
At your Taft Street Coffee Shop they make the claim that this is where the,
Is there ever a time, according to the Bible, when the “sacred and secular intersect”? This statement is a red flag to any discerning Christian, because it is in opposition to the plain words of Holy Scripture concerning the co-mingling of yeast and dough, called leaven; and Jesus’ warning that if we love the world then the love of the Father is not in us.
I don’t think you are as afraid as you say you are of the end time apostasy, otherwise you would believe Scripture and repent. By offering your erotic salsa dancing to the “girls” you display that you are worldly; salsa dancing and the Gospel have nothing in common. What is the difference between salsa dancing and yoga, or practicing the rituals of antichrist Rome? Would you draw the line at one or the other of these things and conveniently proclaim the holiness of salsa dancing?
You say,
Don’t you see? I do know it, because I know what the Bible says. I don’t have to have an affair with a prostitute before I can judge prostitution, I simply read my Bible and obey what it says, and what Ecclesia is involved in is prostitution.
When the Israelites left Egypt God led them, and provided them with what they needed. He fed them with Manna from Heaven. That Manna was all that they needed to satisfy their hunger, but after a while they became bored with the perfect food of God and Angles, and desired some of the old stuff they used to eat that caused gas and indigestion; the worldly food was preferred over the food from Heaven. That is a lesson for us today. God has given us the perfect food of His Word, but we have become bored with reading the same thing over and over, and desire something with a little more spice, so we add to God’s perfect Word salsa dancing, and new palatable translations, to name just a couple. Can’t you see that you have effectively gone back to Egypt? To simply be a “Christian” and believe what is written is not popular today; it needs a little seasoning, or a lot, as the case may be; but please, no plain old Manna.
You obviously are not aware that we are in the midst of the worst revolution that men and women have ever faced; it is called the sexual revolution. It is a revolt against anything chaste, and has been the cause of the murder of more than 40,000,000 innocent victims; that is more than the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, a whole generation of children brutally murdered. Don’t tell me that a man and a woman dancing in close proximity to each other builds healthy human relationships; it builds adultery, fornication, babies born without two parents, and government sanctioned murder.
Wake-up Alex, before it is too late.
Just to make it clear I want to say that what I have said has been said in love and concern, and not to just spoil your good time, I hope you can see that.
In Christ,
Steve Blackwell
[…] https://indywatchman.com/2008/06/18/the-voice-a-new-bible-for-the-new-age/ […]
Steve,
I just found your blog & this post on ‘The Voice’. I am so glad to hear your perspective concerning Chris Seay and his work.
Over at my blog, that I share with Judy, we have been having quite a discussion about Chris and his involvement in CCO/Jubilee conference in Feb. ’10. Would love for you to come for a visit and share your thoughts…
I like to notify people when I link to them. I linked to you in my Review of The Voice translation
Roodog,
Yes, the authors claim that this is a translation, but that is a real stretch of the definition of the word “translation.” As far as getting your very own personal copy, there are bookstores that specialize in Christian books, they call them “Christian Book Stores,” and if your heart is set on having a copy, then neither Heaven nor Hell will stop you.
You said,
Yes this is true, many find sport in contending like this, but others are obediently sounding an alarm that what the Bible has clearly predicted would happen, is in actuality, happening, because Jesus said in the end days “many will come in my name. . .deceiving many.”
As far as your comment,
You need to think about what your saying. Do you apply that to everything in your life? Or, do you use that principle with your children, who are not adults, and have no discernment of good and evil, or right and wrong? Would you advise your daughter to try prostitution before she judge it? Would you tell your son not to use corrupt business practices before he has walked a mile in there shoes? Wouldn’t you know better than to enter a whore house? Is your advise to try everything, to test everything— because this is what you are suggesting— valid? No you wouldn’t do or suggest these things to the members of your family, but we tend to think that because we are Christians we can commit all sorts of spiritual fornication without consequences, and simply chalk it up as “testing all things.” That is ridiculous! My advise to my fellow Christians is to stay as far away from this corrupt thing as possible. It is no different than the advise I would give my family on other things worldly. Just because you are a human adult, are you not tempted by the world, even the christian world? Or, are we adult Christians because we have learned to overcome the world in the things of the flesh, “the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life”? Are you a Christian because you have tried all the things mentioned above, or because you have learned to discern good and evil, and tested all things by trust and faith in the truth of God’s Holy word? I can assure you that if you continue to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” you will not be able to discern what is truly good, because the advise you are giving is from that tree.
