APOSTATE Eugene Nida: WHERE are BIBLE TRANSLATIONS Heading ?

 Now at the outset ,  let it be known that we all HONOR those Christians who deny themselves and embrace the hardships, loneliness, and risk of going to live in a foreign culture to translate the WORD of GOD  for  tribal people groups to bring the GOSPEL of Salvation to them. 

 But likewise, we are WELL AWARE that not all translators being sent out under the Wycliffe name are zealous Christians with the above-mentioned goals. 


One Indonesian Bible Translator, ( an American linguist )  actually LAUGHED at us when we naively thought ALL BIBLE translators were Christians !  [ He and his wife are still on the translation field, but are no longer with Wycliffe because they use the Byzantine Text and ARE Christians. ]

There are TWO BIG ISSUES with Bible translation.  One basic issue is the GREEK TEXT used by Wycliffe translators is Nestle-Aland's Greek New Testament based on the faulty Alexandrian texts and very eclectic.  That is, an eclectic text is never found in any ancient manuscript; it is a piece-meal of many.  

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Also, a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini has worked on the editorial committee for the 3rd and 4th EDITIONS of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, right along with Bruce Metzger and Kurt Aland.  [ See Wikipedia; this information is well-documented.]

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KEEP IN MIND that the UBS Gk. New Testament is the same as the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament,  as far as the Greek TEXT is concerned.  [ There may be some differences in the apparatus in the footnotes included  or excluded for Translators. ]

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 The second issue is that Bible Translators at the Summer Institute of Linguistics International ( SIL ) are trained in DYNAMIC / FUNCTIONAL Equivalency ; the two words mean the same thing.  

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That training  is to make a PARAPHRASE of the BIBLE which fits snugly into the tribal CULTURE  . . . ostensibly for better understanding by the Receptor language group.  For DECADES now,  translators have NOT been  trained in FORMAL EQUIVALENCY , i.e., word for word translation.

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The man who REPLACED literal  translation with  PARAPHRASING was Eugene Nida, the executive secretary of the American Bible Society from 1946 to 1980.  As a result, the ABS has sponsored "paraphrased" modern Bibles like "Today's English Verson" and the "Contemporary English Version." 

 

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Here is Eugene Nida's personal "Christian" beliefs, gleaned from Nida's own writings by Pastor David Cloud who was a missionary / church planter in Southeast Asia for 25 years and still lives there. 
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 "Nida was the Executive Secretary of the Translations Department of the American Bible Society from 1946 to 1980. Since his retirement, he has been retained as a Special Consultant for Translations. He traveled to more than 85 countries and conferred on translation work in more than 200 different languages. He has influenced countless Bible translators through his writings."

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From Nida's own writings, now, these examples state the philosophy and beliefs of this famous, world-wide teacher of Bible translators who moved translation from FORMAL equivalency ( i.e., as literal as possible into the receptor language) to paraphrasing the Gospel , DYNAMIC or FUNCTIONAL equivalency.   

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“Nida believes the Scriptures were “imperfect” and that God’s revelation was not “absolute truth,” even in the originals (Nida, Message and Mission, 1960 pp. 221-222, 224-228).

He says that the words of Scripture “are in a sense nothing in and of themselves” (Nida, Message and Mission, p. 225).

He denies the view that the Scriptures were written “in a kind of Holy Ghost language” (Nida, Language Structure and Translation, 1975, p. 259).

 Nida claims that the Bible is limited and relative (Nida, Customs and Cultures, 1954, p. 282, f. 22).

Nida agrees with the modernists who claim that Christ’s blood was not an actual offering for sin but was merely a “figure of the cost” (Nida, Theory and Practice, 1969, p. 53, n. 19).

Nida also claims that Christ’s blood was merely symbolic of “violent death” and that it was not a propitiatory offering to God for sin (Nida and Newman, A Translator’s Handbook on Paul’s Letter to Romans, on Rom. 3:25).

Nida has worked closely with Robert Bratcher, who wickedly changed the word “blood” to “death” in the Today’s English Version.

“According to the advocates of dynamic equivalence, real communication is broken when the difference between biblical and modern culture is not considered. Nida writes,

‘Similarly, in the biblical account, the holy kiss, the wearing of veils, women speaking in the church, and wrestling with an angel all have different meanings than in our own culture’ (E. Nida, Message and Missions, p. 41).

“According to Nida, Jacob’s struggle with the angel is being interpreted psychoanalytically or mythologically (E. Nida, Message and Mission, pp. 41-42).

