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Gary :
This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still ahead, answers to your questions in Contending for the Faith, and in Understanding the Scriptures, Dave and Tom will continue their discussion of God’s salvation. In addition to this radio program we publish a monthly Newsletter, which we make available free of charge. We also produce and distribute a wide variety of teaching materials including books in print, e-book and audio book formats, CD’s, DVD’s and other items to encourage the serious study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708 . Call our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk ask for Program #0708, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD, ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. We’ll repeat this information at the end of the program. Now:
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media. This week’s item is from The Christian Retailing Newsletter , December 3, 2007 , with a headline: “Harper One Readies Green Bible.” The following are excerpts: “Harper One is scheduled to release what it says is the industry’s first environmentally themed ‘bible’ the Green Bible NRSV, in fall of 2008. The release will focus on the caring of the earth through green-inked scripture passages, as well as input from Christian conservationists, theologians and practitioners, and a green trail guide of Christian leaders through history. The ‘bible’ carries an important message about caring for the earth, said Mark Tober, Vice President and Deputy Publisher of Harper One. Going green has become a top concern among many Christians as they begin to see protecting all of creation as a Biblical obligation. Our green ‘Bible’ offers them a new lens to identify how caring for creation comes right out of the Scriptures. The ‘bible’ will be produced on special, eco-friendly paper and cover material.”
Tom:
Dave, there are all kinds of “bibles” out. It’s like, what will the marketing department come up with next? For whatever problem it might be, for whatever orientation, we have gender friendly “bibles” we’ve got twelve-step “bibles” on and on and on, never ending. On the one hand you would say, well, at least, people are reading the Bible, but basically they are not. I can tell you this, it’s mainly if you’re interested in a particular agenda, then you may pick up a Bible, but you’re going to go for the commentaries. You know, I’ve got a Bible in my office that’s orientation is towards psychology. So now you have commentaries that, supposedly, interpret the Bible according to Freud, Maslow and Rogers and all these guys. It’s bad news! I have—well, the Bible is called, The Life Recovery Bible , written, not written the entire Bible, but edited with commentaries and so on by a psychologist. There are bibles for teens, they are called “biblezeens.”
Dave:
Some of them are funny books.
Tom:
With columns, and how to get dates, and so on and so forth. It’s really trivializing the Word of God, supposedly to reach our culture, and again, another problem.
Dave:
Well, Tom, we’ve mentioned a number of bibles in the past —The Message , by Eugene Peterson.
Tom:
One of the worst, if not the worst.
Dave:
It really trashes the Bible, or how about the Renovaré Spiritual Formation bible?
Tom:
Again, leading us into mysticism, contemplative approach, and of course, Eugene Peterson is all about that as well.
Dave:
Absolutely, what you’ve been talking about here. So Tom, and then a more serious note. John McArthur writes a lot of good stuff, but you go to his study Bible, the McArthur Study Bible, it will lead you into Calvinism, but you never realize that until you got into it. So, there are many so-called “bibles” out there—well, the commentaries, that’s the major problem.
Tom:
But what about this emphasis, Dave, do we get a bible oriented toward Christian conservationism, toward making us aware that the earth is important and we need to be good stewards of—and again, but what does this vice president of Harper One who says, “The Bible carries an important message about caring for the earth—does it, Dave?
Dave:
God is going to destroy the world, number one. I don’t think that it—well, common sense would tell you, God put Adam in charge of the earth. He tilled the soil and so forth. So man has an obligation to the earth, but see, these people have an axe to grind. Now to put out like—Robert Schuller puts out the “possibility thinkers bible.” Is the Bible all about possibility thinking? You can’t even find that word, that expression in there, and is it all about “green peace”? No, so now we get a bible that is set up so that you imagine that the main emphasis of scripture is this “green” movement, and how did we overlook that for so long?
Tom:
That’s an agenda, isn’t it?
Dave:
They have an agenda, that’s right. And Tom, what it does is it leads people astray, number one. It gives you the wrong emphasis, number two. Now, every time I read the Bible I’m looking for some “green” emphasis in it, and that’s not what the Bible is about! I’ve forgotten what the theme of the Bible is, man is separated from God by sins, and Christ came into this world to save sinners. It’s redemption! It’s being restored to the right relationship with God. It is not—Jesus didn’t say, Go into all the world and preach about caring for this earth! He said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And Paul, everywhere he went, Acts 20, he preached repentance toward God, and safe in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now how are you going to get that if you’re just looking for “green stuff” in there, and they’ve got “green” highlighting, and so forth?
Tom:
And Dave, the problem with that, and we’ve seen it with the Emerging Church , once you emphasize something, then who are you going to go to for the information? So, it’s as though now I am being prepped to interpret the Bible based on the environmentalist, based on the psychologist and life recovery. So, it’s a distortion no matter how you cut it.
Dave:
It’s a distortion, and it also is a deception. It is leading people astray.