Christianity has become so thoroughly corrupted with the “leaven” of this world that today’s new breed of “Christ followers” are following “another Jesus”, who is very permissive and advocates the very thing you suggest. After all, “hasn’t God said” to try (test) all things as Scripture teaches, or is that the serpent speaking in your ear, to taste just enough to get the essence of what this apple (The Voice) is all about, after all aren’t you an “ADULT”?
“Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees…. How is it that ye do not understand that I spake not to you concerning bread…? Then understood they how that he bade [them] not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” Mt 16:6,11-12
Steve Blackwell
Is this a new translation? Where can I obtain a copy to see if if it’s a crummy translation or not? This is the first heard of this new Bible. Let’s treat Christians like adults and trust them to test all things and hold fast to that which is good.
Christians are bashing each other over what their favorite Bible is.
Let the reader take note: The King James Bible was rejected by the Protestant Conservatives (the Puritans) for being too Catholic in its language and teaching. The Church of England which gave us the KJV is a catholic church !!!
Chris,
I am glad to see that you are addressing the problems of this new emerging seduction of God’s word. I pray that your use of the radio airways will get the response to this “attack” firmly implanted in the minds of our brothers and sisters who still have their wits about them. With the spreading famine, spoken of by Amos the Prophet, getting ever worse, many will, unfortunately, see this “refuse” as a palatable attempt to quench a growing hunger.
May the Lord bless your steadfastness in sounding the alarm,
Steve Blackwell
I have a copy of this “Bible” which claims to be a dynamic translation and I’ve got to say that it completely mangles and distorts God’s word.
The Voice is such a bad ‘translation’ that it makes the Message paraphrase sound like a word for word translation.
I spent time working through important passages of scripture in The Voice on my radio program. Please check it and and sound the alarm bell. The Voice is not giving people the real voice of God but a ‘different’ voice.
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2008/11/the-new-emergent-translation-of-the-bible.html
Alex,
What you call judgment I call discernment.
For the most part those sitting in the modern churches of today have no ability to discern anything evil in their midst, they only understand what is good according to their distorted world view. Christians today force their understanding of the Bible through a very fine filter fashioned over a period of many hundreds of years. Consequently when they read about the apostasy spoken of in that same volume they simply cannot conceive the thought that it could be true of themselves or their particular building they call a “church.” This is true even though that Book makes it perfectly clear that the Devil is the chief trickster and that the human race is a deceived race. We make it awfully easy for the Devil to do his work. We simply refuse to allow ourselves to enter a conflict that could devastate our cherished way of life, even when the Bible clearly speaks to the situation we see in the “church” today.
Furthermore, the “love” you address is more than a gushy flow of emotionalism that lets everything pass and tolerates the open embrace of the world. Love can also be an exhibition of honest rebuke for the mockery the circus church is making of the real Ecclesia, the Body of Christ, which has nothing to do with organized religion. As far as the leadership, they may have a sincere desire to build something for the Lord, but unfortunately the Lord said He himself would build His Church. Real love is to proclaim the truth, and the front line of that battle today is the proclamation that men and the world are declaring that they are the “Church” when it just isn’t true. The church of today looks more like IBM or General Motors than a living body. No functioning family operates the way modern churches do, but over and over we are told in Scriptures to look for the fruits of a real family in our Church, and regardless of what you say it isn’t there, no way. The building you attend is just putting on a different or more appealing program that stirs the emotions and keeps the customers coming back, and to most that is about as close as they can get to family life, regardless that it is dysfunctional.
