Lost In Translation: Sign the Petition

Sign the petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/lost-in-translation

Western missions agencies Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL are producing Bibles that remove Father, Son and Son of God because these terms are offensive to Muslims.

Some examples:
• Wycliffe/SIL produced Stories of the Prophets, an Arabic Bible that uses “Lord” instead of “Father” and “Messiah” instead of “Son.”
• Frontiers worked with an SIL consultant to produce True Meaning of the Gospel, an Arabic Bible that removes “Son” in reference to Jesus.
• Frontiers produced a Turkish translation of Matthew, distributed by SIL, that uses “guardian” for “Father” and “representative” or “proxy” for “Son.”
• SIL consulted on the Bengali Injil Sharif, advising that “Son” be translated as “God’s Uniquely Intimate Beloved Chosen One.”

By removing Father and Son, these translations fail to portray God as who he is: the familial, eternal, loving God the Father, Son and Spirit. The deity of Jesus is obscured, and thus the self-sacrifice of God on our behalf. In June 2011, the Presbyterian Church of America explicitly declared such translations as “unfaithful to God’s revealed Word” because they “compromise the doctrines of the Trinity, Scripture, and the person and work of Jesus.”

Perhaps most importantly, national Christians say these translations are harming their work. Yet Western proponents condone removing Father or Son because they say Muslims can only see sexual connotations to these terms. Numerous missionaries and national believers, however, strongly assert this is not the case. Further, Christian churches in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Turkey, and Malaysia have asked these agencies to stop producing these translations, but to no avail.

Adding fuel to the fire, these agencies have raised millions of dollars for these projects, yet donors are unaware their gifts are being used for translations that remove Father, Son and Son of God from the text.

A member of the SIL board indicated that while “a few objections” over these translations would be “dismissable,” SIL would need to respond when the “man in the pew” created a “backlash.” By signing this petition, you are letting these agencies know that your convictions, and the integrity of God’s own Word, can’t be dismissed. Instead, you are asking for a written commitment from Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL not to remove Father, Son or Son of God from the text of Scripture.

To add this banner to your website copy the code below:

<p style=”text-align: center;”>

<a href=”http://www.change.org/petitions/lost-in-translation-keep-father-son-in-the-bible”>

<img title=”Biblical_Missiology” src=”http://biblicalmissiology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bibmissbanner-stamps1.gif” alt=”" width=”428″ height=”73″ />

</a></p>

Minor correction: We have removed the quote attributed to John Piper. While John Piper has stated his concerns over replacing “Father” and “Son of God” from Bible translations, the quote attributed to him is from a document that is still in process with the Bethlehem Baptist Church elders. To read more about Bethlehem Baptist Church’s stand on contextualization and these translations please go to their site at: http://hopeingod.org/contextualization

Editor

View all posts by Editor
Editors website