July 11, 2008
The Bible is accused of many things today, not the least of which is hateful and homophobic. For the record, the God of the Bible does not hate homosexuals, but His word does say that it is unnatural for men to have sexual relations with other men. Now that isn’t really such a far-fetched idea, is it? If you find the belief that men were meant for women to be some twisted form of back woods thinking, then I can only refer you to the words of G.K. Chesterton. “When a man stops believing in God, he’ll start believing in anything.”
Still, sometimes men do claim to believe in God and they have no less of a problem with the Bible, men like Bradley LaShawn Fowler, a Michigan resident who is suing the Zondervan Publishing Company, printers of the New International Translation of the Bible, and Thomas Nelson Publishers who also distribute the Bible. Mr. Fowler is gay. Mr. Fowler is also upset. But Mr. Fowler may be feeling a whole lot better real soon. He is suing Zondervan for 60 million dollars! Not wanting to leave out Thomas Nelson, he is suing them for an additional ten million dollars. What exactly is the problem? He claims that their translation from the Greek New Testament falsely uses the word homosexual on a list of sins, thus implying that homosexuals are sinners. The passage in question is 1Cor 6:9, which does give a list of sins. Zondervan defends herself by claiming that she is a publisher, not a translator, and that she trusts the credibility of the scholars who did the translation.
The Greek word in question is arsenokoitai and is translated by many other Bible versions as, “abusers of themselves with mankind.” Just to be factual, the Greek word literally means sodomite. But even if we wanted to leave the Greek here open to dispute, there are other scriptures that address this same subject and they spell it out far more clearly.
Lev. 20:13 says,”If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.”
And Romans 1:26-27 says, “God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
All the mental gymnastics in the world cannot change the meaning of those texts. One would have to make the words stand on their heads to force any interpretation, other than what they actually say. There is a name for those who participate in such a practice. It’s called, denial.
Now, then, let me communicate this as carefully as I can: The accuracy of the text is interesting but completely beside the point! Supposing the translation was inaccurate? Who cares? We live in a country that guarantees freedom of speech. People are allowed to write or say anything they want. Fowler’s contention is that this translation represents the publisher’s opinion. OK. Supposing it did? Are they not entitled to their opinion? Have we become so spoiled and oversensitive that we’ll try to destroy some one else’s life every time our little feelings are hurt? I guess Fowler never heard of freedom of speech and freedom of press. One can hardly blame him. Even one of our Supreme Court justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, says our constitution gives us the right to not be offended. Although I’ve blogged about this many times, I’ll try saying it again, because up to now, it has fallen upon deaf ears. If our forefathers were not painfully aware that speech would often offend, they would not have needed to protect the right to free speech.
It is looking like Fowler will lose this lawsuit but how long will it be before some one like him wins.? A church in New Jersey already lost a lawsuit to a gay couple that wanted to get married on their property. Meanwhile, Fowler wants to become a millionaire as compensation for the distress caused by Zondervan. According to USA Today, this translation made him an “outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of demoralization, chaos and bewilderment. ”
What’s next? Will a woman sue the Bible for being chauvinistic? It’s not chauvinistic but many people think it is. Gluttony is listed as a sin too. I just can’t imagine the distress this creates for overweight people. And gossip is also a sin, according to scripture. Maybe The National Enquirer should sue the Bible because its entire livelihood is now in jeopardy. As for prostitution being listed as wicked, with all the senators and judges who visit Madam Gigi’s, to spend the night with Bubbles or Peaches, this might be the most successful lawsuit of all. Disobedient children are also chastised in the Bible. Oh wait! That one already happened and we didn’t even need the Bible. A teen in Canada sued her father for grounding her and won the case!
Oh well. Fret not. This isn’t the first time some prosecuting attorney challenged God in the courtroom. There’s a guy in the Bible who does it all the time. His name is Satan.
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