In 1990, Swindoll promoted the corrupt Living Bible paraphrase, saying:
"The Living Bible is like a stream of sparkling water wandering across
life's arid landscape: intriguing, refreshing, nourishing, comforting.
My thirsty soul is often satisfied by this invigorating wellspring"
(Charisma, December 1990).
This is a very misleading recommendation. Actually, the Living Bible is crude, inaccurate, and promotes false doctrine. In 1 Kings 18:27 the Living Bible says, "Perhaps he is talking to someone or else is out sitting on the toilet."
A footnote in the Living Bible at Zechariah 13:6, which refers to the wounds on Christ's hands, claims that the passage is not Messianic.
A footnote in Genesis 1 says "evening and morning" could be translated "a period of time," which is an error and a capitulation to the false doctrine of theistic evolution.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says our sins were poured into Christ, which is a false doctrine.
A footnote at 1 Peter 2:2 says an alternative translation is, "Eat God's Word, read it, think about it and grow strong in the Lord and be saved." This was the actual reading in the text in early editions of the Living Bible, until it was transferred to a footnote.
1 Peter 3:21 says, "in being baptized we are turning to God and asking him to cleanse our hearts from sin." This is false doctrine, because in being baptized properly and scripturally the candidate is not turning to God and asking for forgiveness, but is merely showing forth publicly the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Source