I know that there are some people inside the circus churches that the Lord will call out. I also know that God uses hirelings to accomplish His work. Wouldn’t you agree that a baseball cap with a Scripture verse on it is better than one with a Cubs logo? God’s Word will endure forever, and God will even use “The Voice” and even un-faithful and rebellious believers to do His work, then destroy them. So, yes, if one person is saved in the process of reading The Voice it is a blessing by God to that person, but that doesn’t mean that what they are doing is right. The pragmatic approach to evangelism is evil; the ends do not justify the means, even when God in His Sovereign will uses it to accomplish His will; we are still held responsible even when God brings good out of evil.
What you call good I call corrupt, one of us is wrong. You “feel” that God has led you to your present building, that you call a church, how do you know it was God? Maybe it was the Devil, after all the Devil has deceived the whole world, right?
Please read the following articles.
http://indywatchman.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/the-voice-a-reader-comment-and-reply/
http://indywatchman.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/what-is-a-christian-humanist/
Steve Blackwell
I’m sorry to see so much judgment in this blog post. Whether or not it’s true, the attitude seems very judgmental and doesn’t help the attitude the world has of Christians today. Jesus wasn’t judgmental, except towards corrupt church leadership. He was forgiving and full of grace. The first commandment we are called to do is to love, and I would like to gently remind everyone here about that.
I attend Ecclesia myself. I felt called there. The first time I went there I felt uneasy. I pre-judged it. I thought it had too much catholic leanings to make me feel comfortable. So I left. Then God kept putting more and more people in my life who went there. I kept returning over and over. Then new people entered my life who wanted to go to church. The first church they wanted to try was Ecclesia. And I gave it another try because it seemed that God was truly pushing me there. And I find that it’s one of my favorite churches. Not because I can wake up late and walk there from my home. Not because it’s contemporary. Not because a Christian Rock Star (Robby Seay) is the Musical leader. Not because it’s relaxed and I can wear a T-Shirt. I like it because at the end of the day, the leadership truly cares about the faith of mankind, how we relate to one another, and that we Love God. I have been to many many churches in my years, but no church has shown me so much fruit production as this one. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
I don’t like The Voice either much, but if someone receives any encouragement, if they are incapable of receiving wisdom from other translations, as long as it preaches the truth of The Gospel, then it can only be good. If one soul is saved, then the version is worthy. What is The Gospel? It can be summed up in The Greatest Commandment, which Jesus gave. The Voice translates it just as well as the King James version does.
While they read out of The Voice in church, I pull out my bible and read from my version so I can be sure that they are teaching truth. I prefer to use multiple versions when I study. Just to make sure. So far as I have been able to discern in the services, The Voice has been very modern in its language, but it hasn’t been inaccurate so far. If you haven’t ever been to one of Ecclesia’s services, it would be unfair to judge their heart without knowing. The speakers do know a lot about the original texts. In their sermons they often use the original words, translate them and explain how they are used in The Word. And they always edify me.
I may not like The Voice, but I do not think that those who wrote it are corrupted. I think a lot of good will come out of the translation.
Greg,
Thanks for the response.
We all have our affinities, our strengths, and our weaknesses. Mostly these days our affinities for entertainment overrides any strengths we have for enduring truth, and delivers even seasoned saints up to the weakness of a lustful flesh.
Having read the Bible for as many years as you have is no guarantee that you have understood correctly its meaning or that you don’t have some preconceived idea of what you expect, when you venture into the wilderness. Our affinities, customs, proclivities, and presuppositions, for the most part, predetermine what we want to find out there in the wilderness. After all, consider the Pharisees. They ate, drank, and slept the Scriptures, and could quote it frontwards and backwards, but when the Messiah arrived on the scene they didn’t recognize Him. Truly they had their presuppositions, and their affinities, and their desires deceived them, and they missed out on everything.
