April 15, 1997 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following report is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 8, Issue 6, 1991 --

The American Bible Society has given another plain demonstration of its apostasy. Its newest version, the Bible for Today's Family (Contemporary English Version), is the most outrageous product yet of the method of translation called "dynamic equivalency" or "common language," which groups such as the United Bible Societies and Wycliffe Bible Translators have adopted.

DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY CORRUPTS GOD'S WORD

As a method of translation, dynamic equivalency seeks to adapt the Bible to the culture for which it is aimed. Unlike the traditional method of Bible translation whereby the words of Scripture are translated literally and clearly into the receptor language, dynamic equivalency unabashedly changes the Bible text to fit the receptor language. In dynamic equivalency, the Bible translator is not satisfied with being a translator; he seeks to fulfill the role of teacher, as well.

Wycliffe Bible Translators employ dynamic equivalency in their foreign language versions, and a look at some of their work illustrates the danger of this type of "translation." In a version for Eskimos, Wycliffe workers replaced "lamb" with "seal pup." In the Makusi language of Brazil, Wycliffe translators substituted "older brother" for "Son of man." In another Wycliffe translation, "fig tree" became "banana tree." It becomes apparent that many Bible translators of our day feel free to make great changes in the words of Holy Writ.

This is what we find in the American Bible Society's Bible for Today's Family. But in this instance, the translation is not changed to fit a foreign culture but to fit the modern American youth culture.

Consider the following report from Time magazine:

"In the beginning, the American Bible Society decided to develop Scripture for kids. Translators spent hours on end watching Sesame Street and TV cartoons, puzzling out ways to make the Bible understandable for youngsters ages 5 to 13--the Bart Simpson generation. But when versions were tested in local churches, adults reported back that they needed stripped-down Scripture too.

"Lo, that revelation led to the ultimate in simplified Holy Writ, the Bible for Today's Family. The Bible society has just published the New Testament portion, with the Old Testament due by 1996. The new Bible is the work of three translators living in Springfield, Mo., plus dozens of consultants, and comes in both Protestant and authorized Catholic editions.

"A generation ago, the Bible society produced another simplified version, the Good News Bible (113 million Bibles and Testaments in print); the 1991 Bible is even less highbrow. In Today's Family Bible, for example, angels proclaim Jesus' birth by saying, `Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God.' The Lord's Prayer runs, `Our Father in heaven, help us to honor your name. Come and set up your kingdom...'

"The new Bible banishes words, like whom, that are dying out in everyday American speech, as well as theological favorites, like righteousness. Even grace, the term that launched Luther's Reformation, has been replaced with the bland 'kindness.' The graceless Bible is also as genderless as possible. For all that, the Bible society claims that the Good Book's `majesty and poetry' have survived.

"Will Americans buy this Bible? A new poll in the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant group, shows that despite a marketplace clogged with modernized competitors, 62% preferred the complex, but inspiring, phraseology of the 1611 King James Version. Nonetheless, the Family Bible is sure to be popular, at least among those with scant interest in church tradition" (Time magazine, May 6, 1991).

Note that the Bible society translators studied popular television programming for youth as preparation for their work. This is the dynamic equivalency philosophy. They rewrote the Bible for the Bart Simpson generation. They changed God's Word to conform to the modern child.

We believe this is wickedness. The Bible is the Word of God. The very words of Scripture were chosen by God. Its most minute details are God-breathed. This perfect Scripture has been preserved through the generations in the Received Text which underlies our Authorized English Version. A Bible translator does not have the authority to change the Word of God. His job is to translate God's words literally and clearly. His first and foremost goal must be accuracy. He must give weight to every word of Scripture.

The King James translators did this and gave the English-speaking people a faithful translation of the inspired Word of God. Each word of the Greek and Hebrew text is given weight in the King James Version. This is not so with dynamic equivalency.

Consider that the Bible for Today's Family changes "grace" to "kindness." This is amazing. Grace is the unmerited favor and blessing of God. Kindness is a nice thing, but it certainly is not the same as grace. No Bible translator has the liberty to change God's word in this way. God has told us what He thinks of such a thing:

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" Proverbs 30:5-6.

The very thing that this generation needs is the pure, unadulterated Word of God. Yet this is exactly what cannot be found in the Bible for Today's Family.

BEWARE OF DUPLICITY

Note, too, the duplicity of the American Bible Society in claiming that the "majesty and poetry" of the Bible has survived in their simplified Bible. This kind of contradictory claim is often made by those who corrupt the Scriptures. When challenged about their work, they claim on the one hand to have the freedom to make changes in the wording of the text, yet they also claim that they are NOT REALLY changing the text! You can't have it both ways!

Wise Christians are not deceived by the contradictory claims of apostates.

THIS IS NOT A NEW THING

Do not think that this wickedness is something new for the American Bible Society (ABS). The ABS and its overseas partners, the United Bible Societies (UBS), have been producing this kind of corruption for decades. The deeply perverted Today's English Version is copyrighted by the ABS and has been used as the basis for many foreign-language translations. Hundreds of millions of copies of the TEV have been printed in English and in other languages by the United Bible Societies since its debut in 1966. The oldest Bible society in the world, the British and Foreign Bible Society, has a history of apostasy which dates back to its earliest days. For evidence of this we direct the reader's attention to two books: Unholy Hands on God's Holy Book: A Report on the United Bible Societies, and A Most Frightful Deception: The TEV and Translator Robert Bratcher by David W. Cloud. These are available in the Fundamental Baptist CD-ROM Library.

The Bible for Today's Family illustrates what the UBS is doing overseas. Many people do not know the extent to which the United Bible Societies have sold out to the dynamic equivalency method of translation. Most of their new versions in foreign languages follow this method. Together with Wycliffe Bible Translators, the UBS are literally flooding the world with corrupted paraphrases which are being passed off as true translations of Scripture. We have given a full report on this frightful phenomena in our book, DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY: DEATH KNELL OF PURE SCRIPTURE, available from Way of Life Literature.

BIBLE SOCIETY ECUMENICITY

We note, too, that the American Bible Society glories in the fact that their new translation is available both in Protestant and Catholic versions. This has become normal operating procedure with the Bible Societies, but it is further evidence of their apostasy. We have documented this in our book Unholy Hands on God's Holy Book, available from Way of Life Literature.

For who desire to support a Bible publishing ministry which does not produce corruptions of God's Word we suggest the following:

Bearing Precious Seed

First Baptist Church

745 Center Street

Milford, OH 45150

Russian Bible Society

159 Davenport Road

Asheville, NC 28806