What do you make of "Inclusive Language Bibles"?

Question

This is questionable, especially when they talk about a perpendicular inclusion. (You know, talking about God as --She)
For me this is like pushing the gay thing. Scripture tells us The Holy Spirit covered Mary and she conceived Jesus. If the Holy Spirit is called a She isn't this advocating gay relations?

Answer 1

OK, your additional information is a little wacky, but I'll give your question a straight answer anyway...

The Greek text of the New Testament was MOSTLY written in "inclusive language." At that, English translations before recent times were also "inclusive." The fact is, the English language has changed so that what used to be considered inclusive is no longer considered such.

Our translations need to accurately relate the inclusive original in modern inclusive language.

Greek 101...

The common Greek word NORMALLY translated "man" is anthropos. Here is its definition:

human being, person; humankind, people; man, husband; used of human beings in contrast to animals or deity; in some contexts it is used of male/husband in contrast to female/wife. “The Son of Man” is an OT phrase usually meaning “human being,” that in the NT is used almost exclusively as a messianic title (see Da 7:13), emphasizing Jesus' humanity. “The outer person” is the corporeal body in contrast to “the inner (or hidden) person” of the spirit

The word CAN mean "male" but should ONLY be translated "man" if the context demands it. MOST OF THE TIME it SHOULD PROPERLY be translated in a genderless or gender-inclusive manner, like many modern translations are doing, i.e. "person" rather than "man" unless the context demands that it be "man."

The same is true for "adelphos," the common word translated "brother." In the plural, it USUALLY means BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. It needs to be translated accordingly. Here is its definition as well:

brother, fellow countryman, neighbor (often inclusive in gender); by extension a fellow believer in the family of faith; in the plural “brothers” regularly refers to men and women

As you can see, the common definition of both words is GENDER INCLUSIVE. They should be translated with corresponding inclusion.

With over 20 years experience translating New Testament Greek, I am often asked about the recent "gender inclusive" translations. These versions are often viewed with contempt, but from a linguistic point of view, they are MORE ACCURATE THAN TRADITIONAL TRANSLATIONS since it is a more accurate representation of the MEANING OF THE ORIGINAL WORDS IN QUESTION in TODAY'S ENGLISH language.

Language is fluid, not static. Our Bible should not be static either. As the "target" language changes, new translations are needed to ACCURATELY relate God's word to each generation.

...As for blackmule and his "original king james version,"

What on earth do you mean? The kjv was not the first Bible in English and has NEVER BEEN the BEST.

It contains MANY deliberate MISTRANSLATIONS and often distorts the truth rather than representing the truth… Like in Acts 12:4 where it lends credibility to Easter rather than correctly translating pascha as “passover” as it does the other 28 times the word is used.

The best manuscript the translators had access to was codex Baeza, yet they often followed later, less reliable manuscripts than it. Today we have 3 OLDER codex manuscripts (bound like modern books with all or most of the Bible) and numerous papyrus manuscripts dating into the second century. We are able to scientifically “predict” what the original authors wrote with the information we have now. There is no way to know for certain, but our “tools” leave us closer to the original authors words.

Answer 2

It isn't overtly advocating gay anything. But it distorts the Greek and Hebrew. The motive is more based in feminist criticism. If anything it advocates Gnosticism, which implicitly advocates homosexuality, a denial of gender.

Answer 3

That is an interesting point, as I often wondered if God was female and Man simply re-wrote history.

However, if EVE was fashioned (cloned?) from Adam's rib, what does that make their sex lives?

You know these are those Biblical quandaries that get you broken fingeres from a ruler in a Cathlic School.

Answer 4

Maybe, but why not.

Personally, I find a female god (you know she would be the "Ultimate Woman") makin' Jesus with Mary to be quite hot.

I'm sorry if this has offended you but it is my avowed religious position (The Church of Hot God on Saint Action)

Answer 5

That's fitting the Bible to lifestyles.
It supposed to be the other way around.

People will do whatever it takes to justify their acts, choices, decisions and lifestyles.
And now it looks like they will alter the Bible to suit their needs.

Answer 6

gay idea came in open from last millenium we call father/mother god and we have negative and positive mothr god is feminnine energy sweeping yhis planet

Answer 7

if man can not live by the word of God, then he changes it so that the word of God suits him. that ain't gonna woik. stick with the original KING JAMES VERSION. dont add or take away.