It's easy to ignore the Conservative Bible Project when there are so many Bibles out there tailored to your specific need. Last week, you could've had President Obama on your Bible cover (the website took the offer down).
But while The Green Bible highlights earth-friendly passages in green, The Tennessean finds that the Conservative Bible Project takes translation to a new level, taking out two sections.
One is the long ending of Mark's Gospel, which includes verses about snake handling and the story of the woman caught in adultery. Neither is found in most of the oldest Greek manuscripts used to translate the Bible. Schlafly says that adultery story, in which Jesus says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," should be cut because it portrays Jesus as being soft on sin.
"It's a liberal addition, put in by people who wanted to undermine the reality of hell and judgment," he said.
The story of the woman caught in adultery, known as the "Pericope Adulterae" and found in John 7:53-8:1, has troubled scholars for some time. Most Greek manuscripts have the story but not the oldest manuscripts. St. Jerome included it in his Greek New Testament, which was used as the basis for the King James Version of the Bible. Modern translators put a footnote or bracket around the story, pointing out the questions about its origins. But none removed the text.
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert and Salon take a few jabs at the project. Colbert's fans inserted "In the beginning, Stephen Colbert created the heaven and the earth," which was edited back out.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Tip/Wag - Conservapedia, Louvre & Honda Unicycle | ||||
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Back to The Tennessean's story, Bob Smietana shows how the Conservative Bible compares to the New International Version and the King James Version (KJV).
For example, Mark 10:25 (KJV) says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." the Conservative Bible substitutes "a man who cares only for money" for rich man.
"I don't think Jesus is saying, 'Let's all be lazy so we can get to heaven.' That's not the message. And, if you translate the word rich as simply rich, some people are going to get the message that 'I am going to be lazy so I can get to heaven easier,' " says Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia and son of Phyllis Schlafly.
Conservapedia's guiding principles are: Framework against liberal bias, not emasculated, not dumbed down, utilize powerful conservative terms, combat harmful addiction, accept the logic of hell, express free market parables, exclude later-inserted liberal passages, credit open-mindedness of disciples, and prefer conciseness over liberal wordiness.
What do you think of the project?
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey on October 20, 2009 8:43AM
Comments
Was King James, then, a liberal?
Posted by: Dianne at October 20, 2009
Jesus in his parable of the wheat and the tares, certainly wasn't univesalistic as many liberals and conservatives are. Only the Truth counts.
Posted by: James at October 20, 2009
It does not matter what their political orientation is, human beings should not be re-writing the Bible.
Posted by: James at October 20, 2009
What a crock! : )
Posted by: Ah ah at October 20, 2009
Acts 2:44-45: All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Acts 4:32-36: All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
And go look up Acts 5 for yourself.
Posted by: Communism in the Bible at October 20, 2009
Communism in the Bible - I believe that fits more into socialism - as sharing out of love of your neighbor the fruits of your labors.
I'm srue the conservative editors will take that and the Sermon on The Mount out of the their Bible.
Posted by: RandyT at October 20, 2009
So much for letting God's word challenge our prejudices and presuppositions. Instead, they intentionally fit a Bible translation to their assumptions.
This is sick.
Posted by: Brendan at October 20, 2009
This is a joke, right?
Posted by: muse at October 21, 2009
Why so outraged? It's not as if this is the first time this has been done
Posted by: Justin at October 21, 2009
@Justin,
It may not be surprising, but it's still outrageous.
Posted by: Brendan at October 21, 2009
"Express free market parables"? So Jesus is now a supporter of a free market system? Talk about anachronistic. Jesus and capitalism? Hhhmmm...
Posted by: Mike DeVries at October 21, 2009
Sadly, if this had been a liberal moron taking out references to hell instead of a conservative moron trying to make Jesus into a Ditto-head, we would have heard condemnations from every major evangelical leader in the country. So far, I haven't heard a single one of them speak out against this pathetic loser.
Posted by: J.J. at October 22, 2009
Speak out against this loser? I wouldn't be too surprised if some of the major evangelical leaders are not the ones contributing to the re-write.
But I digress. You know major evangelical leaders don't get involved unless the matter at hand is dealing with abortion, homosexuality and Obama.
Posted by: Justin at October 22, 2009
As a non-denominational Christian who believes not in religion, but in a relationship with Jesus, I have often wondered how the extreme "right" is able to reconcile their beliefs with the Word of God. I now have my answer: they can't, so they will just write themselves a new Bible. Just one warning, and it's straight from the Book: "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18, 19.
Posted by: terry at October 23, 2009
Ah but Terry, you are forgetting one thing... like many Christians often think - those parts you have just quoted do not apply to them. :-)
Posted by: Justin at October 25, 2009
This is a joke, right?
Posted by: Christian at November 3, 2009
I fear this is sadly not a joke.
Posted by: Pamela at November 12, 2009
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