BiBLE TRANSLATiONS [and the new NiV]

Stereotyping Bible readers. Stolen from Scot McKnight, here. Very funny if, like me, you are way too immersed in American evangelicalism.

• NRSV for liberals and Shane Claiborne lovers
• ESV for Reformed complementarian Baptists
• HCSB for LifeWay store buying Southern Baptists
• NIV for complementarian evangelicals
• TNIV for egalitarians
• NASB for those who want straight Bible, forget the English
• NLT for generic brand evangelicals
• Amplified for folks who have no idea what translation is but know that if you try enough words one of them will hit pay dirt
• NKJV and KJV for Byzantine manuscript-tree huggers
• The Message for evangelicals looking for a breath of fresh air and seeker sensitive, never-read-a-commentary evangelists who find Peterson's prose so catchy

This is, of course, all brought on by the announcement of the new NIV coming out in 2011. Which, if you think about it, could read: The New New International Version Version. Here are some various takes on it all:

Al Mohler

Scot McKnight

Douglas Moo

Ligon Duncan

Cathy Grossman

BOOK REViEW

Even if you hate it, you can't say that it's not fun to read. Shane Claiborne's new book, that is.

"Jesus for President" takes almost 150 out of its 360 pages to retell the story of the Bible, flavoring it with political seasoning here and there. Claiborne then quotes heavily from the early church fathers and discusses the early church's life as it related to the state. His tons of historical references, stories, and quotes are worth the price of the book [from Constantine, Athanasius, St Francis, to America's founding fathers, and more]. He always has catchy and cute phrases to spur believers on to kingdom living in the present. Some of these include "compassionate imperialism", "practicing resurrection", "revolutionary subordination", and other trendy/hippie/emerging maxims. It's safe to say that anyone who cares about politics, the bible, church history, and social justice would find this a provoking read.

Muchas gracias, Shane.

more Shane Claiborne

It is a great joy to me to put Shane Claiborne on here for several reasons. One, I don't agree with him on everything, but I have more respect for him than almost anybody. Two, I know scores of people who think I'm a moron for reading him. I think he's friends with Rob Bell. Isn't that evil or something? Three, he always gives food for thought. As I said, there's no Calvinist, charismatic, or Catholic that can read him and not be pricked in their heart. I'm sure there's more reasons, but here we go...

I am going to Iraq because I believe in a God of scandalous grace. If I believed terrorists were beyond redemption, I would need to rip out half of my New Testament Scriptures, for they were written by a converted terrorist. I have pledged Allegiance to a King that loved evildoers so much He died for them [and of course the people of Iraq are no more evil or more holy than the people of the US], teaching us that there is something worth dying for but nothing worth killing for... We are all wretched, and we are all beautiful. No one is beyond redemption. May we see in the hands of the oppressors our own hands, and in the faces of the oppressed our own faces. We are made of the same dust, and we cry the same salty tears.

WiDOWS and ORPHANS

Caring for the widow and the orphan is where the Bible puts emphasis when discussing social justice and mercy. The Lord has really dealt with my heart on these issues over the past year or so, especially reading Shane Claiborne and listening to Tim Keller. Here are the main texts that directly address this:

• Lam 5.5
• Js 1.27
• Is 1.17
• Is 1.23
• Dt 24.17-22
• Dt 10.18
• Ex 22.22
• Jb 22.9
• Is 9.17
• Is 10.2
  

But that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to know why the widow and why the orphan? Why not the rape victim, the war victim, the jobless father, or the sojourner? Why widows? Why orphans?

I remember leaning back in my chair and asking God this after I read Deuteronomy the other day. Here's what came to me... that He desires to reveal Himself as the perfect Husband and the eternal Father [Jn 14.16-31, Is 54.5, Is 62.4-5, Hos 2.19-20, others].

I guess the point here is that the extending of the Gospel should revolve around Him. Even the way we serve “the least of these” should cause us to dwell on His character. Lord, give me specific grace to this end.

am i an anarchist or a libertarian?

My wife and I are in the library right now taking political quizes online to see who we should vote for for president. We have found out that Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are the best looking. John McCain is the oldest and thus the most likely to die from natural causes. Hillary gets hype because she's a woman and used to sleep with a former president [Bill, of course]. Mike Huckabee is an excellent bassist and is a Southern Baptist with his head on his shoulders. Obama was born in Hawaii, has a winsome personality, and has morbid thoughts on abortion. And I guess John Edwards is just a good ol boy [he grew up in Seneca, SC!] who ended up rich as snot.

All of this is just to put in perspective how much I'm looking forward to kingdom consummation and Jesus reigning eternally and unhindered. And maybe, just maybe, this book will help tide me over. And if its contents don't, its title will. It's due out in March 2008.

THE iRRESiSTiBLE REVOLUTiON [book review]

I don't know if a book has ever punched me harder in my spiritual gut. As much as it is possible to be a Saint Francis in modern America, Shane Claiborne is so. He rightly understands that God has called His people to social justice and mercy in this corrupt world. There are probably 20 or 30 sentences throughout this biographical sketch that I might take issue with theologically. I suppose a good litmus test for this is that Brian McLaren wrote a killer blurb for Shane on this one. However, there is no Catholic, Calvinist, or charasmatic in the world that won't be stirred by what God has done in and through this brother. Go buy it. Or borrow it if you're too arrogant to have it in your library.