06/23/2004: "Mutilating the Bible"

Not content with ever more bizarre interpretations of Scripture, a British group of self-styled "radical Christians" have decided to insert some of their ideas into the text itself. A new "translation" called Good as New from One doesn't like what Paul says about sex, for instance, so presto:

A passage from the standard version of his "Letters to the Corinthians" reads: "It is well for a man not to touch a woman.

Forex trading platform By Broco is one we really want to have for my job. "But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband."

In the "Good As New" version the same passage reads: "Some of you think the best way to cope with sex is for men and women to keep right away from each other.

"That is more likely to lead to sexual offences. My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner."

But that's not all:

The translation is pioneering in its accessibility, and changes the original Greek and Hebrew nomenclature into modern nicknames. St. Peter becomes "Rocky", Mary Magdalen becomes "Maggie" [someone should tell the "translator" that "Magdalen" isn't her name, but a reference to the town she's from-A.], Aaron becomes "Ron", Andronicus becomes "Andy" and Barabbas becomes "Barry".

In other passages the translator John Henson, a retired Baptist minister, renders �demon possession� as "mental illness" and "Son of Man", the phrase used frequently to refer to Jesus, as "the Complete Person" [I'd have preferred "the Total Package" myself�A.].

Parables become "riddles" and to baptise, to "dip" in water. Salvation becomes "healing" or "completeness" and Heaven becomes "the world beyond time and space."

Oh, and it should also be mentioned that, in the interest of inclusivity, the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas is included in the New Testament. If there's any doubt about what this project is about (namely, the subversion of orthodox Christianity), that should dispel it. Amazingly enough, among the enthusiastic supporters of the new "translation" is the Archbishop of Canterbury:

In his foreword...Dr. Williams describes it as a work of "extraordinary power" because it is �so close to the prose and poetry of ordinary life". He writes: "Instead of being taken into a specialised religious frame of reference�as happens even with the most conscientious of formal modern translations�and being given a gospel addressed to specialised concerns...we have here a vehicle for thinking and worshipping that is fully earthed, recognisably about our humanity."

The Archbishop praises Mr. Henson�s translation for screening out "the stale, the technical, the unconsciously exclusive words and policies".

There's a technical term for what this is all about: apostasy.