The wilderness, as the Jews found out, was a place to be endured, and not enjoyed, a hard and trying place; a place of testing and trust. The wilderness was not a coveted vacation spot like Reno or Vegas, it was more like the blistering deserts of Arizona, where the unsuspecting, and unprepared die from lack of preparation. Listening to a religious hobbyist and then venturing into the wilderness is a trip only a fool would take, but many are parading onto slippery slopes and into dangerous environments, gleefully following these hobbyist, with their modern takes on ancient wisdom.
Give me the old path: tested, and proven. Give me truth, unvarnished. Give me the harshness of a man fully groomed by desert life, who knows the way of life and living, eternally. Give me the coarseness of John, and in that, I will find out how to live in a harsh, cruel, wilderness.
Today’s Christians, for sure, go to their vacation spots looking for a reed shaken by the wind, or a man dressed in fine clothing, offering up half-truths on silver platters, and they eat their fill of nonsense and go their way to death. This is today’s holiday church gatherings, along the shores of Vanity Fair.
Blessings,
Steve Blackwell
Friends, In my 59 Years I have read a lot of Bible… I don’t consider myself an expert just a man on a journey. I like this translation. It does not weaken my faith. I have never been a big fan of the King James……But I know Folks who love it I can respect their love….. but they will never win me over. If people people pick up the Voice and find their way. I won’t complain. I like the way it is set, I like the boxes. I like the Questions raised. It works for me!
“When you went out into the wilderness to see John, what were you expecting? A reed shaking in the wind? What were you looking for? A man in expensive clothing? Look, if you were looking for fancy clothes and luxurious living, you went to the wrong place-you should have gone to the kings court, not to the wilderness!….” (Luke)
I do enjoy this wilderness….. Go to the Voice site and download John…. You may find it a gift, if not you lose a few sheets of paper…..Blessings in any case,
Having read “The Voice” and consulted several qualified theologians at the seminary I attend (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX), I have serious concerns about the attempt to call this a “translation.” Even if you want to call it a dynamic translation, this is stretching it.
Two quick concerns (although I have many more):
1. The introduction says the project is an attempt to recapture the original voice of the biblical authors. When you grammatically reconstruct the text in a genre unintended by the author (“The Voice” is written in a screenplay format as opposed to the narrative format presented by the original authors), I would consider that moving away from the original voice of the biblical authors.
2. In the attempt to be edgy, the translators have created confusion instead of clarity. They translate John 1:1 as “Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God.” Then, they translate John 1:23 as John the Baptist saying, “… I am a voice calling out in the wilderness … ” Does anyone else see the inconsistency here? Is John the Baptist divine? If Jesus is “the voice” in John 1:1, does that mean John is “a voice” as well? After taking 2 years of New Testament Greek, I have never seen the word “logos” translated as “voice.” These guys go for gimmicks over being faithful to the text.
Houston,
Thanks for your feedback.
First off, your critique of my “blog report” is not accurate, it is not a report, just a simple warning, and the warning stands as written. As far as your “highly reputable scholars” are concerned that may very well be one of the reasons to beware. Not that scholarship is bad, in and of itself, but scholarship, degrees, or academic fame are no guarantee that corruption, even intentional corruption, has not occurred. After all, we know that Rick Warren is not above cherry picking verses at his leisure to manipulate his undiscerning flock.
My immediate take from reading “John” is that, to these men, understanding what God is saying is not as important as understanding their message in a certain way, that agrees with the particular bent of those “men” who are doing the re-writing. Also, having scholars who are influenced by artists is not good. It is kind of like a plastic surgeon who, at the mercy of the paying customer, changes their appearance, and only he knows that the truth lies hidden underneath the “artwork;” as the saying goes, “only their hairdresser knows for sure,” but to those lacking insight and understanding, the man on the street, it is the essence of pure beauty and truth. To reason that there is no harm done to the original and that it is essentially the same Bible or person, with only a cut here, a stretch there, a tuck somewhere else, an insertion where needed, and a deletion of unwanted excess, is a fantasy and a lie. Of course the plastic surgeon does this with the idea of getting rewarded, and it is easy to see how corruption or leaven sneaks in. Should we assume all purity of motive? Not if you know these characters.
