CHANGING MESSAGE

CHANGING MESSAGE
Those who reject the Bible as the inerrant, infallible and authoritative word of God will have to make room for more who are getting aboard your sinking vessel.

Don Francisco, Christian song writer/singer has recently said that he believes the Bible, but not all of it. He claims to hold on to the Gospel/gospel while rejecting other parts of the Bible.

The following info is based on a report found at...
http://www.wnd.com/…/wycliffe-defends-changing-titles-for-…/

Also, Wycliffe Bible Translators has published a book, entitled, Stories of the Prophets, and a Bible for Arabic speaking people, which uses the word, "Lord," and with, "allah," in the place of the word "Father," and the word, "Messiah" in the place of the word "Son." This changing the word of God is said to be for the reason of reaching Muslims.

QUOTE
Here is an example of one passage that has been changed.
Involved is the removal of any references to God as “Father,” to Jesus as the “Son” or “the Son of God.” One example of such a change can be seen in an Arabic version of the Gospel of Matthew produced and promoted by Frontiers and SIL. It changes Matthew 28:19 from this:
“baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”
to this:
“cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit.”
UNQUOTE

QUOTE
According to Joshua Lingel of i2 Ministries, “Even more dramatic a change is the Arabic and Bangla (Bangladesh) translations. In Arabic, Bible translations err by translating ‘Father’ as ‘Lord.’ ‘Guardian.’ ‘Most High’ and ‘God.” In Bangla, ‘Son of God’ is mistranslated ‘Messiah of God’ consistent with the Quran’s Isa al-Masih (Jesus the Messiah), which references the merely human Jesus.”
UNQUOTE

(There is a great deal of dialogue and disagreement concerning the work of Wycliffe in this area. We should be careful not to condemn what we do not know. However, the previous quotes seem to be valid. Nonetheless, the arguments I am going to give now are valid, when translation violations take place).

SUBTLE

Now, those who do not understand the Biblical and theological foundation of this issue will probably not see anything wrong with Wycliffe's changes. But, as I said, the ranks of the non Bible people is encompassing even those who claim to believe the Bible and believe that Jesus is God the Son, and without faith in His atoning death and physical resurrection, there is no salvation. However, God's word condemns anyone, no matter how well meaning they are, who changes the word of God.

FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL

By the way, the two ways to translate the Bible plays into this erosion of faithful translation. There is the Formal Translation and the Functional Translation. The Formal seeks to give a more exact, literal translation, while the Functional seeks to give a general overview of what the Bible says. Both approaches have their place. However, when we get accustomed to less precise translation, we weaken the commitment to the revealed word of God and its message. Sadly, there are many Christians that have exchanged their KJV and their NASB for NIV or NLT and therefore are not really getting the word of God.

FAITHFUL TO ORIGINAL

Obviously translations have to fit within the confines of the language groups they are reaching. However, translators should never change the meaning of a passage in order for that passage to be more palatable. This is especially true when changes actually favor pagan ideas.