He considers the cultural pattern so dominant that the translation should never be a mere transmitter of the words of the message.

There is NO FORMAL equivalence ( i.e., word for word as best as can be done in the receptor language ) between the original message and the translated message. What is needed is not a static equivalency but a dynamic equivalency” (Jakob Van Bruggen, The Future of the Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1978, p. 70).”

This thinking has led to all sorts of changes in the Word of God. Those who promote dynamic equivalency almost always emphasize that they aim to be perfectly faithful to the meaning of the original text. But this simply cannot be done when dynamic equivalency methodology is used. --- FROM DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY --- DAVID CLOUD .  See website below.

A man working on the translation of a dynamic equivalency version of the Bible into a tribal language spoken in northeast India has reasoned as follows: This tribe has never sacrificed lambs, but they have sacrificed roosters (cocks) to their gods in days past. Therefore, we must translate John’s testimony as follows: “Behold the Cock of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Evangelist Maken Sanglir of Nagaland gave us this illustration of Bible translation work in northeast India.  FROM DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY -- DAVID CLOUD

Further, dynamic equivalency’s largest promoters are the apostate United Bible Societies, which are filled with theological modernists and which are closely yoked together with the Roman Catholic Church.”

~~~ end of David Cloud’s info.

 

https://www.wayoflife.org/database/textsversionsheader.html  

Brother Cloud’s information is listed under REPORTS , then click on Bible Texts and Versions.

Furthermore, Eugene Nida worked closely with the Vatican from 1967-68 to effect a "one-world" ecumenical Bible which would be acceptable to both Protestants and Roman Catholics. He effectually worked for decades to bring about "contemporary" language Bibles that the Roman Catholic hierarchy would not find objectionable. 

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As a result, there is much collaboration between the UBS and its national member Bible societies and the Roman Catholic church in the field of translation.

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Serious-minded CHRISTIANS should  NOT be HAPPY with what Wycliffe / UBS / SIL  are promoting: both the Alexandrian faulty manuscripts in the Nestle-Aland Greek text  and  the DYNAMIC equivalency method of translation.  NOR THEIR AGREEMENT with the Roman Catholic church to make a one-world, ecumenical Bible. . .  Eugene Nida's program and work, in short, his "baby." 

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Where is this all leading ? 

It is no secret that a ONE-WORLD BIBLE is being made and translated into various languages. 
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It is no secret that Wycliffe only supports Bible translators which use the Nestle-Aland Greek texts / UBS Greek texts which are based on the faulty Alexandrian manuscripts.  
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It is no secret  that DYNAMIC or FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCY is being promoted at SIL . . .  and has been foisted upon the un-aware Christians for DECADES NOW. 
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SO, NOW THAT WE KNOW , 

What should we DO about it ?  
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Do we SUPPORT Bible Translators / UBS / Wycliffe in making translations which change the LAMB+ of GOD into the "Cock ( rooster ) of GOD " ?   
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Do we wish our support to go to Bible translators who CLAIM to be translating the very words of Scripture, but make the LAMB+ of GOD into a "seal-pup"  so that a tribe of Eskimo's "can relate to it in their culture" ? 
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Are " our sins being made whiter than . . . a coconut ? " 

Is there no more "BLOOD+ "  to cover our sins ?
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Why is not Wycliffe called to account for promoting SIL's "dynamic / functional equivalency" training and for supporting, nay, REQUIRING the use of, the UBS ? 
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Are we not ALL 

in the BODY OF CHRIST ? 
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To make matters worse,  some retired Wycliffe / SIL translators are currently and actively training foreign translators to "paraphrase" the New Testament  into dialects for segments of their country's population.  
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We have all  lauded and supported the going forth of the WORD of GOD that we believed Wycliffe  translators to be doing. 
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But in truth, are they doing it . . . or are they doing their "own interpretation" ?  Are they SUPPORTING a "One-World" Bible translation ?   Are they SUBSTITUTING their own thoughts of man in a paraphrase . . . rather than the explicit and literal WORD+ of GOD ?  
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That is DANGEROUS. 
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Scripture is full of meaning, layer upon layer.  As we dig deeper, THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS THE COMPREHENSION.   We do not absorb the depth or meaning of Scripture by merely our natural mind.  Indeed,  only by the working of the HOLY SPIRIT itself CAN the Scriptures bring meaning to our hearts.
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The LORD JESUS CHRIST said, 

Heaven and earth will pass away, 

but MY+ WORDS shall 

never pass away. 

Matthew 24:35
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Whose side are we on ?  
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