A fly in the Ointment
by Pastor George Shafer
A recent article in the Church Bus
News contains some shocking information. A 1993 issue notes that Dr.
Virginia Mollenkott, one of fourteen literary critics on the NIV translation
committee, is a professed lesbian. Dr. Mollenkott was quoted in the Episcopal
publication Witness (June 1991) as saying "my lesbianism has always
been a part of me..." if you write the International Bible Society (144
Tices Lane, East Brunswick, NJ 08816) and ask for a list of the NIV
translators you will receive a booklet which includes Dr. Mollenkott’s name.
While this is an astounding fact there is still more. The NIV completely eliminates the term "sodomite" from the Bible. The word appears five times in the KJV (Deuteronomy 23:17, 1st Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46, and 2nd Kings 23:7). The NIV replaces it with the phrase "male shrine prostitute." Everyone knows what a sodomite is; what is a "male shrine prostitute?" The law homosexuals in Texas wanted repealed was the "sodomy" law, not the "male shrine prostitute" law. The people who rioted Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco were "sodomites" not "male shrine prostitutes." If you ask a homosexual whether or not he minds that King Asa took the "male shrine prostitutes" out of the land he probably won’t. Ask if he is offended by the removal of "sodomites" and you will get a very different answer.
How can anyone say that the NIV doesn’t corrupt the Word of God when the evidence is so clear. By the way, the RSV has done the same thing. If you have one look these five verses up; you will find them almost interchangeable with the NIV. I will near again be able to read the NIV without wondering if the verse I am studying is one of these that was altered by a lesbian "critic." If there was so little scrutiny of the members of the NIV committee that Dr. Mollenkott was chosen, who knows what other interests were represented.
The Devil must be pleased that a pastor somewhere in America will preach to his congregation next Sunday using the very words that were placed in a modern translation by a lesbian. If you are using one of the new translations please have the courage to research the facts about it. Those "learned" men who endorse it don’t mention that it includes the contributions of "sodomites," and you will have to wonder what else they may not have told you.
