NEW BIBLE VERSIONS

NEW BIBLE VERSIONS

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June 10, 1999) (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org) - To further muddy the waters of English Bible translations there are at least four new Bible versions being published, as follows.

ZONDERVAN’S CATHOLIC SERENDIPITY BIBLE. Zondervan was granted permission to use the official Catholic New American Bible text with notes by Lyman Coleman for its "Catholic Serendipity Bible." It is designed for personal and small-group study. The New American Bible was published in 1970 by the Catholic Association of America with the Imprimatur of the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal O’Boyle. The New American Bible contains unbelieving, modernistic notes that claim that many of the events in Genesis, including the worldwide flood, are not historical, that the book of Isaiah was written by at least two men, the book of Daniel was not written until after the death of Daniel, and that Paul did not write the book of Ephesians or the Pastoral Epistles. In 1978, Zondervan was granted a 30-year exclusive contract to publish the New International Version, which is owned by the New York Bible Society. By 1987, Zondervan was making $21 million per year on the sale of NIV Bibles alone. In 1988, Zondervan was purchased by the secular corporation Harper and Row (in 1990 it merged with William Collins and became HarperCollins), which in turn is owned by the publishing baron Rupert Murdoch, who also owns sleazy publications that print immoral photos and lascivious commentary. Zondervan operates the largest chain of Christian bookstores in the world. Since they are actually owned by the world, it is no wonder that most Christian bookstores today are worldly and are filled with psychology, self-esteem, ecumenism, novels, corrupt Bible translations, and rock music!

ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. This Bible will be published by Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers of Wheaton, Illinois. It is alleged to be an "inerrancy-based edition of the Revised Standard Version, and several prominent Southern Baptists have lent their names to the project. These include Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Carl F.H. Henry, founding editor of Christianity Today; and Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, Birmingham. All of these men are on the advisory council for the English Standard Version.

Why would these men have anything whatsoever to do with the perverted Revised Standard Version? It was completely modernistic in its production. Practically all of the translators were Modernists who denied the miracles of the Bible. I have documented this extensively in the 321-page book Myths about Modern Bible Versions, available from Way of Life Literature. Walter Bowie claimed that the Old Testament is a mixture of folklore, legend, imagination, and tradition. He questioned the resurrection of Christ. Millar Burrows said "we cannot take the Bible as a whole and in every part as stating with divine authority what we must believe and do." Henry Cadbury claimed that Jesus Christ "was given to overstatements." Fleming James said we do not know what happened at the Rea Sea. Clarence Craig denied the resurrection from the dead and the second coming of Christ. Edgar Goodspeed said that Genesis contained "Babylonian myths and legends and Canaanite popular tales." Frederick Grant claimed that the New Testament account of Jesus’ life and ministry is "not entirely historical." William Irwin even taught that the phrase "Thus saith the Lord" is an "almost unfailing mark of spuriousness"! This apostate Bible translator also said that Zoraster and other heathen philosophers were equal in validity with the prophets of Israel. James Moffatt believed we must be "freed from the influence of the theory of verbal inspiration." Willard Sperry thought the book of John is not accurate in recording the sayings of Jesus.

HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE. This new Bible translation being produced by Broadman & Holman Publishers is described as "an accurate, literal rendering with a smoothness and readability that invites memorization, reading aloud and dedicated study." Dozens of modern English Bible translations have made a similar claim. The New Testament is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year 2000 and the entire Bible by 2004. Broadman & Holman is a division of LifeWay Christian Resources and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

THE NAZARENE SCRIPTURES. This is a translation being produced by the Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism. The New Testament is scheduled for completion by the end of 1999. The Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism is a cultic organization that claims to follow in the footsteps of the alleged first followers of Jesus, who were the "Nazarenes" and who continued to keep the Mosaic law. They keep the Sabbath and other Jewish festivals, observe circumcision, etc. This Society claims that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew rather than in Greek.

The Society’s web site features "The Good News According to Hebrews" as follows:

"He who seeks will not cease till he finds,
and having found he will be amazed,
and having been amazed he will reign,
and having reigned he will rest."

This Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism promotes a form of the false "British Israelism" doctrine that identifies the "lost" ten tribes of Israel with England, America, and other western nations.