You say that Brian Mclaren and Chris Seay are not scholars, but aren’t their fingerprints are all over this production? You say this is not important, and that they do not have to be scholars, and you are probably correct, if they hold the purse strings, or they are the final authority and the leaders of a growing organization. Most men and scholars salivate at such opportunities to market their fame. I’m not as concerned with scholarship as knowing who the scholars work for and their motivation. As I said, scholarship really means very little and may very well be one of the main problems. Scholars are men, and men have motives and agendas, and love rewards. The continual re-writing of the Bible over the centuries, especially the last century, in my opinion has done nothing but dirty the waters so that the understanding of Holy Scriptures is corrupted, way beyond what God originally intended, but this also is predicted in the very Book that is being corrupted. The Living Water these men profess to be providing has been contaminated by their scholarship.
You asked me to not cast “The Voice” aside as “ just another thing from those emerging heretics” before I “check it out.” It seems that everything that anyone has or says should be “checked out” before a judgment is made. Is this true? Can we make judgments based on past evidence? I have checked out the free Gospel of John and my warning stands firm. I never read the whole thing, it wasn’t necessary. I really wouldn’t have even needed to read any of it to pass a judgment. I hear this all the time, especially from the world, but increasingly from “Christians,” that unless we sample a particular thing that we can have no idea what it is about, and therefore cannot judge its worth. We are told by many that we should learn from experience that a thing is bad or can harm us, is this true? No, it is not true. That nonsense is the result of eating from the wrong tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, instead of the tree of Life. That kind of knowledge suggest that you can get close to a trash fire and not smell like smoke. Granted some things are easy to figure out, like judging a man who smells like marijuana and wearing a tee shirt with a picture of a marijuana leaf on it; the man can be safely judged to be a user. Other things are more difficult like the Catholic Priest or Minister who is a pedophile. But, most things can be discovered and even assumed with just a little knowledge, like those who are promoting this “New” version of Holy Scripture. You see we know Brian McLaren and Chris Seay through the things they have written, and the people they endorse, and the writings they applaud. This is why I warn people away from this new “translation.” I don’t know all about these men, but I know enough to know that they have an agenda that does not follow the truth. We make these kinds of judgments all the time. We judge who we want our children to play with, without ever knowing the other child well, or their parents. The whole world judged Hitler and Mussolini based on their knowledge of right and wrong and Christians need to judge those who profess to have this new knowledge that is not based on truth.
I admit that traditional Church is wrong, but doing church differently or rebelling against the established church system like a throwback to the sixties is no better. It does appeal to the flesh, but it is likewise wrong.
There is no question that we need to go back to an ancient model of what Church is, but it cannot stop with the desert fathers, rituals, liturgies, creeds, or Constantine, or a continual re-writing of the Bible, we must go all the way back to the foundation and do a lot of house cleaning. Jesus’ command was go back and do our first works over again, unless He come and removes our candlestick. When we look at the mess the “Church” has gotten itself into I think it is fair to assume that He was not bluffing.
The answers to all our questions are not in the Institutional, Emerging, or Mega Church, or new translations of the Bible that have flesh appeal. All the answers lay buried under centuries of Babylonian religious refuse, that until removed, blocks the way for many who think they are on the road to the Celestial City.
The Voice Bible translation is just one more project of the religious hobbyist trying to produce something in his own image to make a name for himself.
Steve Blackwell
One of the things clearly left out of this blog report is the list of highly reputable scholars who are contributing to this as well.
No. McLaren is not a scholar. No. Chris Seay is not a scholar on the level of a seminary professor. And he doesn’t have to be. To name a couple of the scholars whom you may be able to find publications from: Dr. David Capes, a department head at Houston Baptist University and recent author of “Rediscovering Paul” which has be hailed by the Society of Biblical Literature as one of the most important books on Paul in the past decade and Dr. Sherri Klouda, former professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Each book of The Voice lists the scholars who are working alongside pastors, poets, musicians, etc to create a legitimate translation. This is not someone reading English and paraphrasing.
