Isn't it about time someone brought the Bible up to the 21st century?

Question

I'm not sure if anyone has already done this, but wouldn't it be appropriate if somebody edited the Bible to be more appropriate for today's society?
Not only could it be made more politically correct (removal of thumbs-up towards racism, misogyny, homophobia and slavery) but someone could censor it a bit so it's more family friendly.

What do you say? (Note: the correct way to say that as opposed to "what say you?")

I'm not talking modernising the names and places used in it, they're fine, it's somewhat historical (at least, sounding). What I mean is tidy up the text, filter out the stuff that conflicts with what is considered wrong by today's society and censor a bit of the gratuitous nasty bits.

LC: I think you're missing the point. People don't have religions based around Les Mis.

Yes, thank you people. I did not actually ask for a load of apologetic statements.

As for the note about editing in Revelations, somewhat ironic, don't you think, that it didn't even exist until it was compiled and edited during the early days of Christianity. It didn't just fall together from several hundred texts...

The Bible as a whole I mean.

Note:
I've actually just re-read Revelation 22:18-19. It doesn't actually say "Don't edit the Bible", it says "Don't edit the book of revelation." So we're okay to edit the Bible, just not revelation. Thanks John.

Answer 1

They do this constantly.

The Bible has many vague and contradicting verses and the people of each generation cherry pick the ones that most closely match society. However, the values held by the followers do tend to be throwbacks to the last generation with some artifacts from the last millenia. Most of the church will be caught up to the 21st century by the 22nd. They won't consciously do this, but will still tend to reinterpret the Bible, armed with an army of "apologists", in a way that validates to themselves what everybody else already believes.

Answer 2

To start off, the bible is timeless.
God created the bible through various people to be relevant for everyone, and to be relevant throughout life.
Here is where the confusion lies as to if the bible is still relevant to today's society.
Though the stories from the bible, the settings and the way of life for people back then was very different, the bible was written on the fact that human nature, values and ethics don't change over time.
Therefore the principles taken from the bible remain as relevant today as they were back then. The difference is they used words and analogies from that day and age.

For example, it is in human nature to feel jealous when someone has more possessions than us. A person with less sheep or livestock back then will feel the same jealousy as someone nowadays who has less toys than someone else. But the principle remains the same.

So no, I would say the Bible's teachings stay relevant even into the 21st century.

P.S. If you've ever read a bible, there is a bit near the end of the book that basically says, you aren't allowed to take away or add anything to the bible. (So pretty much no editing. Apart from translating it into other languages or using more understandable phrasing.)

Answer 3

There IS humor in the Bible!
Matthew 15:16
16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
Loosely translated:
"HELLO! didn't you hear what I just said?"
1 Sam 24:
3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said [a] to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' " Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

1 kings 18
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."


There is also a lot of intrigue, sex, and violence. Nothing worse than what is on TV these days. The only thing is, in this book, the bad behavior is not condoned, like it is on TV. And, by the way, what about the Bible is not "family friendly"?
Sex is made by God and it isn't something we should hide from. If our kids have questions about it, we would do well to answer them, bring it into the light and don't let the darkness gain control of it.
Many people have opinions about the Bible, and most have never read it. I was once guilty of this. Before you decide it needs changing, you should read it to get a real feel for what is in it. It isn't difficult to understand, because God wants everyone to know what He is about!
If you want answers about anything in the Bible or the historical significance of it, go here:
http://www.christiananswers.net/archaeology/
Feel free to contact me if you have any other thoughts on this subject. I don't know all the answers, but I can help you find them:)

Answer 4

What's there to update? The Bible is the story of humanity's groping toward a more perfect understanding of God and of our relationship toward him. It is very frank about practices that we consider reprehensible today, including the ones that you mention -- racism, xenophobia, etc -- and qute a few you left out, like greed-oriented destruction of nature. The Bible is also full of prophetic witness against many of these practices. Read Amos and Isaiah if you want to have an idea of the proper God-directed response to poverty, for instance.

If the Bible were to be rewritten today, it should not be in a "family-friendly" way that sugar-coats the violence, greed and depravity that are the hallmark of our species. Such a rewrite would only provide the kind of guilt-salving mush that too many people consider religion. The Bible should stand (as it does) as a testament to the depths and the heights of what humans are capable of. The heights (the holiness and transcendence of God, the promise of life with him, the example of prophets and saints) is to show us what is possible for us; the depths (tales of murder, genocide, slavery, etc) is to show us how far we have to go and how much remains to be done.

