The Bible is too Liberal!

[Arathena]

Liberal bias has become the single biggest distortion in modern Bible translations.

...

Here are possible approaches to creating a conservative Bible translation:

• identify pro-liberal terms used in existing Bible translations, such as "government", and suggest more accurate substitutes
  identify the omission of liberal terms for vices, such as "gambling", and identify where they should be used
  identify conservative terms that are omitted from existing translations, and propose where they could improve the translation

...

First Example - Liberal Falsehood
The earliest, most authentic manuscripts lack this verse set forth at Luke 23:34:[7]

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Is this a liberal corruption of the original? This does not appear in any other Gospel, and the simple fact is that some of the persecutors of Jesus did know what they were doing. This quotation is a favorite of liberals but should not appear in a conservative Bible.

...

Third Example - Socialism
Socialistic terminology permeates English translations of the Bible, without justification. This improperly encourages the "social justice" movement among Christians.

For example, the conservative word "volunteer" is mentioned only once in the ESV, yet the socialistic word "comrade" is used three times, "laborer(s)" is used 13 times, "labored" 15 times, and "fellow" (as in "fellow worker") is used 55 times.

Dunno, guys. Trying to channel Republican Jesus might not be the best idea, strictly speaking.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Totally derailing Ara's post.. but have any of you looked at the perspective of the gospel writers who purport to be present at Jesus' death? Some say he said one thing, another says he said something else. Key in on how Jesus addresses the two criminals at his side during his crucifixtion. Two COMPLETELY different accounts, depending on the gospel writer.

[Harlowe]

Oh for fuck's sake, they are not talking about trying to translate the works more accurately, they are specifically looking to take out any liberal bias. It's another example of the Bible being a total farce. Everyone that touches it infuses their own bias to justify their own means to an end.

That's the scary part. People then use it as an absolute truth handed down from God to justify whatever the fuck they want. Whether that be control, ignorance, bigotry, war, oppression...what they are doing is utter bullshit.

Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning

Seriously, what the fuck. By the way the link I posted in the other thread (and appalled comments) were from Rod Dreher, a christian conservative writer and editorial columnist on Beliefnet.

[Arathena]

Embar,

The Skeptics Annotated Bible notes:

440 Contradictions,

1339 'Absurdities',

1018 acts of 'Cruelty and Violence'

647 instances of 'intolerance'

1228 instances of 'injustice'.

Truly, the received word of of the omnibenevolant creator.

[Ddrak]

The Bible has a very socialist message, and definitely has an anti-free-market bent to it. Hell, it even tells you not to be a borrower or lender of money which pretty much destroys the foundation of the markets. Trying to deny that just makes conservapedia look stupid (yeah, I know, how about "even more stupid").

As for the SAB, it really goes too far to be taken seriously.

Only John claims to be present at Jesus death (and only indirectly at that as "the disciple Jesus loved"). Luke says he had a couple of friends hanging out a way off, but it's all second or third hand info.

Dd

[Harlowe]

I shouldn't say the "Bible" in general is a total farce, just the many attempts to skew the translation. I personally like the ESV bible because, many scholars were involved and the philosophy was to stay true to a literal translation.

The worst imo (that has had any kind of mass distribution) is the NWT.

[Harlowe]

Just wanted to add an interesting read (not Bible-version related) - Asimov's Guide to the Bible: A Historical Look at the Old and New Testaments. First I like the maps, but primarily the historical perspective in a secular context.

[Select]

Harlowe, can you define the acronyms? It's confusing for us non-Christian folk who are trying to read along.

[Harlowe]

ESV = English Standard Version & NWT = New World Translation (the special edition Jehovah's Witness bible).

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the New World Translation (NWT) Bible is the “work of competent scholars.” Conversely, they contend that other Bible translations are corrupted by religious traditions that are rooted in paganism. In reality, the NWT is the work of a Bible Translation Committee with no working knowledge of biblical languages. Their bias is so blatant that Dr Bruce Metzger, professor of New Testament at Princeton, not only characterized the NWT as a “frightful mistranslation” but as “erroneous,” “pernicious,” and “reprehensible.”

http://www.allaboutcults.org/new-world- ... -bible.htm

You can just put in any acronym and type "bible" after it and the definition will be probably the first thing that comes up on Google.

On a side note, here is a site that I like that some mind find interesting - the Skeptical Christian http://www.skepticalchristian.com/

[Ddrak]

I'm use to using the NIV, which was (for its time) very well researched. Haven't heard much about the ESV to be honest.

Dd

[Arathena]

When on the interblag, always use the native language translation!

[Harlowe]

Okay that is hilarious..

[Ariannda Kusanagi]

If i have to read the Bible, I just want to be able to understand what's being said. I prefer Ara's version =D

[Arathena]

No one should ever be compelled to read the bible.

The best part about the Lolbible, IMO, is that in stripping the poetry out, we can see it better.

Den Joshuaz peepol wuz rill meen. Tehy kilt evrbuddeh. Srsly. Min or wimin: dunt matr. beybehz or seenyorz: no matr. oxez/sheepz/donkeez: say "oh hai!" 2 soard.22 An Joshua sayed "reemembr, dunt kil dat harlut, srsly."23 So tehy dint.24 But tehy did sit teh citeh on fier an wuz liek BURNZ BIG FIER BURNZ HOT HOT HOT!!! But dunt wurry, tehy gotz teh cheezburgerz owt f1rzt!!!1!"

[Fobbon Lazyfoot]

lol @ lolbible

I don't think I'm being original when I say that the Bible is just like any other object of religion - it takes on the properties of its wielder. Some people learn and do amazing things with the help of the bible, and some people beat people to death with it. I would like to see more "interpretations" of the bible rather than literal translations. The world is not what it was in 43 AD.