My Word Like Fire points out another distortion in The Message

About 1995 I first became aware of the unsoundness of The Message when Dave Hunt quoted I Corinthians 6:9-10, and Eugene Peterson had removed homosexuals from the list of those who won’t inherit the kingdom of God and added "those who use and abuse the earth." John Lanagan at My Word Like Fire has a good post on this as well as Mr. Peterson’s removal of the word "sodomites" from I Kings 22:46. It isn’t just The Message that has removed "sodomites" from the Old Testament. The New International Version has substituted "male shrine prostitutes" for "sodomites in I Kings 22:46 and similar passages. I suspect the NIV’s removal of "sodomites" is related to the fact that the head of the NIV’s Old Testament translation committee was a man named Marten Woudstra. Do a Google search using the terms "Marten Woudstra" and "NIV," and you’ll find plenty of items mentioning his homosexuality.

The perceptive reader will also notice that Mr. Peterson has also removed idolaters and drunkards from the I Corinthians 6 hall of shame (The NASB hasn’t removed drunkards from the list--Mr. Lanagan mistakenly omitted the word).

In regard to Mr. Lanagan’s post on The Message’s rendering of I Timothy 1:9-10, here’s what I Timothy 6:9-11 looks like in The Message and the King James Version. As with I Corinthians 6:9-10, The Message’s version is so far removed from a true biblical translation as to be unrecognizable. If I hadn’t entered the relevant references while searching Bible Gateway, I wouldn’t know from Mr. Peterson’s versions that these are from I Corinthians 6 or I Timothy 1.

It's obvious, isn't it, that the law code isn't primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever! They are contemptuous of this great Message I've been put in charge of by this great God. 1 Timothy 1:9-11 (The Message)

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 1 Timothy 1:9-11 (KJV)

It came as no suprise to this blogger to see Eugene Peterson’s endorsement on the cover of William P. Young’s novel The Shack (or, as I prefer to call it, "The Outhouse")--a writer of one notorious work of blasphemous fiction endorses another. Antichrists of a feather flock together.

HT: Marsha West