Posted on 03/26/2011 4:38:57 PM PDT by NYer
After they heard that the latest translation of the New International Version of the Bible will now use gender-inclusive language such as "he or she" instead of just "he", PETA saw an opportunity to change one other thing. The organization has petitioned the Committee on Bible Translation to suggest that its next translation remove "speciesist" language, by referring to animals as "he or she" instead of "it." “When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area...it wasn’t much of a stretch to suggest they move toward inclusively in this area. Language matters. Calling an animal 'it' denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God," Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vice president for policy, told CNN.
PETA said it hopes the switch to include more gender-inclusive language will spark translators to readdress the ways animals are referred to in the Bible. "Updating the Bible's language regarding animals would not only reflect modern writing trends but also reinforce the idea that animals are living beings valued by God, not inanimate objects. Jesus taught us the importance of mercy and compassion, and this update would encourage mercy and compassion for all God's creatures—including those who have feathers, fins, and fur," Friedrich wrote.
But David Berger, the dean of Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel graduate school of Jewish studies, said shifting the language would be difficult, given the original Hebrew: "In Hebrew all nouns are gender-specific. So the noun for chair is masculine and the noun for earth is feminine. There’s simply no such thing as a neutral noun. It’s unusual to have a noun that would indicate the sex of the animal."
David Lyle Jeffrey, a professor at Baylor University who teaches about ancient texts and the Bible's relationship to literature and the arts, sympathizes with PETA, but isn't sure if it would be true to the text: "When you get to the point when you say, 'Don’t say it, say he or she' when the text doesn’t, you’re both screwing up the text and missing the main point you addressed."
I deeply love animals. I’m looking for the right volunteer opportunity in my area to work with them, especially top-tier carnivores.
That said- you do not screw around with The Word. We are specifically admonished against that. It doesn’t matter what positive effect you think it will have.
No. Just no.
Wow, I am very impressed. You read the Old Testament in the origial Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament in the original Greek!
This is not a joke as many of these churches are welcoming pets to partake in the sacraments and allowing them in worship.
PETA - shove up your smelly Obama.
Cool - right after they get them to do the same for the Koran - seeya!
Why should PETA members care of what is written in the Bible?
The gays are still combing through the Bible to find a quote that could justify their viewpoint on same-sex sex.
Why on earth is there a person in a state of total undress in the heading?
They see humans that way
They’re two thousand years too late.
It’s already been written.
I like the NASB. The one that gives me the willies is the NIB, and it seems everyone uses it.
As far as the topic is concerned, most of the animals in the OT are discussed as possessions or sacrifices.
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev. Chap. 22 Verse 19
Let’s first start with a friendlier environment in the womb.
I’ll stick wit the same Bible Jesus used, the King James!
/s
Ed
PETA and NOW should get together and visit several mosques, and tell them they need to change the Koran.
Is PETA still the largest organization that euthanizes animals or did they farm that out to a third party after they where exposed?
"Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius."
It may come as a shock to PETA but after Adam and Eve realized they were naked, God made them clothes from animals.
Yep, God Himself made the first fur coat.
PETA is a group of people who practice a false religion of self and animal worship...they have zero input to the Holy Bible of the Creator of those very animals and might as well shut the hell up.
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