Insight on the News
‘Non-Sexist’ Bible
“For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Child, that whoever believes in that Child should not perish, but have eternal life.” That translation may sound odd to you. But it is the way John 3:16 is rendered in a new 192-page translation of Bible readings, The Inclusive Language Lectionary, released by the National Council of Churches.
“This lectionary tries to speak of God as beyond differentiations of sex,” says its introduction. So that its readers are “not overwhelmed by male metaphors,” the translation uses expressions such as “God my Father and Mother” for “Father,” “Child” for “Son,” “Sovereign One” for “Lord,” and so forth. Thus, Jesus’ prayer on the night of his arrest begins: “God my Mother and Father, the hour has come; glorify your Child that your Child may glorify you.”—John 17:1.
Among those voicing disapproval of the translation is Princeton Theological Seminary professor Bruce Metzger, who said: “To explain that God transcends differences of gender is the work of the religious educator, not the Bible translator.” What the new lectionary has done is “tantamount to rewriting the Bible,” he added. Apparently, in its effort to ally itself with the women’s liberation movement (and to uphold the ordination of women), the National Council of Churches has seen fit to alter God’s Word.
The Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day had their own ideas and causes to espouse, and in so doing they rendered God’s Word void. Jesus said of them, “You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” Modern-day “Pharisees” are trying to do something similar. But their worship is no more acceptable to God than was that of the ancient Pharisees concerning whom Jesus added: “It is in vain that they keep worshiping [God], because they teach commands of men as doctrines.”—Matthew 15:6, 9.
“In a Mess”
Twelve years after publishing the foreboding report “The Limits to Growth,” what does the prestigious Club of Rome have to say about the future? “Since then, every indicator in the world has worsened except for one: human awareness,” says its president, Aurelio Peccei. “People now understand that we are in a mess.”
Surely there are many things to make people more aware that “we are in a mess.” Says Mr. Peccei: “People should know that the situation is very serious looked at from any angle—environment, peace and war, unemployment, socially and in the sense of values.” Though he feels that “we have all the means to put it straight,” he worries that people put too much confidence in what the Club says. “They think that we are wiser than we are, more influential than we are, know more things than we actually do.”
But there is One in whom we can place our confidence. Who is this? “The One telling from the beginning the finale, and from long ago the things that have not been done; the One saying, ‘My own counsel will stand, and everything that is my delight I shall do.’” Yes, this One, Jehovah God, has purposed a marvelous future for mankind. “Look!” he says, “I am making all things new.”—Isaiah 46:10; Revelation 21:5.
Family Violence
“Very likely, the actual number of children abused and neglected annually in the U.S. is at least 1,000,000,” says a report by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. The New York Times reports that in the United States two to six million wives are beaten and at least half a million elderly people are mistreated by family members; violent family disputes reportedly account for “20 percent of all police deaths on duty and 40 percent of injuries.”
Figures like these have become commonplace, so much so that many people cannot comprehend what they mean. For one thing, such statistics show that the most fundamental of human relationships—the family—is disintegrating. Additionally, they fulfill the Bible’s unerring prophecy that “men will be lovers of themselves, . . . disobedient to parents, . . . having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, . . . without self-control, fierce.” The rampant violence in the family and elsewhere, along with other critical problems around the world, proves that we are living in “the last days” when “critical times hard to deal with” are indeed here.—2 Timothy 3:1-3.