SARCASM GONE WRONG

Yesterday I interjected myself into a Facebook conversation which I later regretted. One of my FB friends posted a Bible verse from The Message. One of his friends quickly questioned why he would quote the “wildly inaccurate” version. Discussions regarding Bible translations have a tendency to elevate my blood pressure. The arguments people offer to support their favorite version are often nonsensical. I wanted to make a comment, but the things I wanted to say were too involved. So, I finally settled on a short, sarcastic comment designed to expose the silliness of the original challenge. Needless to say, my sarcasm didn’t help.

With all the debate regarding translations, one of the best questions I have ever heard came from my friend, Richard, when he was being challenged by church member over his use of the NIV: “Have I ever used the NIV to teach false doctrine?”

The small debate which took place yesterday on my friend’s FB page obscured the whole point of the verse he had posted. Eventually, I deleted my post and withdrew from the discussion. I will be slower to use sarcasm next time, so I don’t have to delete a posting.

For the record, I am not a big fan of The Message. But it’s a personal preference thing, not a technical issue. The Message was developed to be a reading Bible, not a study Bible. Here’s what Eugene Peterson, who translated The Message, has to say about why he took on the project: “While I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to realize that the adults in my class weren't feeling the vitality and directness that I sensed as I read and studied the New Testament in its original Greek. Writing straight from the original text, I began to attempt to bring into English the rhythms and idioms of the original language. I knew that the early readers of the New Testament were captured and engaged by these writings and I wanted my congregation to be impacted in the same way. I hoped to bring the New Testament to life for two different types of people: those who hadn't read the Bible because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who had read the Bible so much that it had become 'old hat.'"

NavPress, who publishes The Message, has this to say about it: “The Message strives to help readers hear the living Word of God—the Bible—in a way that engages and intrigues us right where we are.” I hope God’s Word, whatever translation you read and study, “engages and intrigues” you, as it draws you closer to its Author. Before we can be a doer of the Word, we have to be a hearer.