Editing sin and mayhem out of the Bible will not make sin and mayhem go away. It will only remove one more humbling reminder of our capacity for evil.

Answer 5

it has already been done. some of the cowritters of the new versions are homosexual. that being said who has the right to change Gods word,you,me who?
I use only the KJV. I have studied in some of the others they only bring about confusion as they contradict each other and the KJV on many topics.
I know many people that have a hard time understanding the Bible but if you read it as poetry and the greatest love story known to man you will see it much differently
peace be with you
nosnod

Answer 6

No, it is not God and the Bible that needs to change, but society.

The Bible does not support racism, nor misogyny (hatred of women), nor does it foster homophobia, or the deceitful psychology behind the use of that word.

1. As re. racism, while God dealt with Israel as a chosen people, other races where never killed because of their race, but because of gross immorality or in self defense. Yet certain racism might be argued to exist, but it must be understood that God tolerated certain practices under the Old Testament, and not all the laws represented His ideal, which Christ would manifest (Mt. 19:8).

Meanwhile under the New Covenant racism is clearly utterly disallowed, as "God is no respecter of persons: {35} But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him" (Acts 10:34-35).

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)

2. As for women, while there is a necessary positional functional distinction between the genders, just as God the Father is the head over Christ, yet as the above verse and others show, they are equal spiritually, and will be reward according to their own labor in the Lord, in which women share.

3. Homosexual eroticism is justly condemned, as are other sexual sins, and recreational drug use, with over a half a million Americans dead because of that perhaps you might consider the wisdom of such prohibitions. But that is not the only reason, as God has made man and women uniquely compatible, and only sanctions and blesses ther sexual union by marriage. http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/homosexual_refuted.html

Meanwhile, true born again Christians who rightly oppose homosexuality are neither afraid of them nor of being one, as the psychology behind your terms implies (any more than they are pharmaphobic for opposing heroin use), but as some of the first Christians were former homosexuals (1Cor. 6:9-11), they seek their salvation.

4. As for Biblical slavery , there is a great distinction between the slavery that was regulated in the Old Testament (common among cultures then), and tolerated under New, and that which we saw in the 1800,s in the West .

You did not get to go free after 6 years nor given a just and equal wage (Col. 4:1), and encouraged to obtain freedom is possible (1Cor. 7:21). While the abolition of such was wrought through the preaching of the gospel and the "Great Awakening" by it. See http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qnoslave.html for a fuller and very good examination of this issue.

Now, rather than the Bible being changed, read the link below and ask yourself what the world would be like if we all obeyed the Bible, as applied under the New Testament, for even one day. http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.html

Answer 7

While it is a good thought, it lacks what is important. The important thing is to take the Bible as a whole. God has not changed so what gives us the authority to change His word. It isn't a buffet table to take what you want and discard the rest. This is the warning of Revelation 22:18-19. Rather what should be done is to understand why those passages are there.

Answer 8

I understand why you would say that, but why would you want to change the Bible? The bible is meant to be family friendly. Why would you want to change what the Bible says? Then it would no longer be the Bible, it would a 'version' of the Bible.

The important thing here is to take the stories from the Bible and related them to the present day. You must yuse your own intellect to understand the stories and relate them to the way you live your life now. Thats the whole point.

The bible is a collection of stories recorded back in time along with how Jesus lived his life. It is not meant to insult race/creed/poor/sexuality etc it states fact and some symbolic occurances.

When you edit the Bible you are editing the msg it is trying to deliver. I disagree with it (i am not Christian) but thats just my opinion.

Thanks

Answer 9

The Bible is as it is. People back in olden times weren`t educated and listened to prophets preach God as they didn`t have any word except theirs. They couldn`t have read it as most were uneducated. The Bible was written for them to understand and if you really study it you will find that it is very modern, as educated people we can see that theres more to what is written then just what an uneducated person will see or get from the word. When you think about it what a wonderful book that can say so much through the ages and grow in meaning as we grow.

Answer 10

The many per-versions that have tried $uch,
have obviously done more harm than good.

Look at the news, see the system-attic chaos.
Look at the evidence, to see what's "evident":
no man is justified by law in God's sight: Gal 3.

Allegoric mystery is best studied out in a KJV;
But not a NewKJV, which is a per-version of it.

Give "more earnest heed" to seek & find clues,
if you wanna make it to the end alive unto God.

Grace --> Mercy ---> Peace with you all. Amen.