by Tom Wacaster
It seems that the 20th and 21st centuries may go down in history as the age when men sought to rewrite the Bible and present to men what THEY want to hear rather than what God wants them to hear. The modern versions (for the most part) are the product of an attempt to put INTO the Bible the creeds and doctrines of men rather than an honest evaluation and translation of what God communicated to mankind. Calvinism is embedded in the New International Version and modernism is manifest in the Revised Standard Version. Now we are hearing of the Gender-Neutral Bible in which every masculine gender reference to God, Christ and/or the Holy Spirit has been changed from He, Him, or His to “it.” That version barely hit the market when the homosexual activists decided it was time to produce a so-called ‘Bible’ that either removed or edited every reference to homosexuality so as to put the vile practice in a positive light. So the beat goes on, and men in their stupidity think they can eliminate what they don’t like by simply rewriting the Bible. With the exception of the New King James Version, every modern translation to hit the market in the last 50 years or so has propagated some kind of error, and the more liberal the translation, the more error will be found therein.
Attacks upon the word of God are as old as man himself. Satan sought to place doubt in the mind of Eve by suggesting that God did not say what she thought He said. Satan was likely the first one to rewrite Biblical history in an attempt to achieve his desired end. The liberal theologians (if we dare call them theologians) of our day and age are also attempting to rewrite Old Testament history. Not to be confused with textual criticism, ‘Higher Criticism’ is an attempt to reconstruct the Bible by taking a cut and paste approach to the Scriptures, with more of a cutting than a pasting! For those who have not had the opportunity to study Higher Criticism, Textual Criticism, Modernism, and/or post-modernism, let me assure you that it is not one of my favorite fields of study. I react to such disrespect for God’s word like so many fingernails scraping across the proverbial blackboard; it just rubs against the grain. For the most part, all such theologians take a very critical approach to the examination of the Bible. They begin with a “no miracles allowed” mindset, deny inspiration, and then attempt to attribute every prophecy of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament to a later date than when it was written, the obvious reason being to avoid any such thing as predictive prophecy; that would demand a miracle, and miracles are not allowed in their way of thinking. According to some “scholars” the book of Genesis is a “myth,” filled with tales and fables with no more value than Mother Goose or Dr. Seuss (if even that). One of the most recent attempts to rewrite the Old Testament was headed by (get this) the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.” A well-known rabbi, Harold Kushner, has co-edited what they call an “adventure” in which the publishers will “bid adieu to the childish version of the Bible.” Archaeological evidence, in their opinion, is lacking to support most of the Old Testament stories that have come to be appreciated by Bible believers. Influenced by the “no absolutes” mentality of their kissing cousins in the field of philosophy, these new found spiritual leaders for our generation are quick to point out that “you just can’t be sure about these things.” One of the central themes of modernism and post-modernism is that you can’t be sure about anything except what science proves, and sometimes you can’t even rely on science! But with their human wisdom asserted, and the badge of stupidity displayed for all to see, they declare that “the Bible is a grossly overrated book” and that “no one today seriously accepts” any of the miracles of the Bible. I guess they took a poll that led them to that “overstated conclusion.” I wonder why I was not asked to participate in that poll? As it turns out this “adventure” never received serious attention, and the project was abandoned a few years back. We are the better for it.
I have several books in my library in which the authors present irrefutable evidence of the reliability of both the Old and New Testaments. There are literally thousands of manuscripts, fragments, and copies of the New Testament compared with a mere handful of some of the great classics of literature. This makes, as one author declared, “the Bible the best documented book from the ancient world.” The evidence is squarely on the side of the reliability and authenticity of the Bible. But then, modernists are not concerned with evidence. The modernists believe the old lie that if you tell someone something long enough and loud enough, they will eventually believe it, no matter how foolish it might seem to be, or how lacking in evidence to support their claim. While these modernists are bold and brash in their claim, I would simply ask: “Where is the evidence?” There is, on the other hand, sufficient evidence to the honest seeker of truth to prove that the book you hold in your hand is, beyond any shadow of doubt, the inspired word of God, all the modernists notwithstanding.
If, as the modernists would have us believe, the Bible is not reliable, that it has become corrupted, or that it is nothing more than a myth or fable, then why stop with the few translations we now have? Why not produce a ‘bible’ for every imagination of mankind? Is that not where we are headed? I’ll close with an incident that occurred about two years ago. There was a debate being held on the Senate floor regarding a bill having to do with abortion (if I remember correctly). I do not recall the nature of the bill, but it is not what was in the bill as much as the reaction to it. Those sponsoring and supporting the bill appealed to the Bible as the basis for the legitimacy of the bill. One Senator, opposed to the bill, simply responded by saying, “Well, men wrote the Bible; men can change it!” How foolish of man to think he can, with the stroke of a pen, change the eternal truths contained therein. Modern man has come a long way in technology, science, medicine and electronics. But I can say without fear of contradiction that he has taken one giant leap backward when he thinks he can rewrite the Bible.