“The Bible Goes Green for the Prius Age” is the title of a recent TIME online article. It begins:
Green runs through the Bible like a vine. There are the Garden and Noah’s olive branch. The oaks under which Abraham met with angels. The “tree standing by the waterside” in Psalms. And there is Jesus, the self-proclaimed “true vine,” who describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a mustard seed that grows into a tree “where birds can nest.” He dies on a cross of wood, and when he rises Mary Magdalene mistakes him for a gardener.
However I just want to start mocking when I read this…it shows how poor U.S. readers are, and even how poor readers and writers our professional writers are. First of all, none of the passages here alluded to have anything to do with the modern ideas expressed by the use of “green” in sentences like “going green”. The tree standing by the waterside is about refreshment and satisfaction, not the “green” of environmentalism: the Biblical concern here is not with the earth; Jesus being the “true vine” is an illustration, not about anything “green”; the passages about the Kingdom of heaven being as a mustard seed is not about “green”, nor does it say “where birds can nest” as this article twists scripture: the closest thing to it would be in Mark 4:30-32 and it’s nothing like what the addition of “where” is trying to so violently force upon the text’s meaning, or what what “green” minded folk might here be trying to imply. (Which is that God’s kingdom is a like a “green” utopia–there’s nothing of the sort in this passage!) The article continues:
Now there is a Bible trying to make gardeners of us all. On Oct. 7, HarperCollins is releasing The Green Bible, a Scripture for the Prius age that calls attention to more than 1,000 verses related to nature by printing them in a pleasant shade of forest green, much as red-letter editions of the Bible encrimson the words of Jesus. The new version’s message, states an introduction by Evangelical eco-activist J. Matthew Sleeth, is that “creation care”–the Christian catchphrase for nature conservancy–”is at the very core of our Christian walk.”
What sad about his is how it shows our callous disinterest in the meaning of others’ and their words, and how we like to re-read it and destroy its sense in order to “interpret it for ourselves”, by which I do not mean we intelligently apply knowledge of literature and read a texts with our own abilities to extract the meaning (which we should do), but rather that selfishly people read a text and selfishly disregard its meaning and intent not only to say it means what they want, but also to use it for their own agenda…and since this is increasingly commonplace no wonder politicians go unchecked as they take their opponents’ words from context, or when they misportray their opponents by leaving-out vital information (such as when incensed green-nuts are accusing opponents of being “anit-green” when they “fund big oil”…[for reserach in alternative energy!]).
What’ also amazing is that none of the examples given by this article (or most I can think of from the Bible) have anything to do with “nature”, but are rather about other themes and topics; indicating to readers that these passages are “about nature” should be socially criminal–it’s misleading, misguiding, and if it makes green-minded folks pick-up the Bible to read it for the green letters…it’ll be putting their attention on “green” rather than letting them truly read it “for themselves”, that is, in the sense of using context and literary cues to extract the passage’s own sense.
But as for using the NRSV, well, it’s not impressive when even its final form was not like what the translators intended, and when it’s more PC than interested in the Biblical intent.
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There’s another Bible slated to be released in an American Edition called “The Bible illuminated“, using the poor paraphrase, the “Good News Translation“. In it we have just another focus-men-on-the-world effort, which diverts men’s attention from their true, pressing, need of salvation and to continue in trusting Christ, to becoming concerned with the world’s affairs; that is not to say we’re not to care for the poor, but honestly that is nevertheless a secondary effort: you’ll never solve poverty, corruption, disease, crime, or any of these things intrinsic both to biology, human nature, and the macro-level results of either of those categories.
While humanity is focusing on temporal things, the Word of God does primarily on what is spiritual; we can feed everyone physical bread if we want, but while that’s a necessity for life, and one we should provide to the needy (not the idle), it’ll never save anyone from God’s wrath.
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Worldy “issues” are becoming distractions from the true work of the Church.
Regarding these editions, I think we have a case of Making Merchandise of the Word of God. Gone be the days where the Bible was sold because of perceived virtue and worth spreading, these day’s it’s a profit game: and I hope we won’t begin seeing more profit-interested companies, and agenda-driven (i.e. those driven to use the Bible for agendas at its own intents’ expense), making pretense otherwise (as many, including Zondervan, may appear to be doing): I’d rather they be up-front anyways.