Before you cast it aside as just another thing from those emerging (we don’t use that word so much) heretics, check it out.
Grab yourself a copy. You can even download John for free at http://www.hearthevoice.com. Yes… FREE so that you don’t have to spend your hard-earned money on something that might be heresy… which it’s not. At least not as much as King James’. But… I digress.
Anthony,
You said:
No offense to the readership of the previous comment, but everyone makes judgments based on known information surrounding a particular product we contemplate purchasing. We “can” know what to expect, without ever dropping a dime to find out, because we most likely already know. Las Vegas has paved the streets in gold with the money taken from suckers who needed to find out first hand what they had already been told many, many, times. We can know, and we can judge, because we know these men and what they have given us before, and since a “leopard cannot change its spots” we don’t need to find out first hand. If Hitler wrote a Bible translation could you pre-judge it? I think the answer is obviously, YES! The odds are that what these men will give us will be no different than what they have given us before, and for the discerning Christian the warning stands: BEWARE!
You said,
Secondly: Just because someone decides to give us a “new” take on the Bible does not legitimize the effort. We all have our hidden agendas that we try to persuade upon the world and most are of no consequence, but others are of great consequence. These men of the Emerging mentality have a powerful agenda behind this work. It is my contention that these men are deceived, and that they have the power and resources to impose this deception on the unwary. Christians today are confused by the tons of theological error that they have become heir to, and the timing is right for a sweeping deception to produce a great harvest for the enemy. In a time when we should be on alert for anything “new” that appears on the horizon, we are encouraged to embrace even the lamest of tricks handed to us in the name of Christ.
You said,
AS far as honoring Christ, I don’t think the institutional church knows what it is to dishonor Christ, nor do they really care. The church has linked hands with the world in so many ways that virtually anything they do, they consider honorable, as long as they invoke the name of Jesus over it. The leaven of the world has so infiltrated the fabric of the modern Christian life that everything can be justified if the end result produces, hopefully, good results, regardless of the means.
You said,
Your last sentence stating that the Bible was written in “Targum” is inaccurate. Unless I am mistaken, Targum is not a language, it is itself a translation. Targum is the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible.
It is not my intention to fight a battle at this point, but it is my intention to warn people of the deception and apostasy that is sweeping the country and world and that this “new” translation is something that should be avoided. Christians today want their Bible to read like a novel and they can be swept off the narrow way by the wind coming from our new modern day sophist. They want to understand what the Scriptures say but fail to go to the One who has the correct interpretation, and instead go to mere men who tickle their ears and entertain.
In the end each man or woman must choose who he or she will trust to have the truth of what is happening in the world today, and this is only my two cents worth, but I have also warned people of the uselessness of trying to win big in Vegas, without success.
Steve Blackwell
No offense to the readership of this article, but how can we stand in judgment of a work that has not yet been published or even READ by the reviewer? Secondly, there are several types of Bible translations, such as literal, free, or dynamic. Just because this version may not be literal, it should not be discounted as a legitimate version. I have never seen Chris Seay water down the gospel, but have seen it presented it in ways that would honor Christ, our Liberating King. Besides, any Bible written in English is subject to interpretation and translation as the true Bible exists in its original languages of Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and some Targum.
I think we can, at least partially, blame these types of “interpretive” books of the Bible on the success of Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”. McLaren is NOT a biblical scholar; at least not the kind we’d expect to have a good, unprejudiced approach to the Bible. The rest of the scholar/author team is very questionable, especially Sweet who would be the closest thing, I think to a real scholar.
I don’t know how anyone can market, in good conscience either this or Peterson’s work as a translation. Neither are anything but commentary with a Bible format.
Thanks for the warning on this. I’ve read enough of McLaren’s writing to know he is a shameless heretic. You might as well have post-modernist Jacques Derrida translate the Bible.