The Test of the Translations (part 3)

Proverbs 24:21

Here are the TESTS

1. The Test Of Consistency. Does it say the same thing?

2. The Test Of Commitment. Does it leave anything out?

3. The Test Of Change Did the translators change anything because of a hidden agenda they may have had?

Proverbs 24:21

My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

Dr. Virginia Mollenkott

Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott taught college literature and writing for 44 years and is now Professor EMeritus at the William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. With Letha Dawson Scanzoni, she co-authored "Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? A Postive Christisan Response" (1978) and now available in a vastly expanded and updated edition.(1994) Her other books include "The Divine Femine: Biblical Imagery of God As Female"; "Godding: Human Responsibility and the Bible"; and "Sensuous Spirituality: Out From Fundamentalism".

Dr. Mollenkott served as stylistic consultant for the New International Version of the Bible

With her life partner, Suzannah Tiltm, Virginia lives in northern New Jersey and co-grandmother's their three delightful grandaughters.

NIV defenders have stated she did no translation work.

She was said only to be a “lesbian sympathizer” until she came out publicly that she was one herself.

From her own words:

“I worked on the NIV during the entire time it was being translated and reviewed, although I was never free to attend the summer sessions even when I was invited to do so. Elisabeth Elliot and I were the Stylistic Consultants: our job was simply to make sure the translation would communicate clearly to modern American readers, and that the style was as smooth and understandable as possible. I was never removed, sacked, or made redundant from my work on the NIV; if I were, my name would not have appeared on the list sent out by the IBS. It was Dr. Edwin Palmer, who lived near my college, who invited me to work on the NIV. He had heard me speak and respected my integrity and my knowledge.”

In her book, Is The Homosexual My Neighbor?, Dr. Mollenkott explains fully why she thinks the homosexual got bad press in the Bible. She presents all kinds of fanciful notions that the Old Testament Holiness Codes which forbid sodomy do not apply to the New Testament church. She explains in detail that Jesus did not condemn homosexuality as a loving relationship between two consenting adults. Therefore, she concludes, it has to be OK. Where Paul mentions homosexuality, she again says that it only applies to promiscuous homosexuality. The NIV clearly reflects her views.

Matthew 11:24 - Judgment upon Sodom

KJB - But I say unto you, That it shall be more

tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee.

NIV - But I tell you it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

Luke 10:12 - Judgment upon Sodom

KJB - But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

NIV - I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for you.

Mollenkott, ITHMN, Page 59-"Jesus refers to Sodom, not in the context of sexual acts, but in the contents of inhospitality." And on Page 71, she expands this thought with the idea of a life long homosexual orientation or 'condition' is never mentioned in the Bible."

Romans 1:26 & 27 - Homosexuality

KJB - For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And like wise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in lust one toward another; man with men working that which is unseemingly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

NIV - Because of this, God gave him over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.

Mollenkott, ITHMN, Page 62 - "The key thought here seems to be lust, 'unnaturalness,' and, in verse 28, a desire to avoid the acknowledgment of God. But although the censure fits idolatrous people with whom Paul was concerned here, it does not seem to fit the case of a sincere homosexual Christian. Such a person loves Jesus Christ and wants above all to acknowledge God in all of life, yet for some unknown reason feels drawn to someone of the same sex, for the sake of love rather than lust. Is it fair to describe that person as lustful or desirous of forgetting God's existence?"

First Corinthians 6:9

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, KJB

NIV

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders

Dr. Marten Woudstra: Chair of the Old Testament committee

As some would point out, the real offender of corruption is Dr. Marten Woudstra. To be fair to the critics, Dr. Woudstra did eventually come out as a homosexual.

Woudstra did comment on the nature of the Old Testament and it’s use of sexual terminology.

“There is nothing in the Old Testament that corresponds to homosexuality as we understand it today.” (Dr. Martin Woudstra)

Yeah right!

Dr. S. Frank Logsdon(1907-1987) was a Baptist preacher, popular author and Bible conference speaker, and took part in the formation of the New American Standard Bible (NASB) published by his good friend, Franklin Dewey Lockman, of the Lockman Foundation. Logsdon pastored Moody Memorial Church of Chicago from 1950 to 1952, and other churches during his ministerial career. He later regretted his association in the publication of the NASB. This is his testimony about the change of his heart and mind regarding this popular modern bible translation.

Logsdon finally said,

"I'm in trouble; I can't refute these arguments; it's wrong; it's terribly wrong; it's frightfully wrong; and what am I going to do about it?"

"I must under God renounce every attachment to the New American Standard."

Logsdon then began to travel extensively, trying to make up for his error by explaining to people the very simple reasons why the Authorized Version is the one Bible which is absolutely 100% correct.

"When there is an omission that might be observed, they put in the margin, ‘Not in the oldest manuscripts.' But they don't tell you what those oldest manuscripts are. What oldest manuscripts?

Or they say, ‘Not in the best manuscripts.' What are the best manuscripts? They don't tell you. You see how subtle that is?

The average man sees a little note in the margin which says ‘not in the better manuscripts' and he takes for granted they are scholars and they must know, and then he goes on. That's how easily one can be deceived."

The deletions are absolutely frightening."

1 Samuel 17:48-50

2 Samuel 21:19

KJV

And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

NIV

In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver's rod.

Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Note - Mollenkot was molested as a child

At the November 1993 Re-imagining conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was sponsored by the World Council of Churches, Mollenkott said: "Jesus is our elder brother, the trailblazer and constant companion for us ultimately is among many brothers and sisters in an eternal, equally worthy sibling-hood. First born only in the sense that he was the first to show us that it is possible to live in one-ness with the divine source while we are here on this planet... As an incest survivor, I can no longer worship in a theological context that depicts God as an abusive parent [referring to Christ's death on the cross] and Jesus as the obedient, trusting child." At the same conference, Mollenkott said she longed to see the creation of an interfaith "worship community" in which each member respected completely the religion of the others and Christians ceased to make missionary efforts to target members of other religions. She labeled soul-winning evangelism as "imperialistic attempts to make others such as I."

https://www.biblebelievers.com/Graham1.html