Posted on 06/23/2004 7:55:02 AM PDT by maryz
LONDON – The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his personal backing to a new translation of the New Testament in which Christians are told to go out and have more sex.
St. Paul’s condemnations of homosexual sodomy are deleted.
Instead of censuring fornicators, adulterers and “abusers of themselves with mankind,” the new version of his first letter to Corinthians has St. Paul advising Christians not to go without sex for too long in case they get frustrated.
The translation appears to contradict the authorized King James version which, in a passage in I Corinthians, often used to back the celibacy requirement in the Roman Catholic priesthood, quotes St. Paul saying, “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”
But in the new version, he says, “My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner. Husbands and wives should strive to meet each other’s sexual needs. . . . It’s not good to refuse a partner.”
The new version was translated by John Henson, a member of a network of radical Christians that favors “inclusive language” in the Bible.
His translation also changes the original Greek and Hebrew nomenclature into modern nicknames. St. Peter becomes “Rocky,” Mary Magdalen becomes “Maggie,” Aaron becomes “Ron,” Andronicus becomes “Andy” and Barabbas becomes “Barry.”
In other passages, Henson renders “demon possession” as “mental illness” and “Son of Man,” the phrase used frequently to refer to Jesus, as “the Complete Person.”
Times of London
This is a joke, right?
You won't believe this! . . . or maybe you will!
YIKES!
St. Paul’s condemnations of homosexual sodomy are deleted.Sodomy's good, this I know;
Perhaps the most controversial departure from all other translations is a return to the selection of books which were held in the highest esteem by the early Church in the first two centuries. So, for instance, Revelation is out, the Gospel of Thomas is in.
I see from the review, too, that the Archbishop of Canterbury not only "backs" the translation, but wrote the Foreword:
From the Foreword by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury"What would Christianity look like, what would Christian language sound like, if we really tried to screen out the stale, the technical, the unconsciously exclusive words and policies, and to hear for the first time what the Christian Scriptures were saying? John Henson has devoted much of his life to wrestling with this challenge, and has for many people made those scriptures speak as never before-indeed, as for the first time. Patiently and boldly, he has teased out implications, gone back to roots, linguistic and theological, and re-imagined the process in which a genuinely new language was brought to birth by those who had listened to Jesus because they knew they were in a genuinely new world.
John's presentation of the Christian gospel is of extraordinary power simply because it is so close to the prose and poetry of ordinary life. Instead of being taken into a specialised religious frame of reference-as happens with the most conscientious of formal modern translations-and being given a gospel addressed to specialised concerns-as happens with even the most careful of modern "devotional" books-we have here a vehicle for thinking and worshipping that is fully earthed, reconisably about our humanity. I hope that this book will help the secret to be shared, and to spread in epidemic profusion through religious and irreligious alike."
Wasn't there some controversy about this AofC when he got the post? (So hard to keep all the controversies straight nowadays . . .)
Somehow the crowd crying "Give us Barry" just doesn't have the same ring.
Please tell me this isn't for real. Please tell me this is just a bad dream....
>> But in the new version, he says, “My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner.
>>Husbands and wives should strive to meet each other’s sexual needs. . . . <<
An odd way of putting it, but this is a biblical concept. (I Cor 7)
>>It’s not good to refuse a partner.” <<
Husbands and wives are told not to withhold sex from one another, except with consent for short times for fasting and prayer.
But um, not refusing a "partner?" THe use of the word, "Partner" makes this just plain sick, even using "partner" as a euphemism for sex mate, because absent the specific reference to marriage, what does "partner" mean? "Thou shall be date raped?" (Let's not kid ourselves that the use of the word "partner" is used to include gay "sex.")
Thank Tony Blair for this monster.
Before I get reamed out, I made an editting error. This is NOT a biblical concept: " But in the new version, he says, “My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner." In fact, it does plainly and directly contradict Paul's admonition to attempt a celibacy lifestyle.
I meant only this:
>>Husbands and wives should strive to meet each other’s sexual needs. . . . <<
John Henson has the exciting capacity to awaken fresh interest in material that seems familiar. He is never dull, sometimes provocative and occasionally inspirational. I recommend his work to anyone who enjoys an unpredictable reading of Scripture.’ - John Rackley, President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
Me neither!
LOL! I realized that was what you probably meant.
The A of C is a lunatic.
As a Roman Catholic it is tempting to say something smart, but I know that this version of the Bible will quickly be praised and adopted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. This type of translation will be heard at Mass within the next 10 years.
The Satanic Sodomites have nearly wiped out Christianity. The Church of England is toast, my Church is reeling....the indie born-agains hanging out in their 40-member Bible churches will be no match...and they are next.
A small reminder of the problem with the idea of a state church.
My head's gonna explode. Revelation is out?
"Rocky?"
OMG...
Rowan the fuzzy does it again ping.
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