Saturday, October 10, 2009

Finally, a push for a 'Conservative' Bible.

Scott Schlafly has a mission. He wants to produce a fully conservative Bible, free from all liberal bias. According to the Conservative Bible Project website (http://conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project):

As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:
1] Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
2] Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity
3] Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level
4] Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop; defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".
5] Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots"; using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
6] Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7] Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
8] Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story
9] Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10] Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."


What do you think? Has your faith been corrupted by a "liberal" Bible? Do you think those early Christians who compiled the Biblical stories were guilty of liberalism? Do you see a need for this new version, which may or may not be true to the best manuscripts and principles of translations?

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