The Message - Clarified

When I first noticed something was unusual about The Message, I did a quick "down & dirty" word study on www.biblegateway.com and found some very interesting and even disturbing differences between the paraphrase The Message, and the two best selling versions, the NIV and the KJV.


Until God laid it on my heart to dig deeper, this list was sufficient for me to know The Message was a book I didn't plan to use or endorse.


I'm sharing this list mainly because I want to get rid of this piece of paper, but I'm sure you'll find it interesting.  I was also curious about some of the differences between the NIV and the KJV that this little comparison brought to light for me. 

                                KJV       NIV       MSG
Christ                       537         531         343
Lord                       6781      6712          71
Jesus                        942        1276        998
God                       4094       3930       6273
heaven                      691        606          327
devil(s)                     106          35           55
hell                             54          14          381
blood                        392        389         270
Salvation                   158        120         129
Word of God              48          40           42
Word of the Lord      255        232             0
Lord Jesus Christ        81          60              0
Repent                        43          39            11
Holy Spirit                    7          96            90
Angel(s)                     283       291          530
Grace                        159        124           90
Mercy                        262       124           95 
Redeem(ed)               101         85            40
Sin                             388        433          297
Righteousness             289        232           37
Flesh                          369        124           44
Submit                         16          26            15
Barbecue                       0            0             6



I don't know if these numbers mean anything to you, but a few of them really bother me. 

I may be a neophyte, but I realize that when undertaking a monumental task, you need to have a plan.  I'll lay out an initial list of "conventions" to keep this project orderly and keep us from getting lost in the notes.  Also, there are just a few general credits that I don't intend to include in every post, but that I'm sure will be used to craft every post, so I'll list them here.

CREDITS:

I'm using a physical copy of the NIV/The Message Parallel Bible from Zondervan.

All links to passages will be to the site biblegateway.com

Any other resources will be linked and/or cited as they are used.


CONVENTIONS:

 I will not be copying/pasting large portions of text - instead I will call attention to passage references and discuss the issues.  Please click the links to read the passages in both The Message and the NIV if you aren't using your own physical copies.

I welcome comments that are constructive and contribute to a lively discussion, but will delete comments with vulgarity or disrespectful discourse.

For the purposes of this study, I will be looking to key in on twelve categories.  I decided this because after just a few chapters of reading, I was getting bogged down in the minor issues that simply bothered me, and that's not the point.  This needs to stay focused on theological points that are core to the effectiveness of the Word. 

The twelve categories are:

1 - Attributes of God/Nature of Christ
2 - Words of Jesus
3 - Gifts of the Spirit/Power of the Spirit
4 - Sin, Sin Nature/Need for Salvation
5 - Repentance, Atonement
6 - Salvation
7 - Christian Living
8 - Relationships
9 - Creation
10 - Promises of God
11 - Other Foundational Doctrines
12 - Word Replacements

Within these categories, I'll rate each discrepancy on a scale of 1 - 5.  This rating is purely at my discretion.  You'll probably disagree with me sometimes, but that's ok.  I'm taking this from a lay-person's perspective and shining a light on the things that should make a more learned person take a deeper look.

The scale (I call it the Damage Scale) will mean the following:

1 - Unneccessary (adding to the Word)
2 - Irrelevant (doesn't stay on topic)
3 - Confusing (jumbles an otherwise simple idea)
4 - Changes Meaning (tweaks or flat out means something other than intended)
5 - Heretical (changes doctrine, no longer a Biblical truth)

I want to reiterate that I am taking this project on as an act of obedience to the Lord.  Until the Spirit made it clear to me that this was on my "To Do" list, I was perfectly content with my cursory word search of The Message that confirmed to me that it was not for me.  I have enough "soapbox" issues, this didn't need to become one of them.  I am not an "angry fundy" or anything - I am just someone who saw a glimpse of God's heart about this issue and am charged to get educated in an intimate way in order to expose a major problem that faces our churches in these important end days.  I know you can find webpages with quick lists of what's "wrong" with The Message, but so far I haven't seen an in-depth walk through it. 

I make no guarantees as to how often I'll post or how consistent I'll be. I am a homeschooling mother of three, wife of a worship director, and author.  I am involved in other Bible studies as well as other responsibilities at church.  Realistically, I hope to post notes about 4-5 chapters a week.

We'll start in the Gospel of John, since that is the book most new believers are directed to begin their journey through the Scriptures.  We'll then go to Romans and examine how The Message treats the traditional "Romans Road" plan of Salvation.  From there I plan to read Genesis, then Proverbs and Acts. 

I hope you take the challenge with me - and during this study commit to not using The Message in public or from the pulpit.  Reserve your right to change your mind about it.

--Mik

The Bible is a powerful tool, wielded by a skilled and knowledgeable person it can be a tool for great good, or great harm.  Yes, the Bible can be and is often misused and causes damage where God intends healing.  One of the most common misuses is what I call "cherry picking," when Scriptures are taken out of context, pulled out in small chunks, or chosen from a version or paraphrase that suits the agenda of the speaker.

I've seen pastors abuse Scripture time and time again in this manner, and it doesn't end there.  Where do they get the idea that this is acceptable?  I'm sure many pastors and teachers in recent years have been emboldened by the national best selling authors of our day who are professional cherry pickers and have trained the masses not only that it's acceptable, but to be expected.

There are very few leaders left, at least that I have seen, who have the courage to choose the version of the Bible they believe to be the most accurate, and use it exclusively.  It's also easier today than ever before for teachers and pastors to use sites like biblegateway.net to do keyword searches and pull passages completely out of context, but that seem to fit their topics.  Somehow, many have gotten out of the habit of getting the whole picture before basing an entire sermon around a small group of verses.  I've even sat through sermons that pick a single verse apart word by English word to make a solid three completely bogus points.

The Bible is really not rocket science.  God loves even the slowest of His children, and His Word is able to be comprehended by the least of us.  Theologians have their place, and Christianity is still the most examined and debated of the major three world religions - to our benefit.  But even though we can dig deep and get oodles of fresh meaning by understanding the original Greek or Hebrew, those of us who don't have the education, or the inclination, can get all we need to know from a basic study of the Bible as we have it in our own language.

What seems to me to be the most important element of understanding Scripture, is to read the whole passage, the whole story, get a clear picture of what's happening in the moment.  Who's speaking, who are they addressing, what's going on in the community at the time?  By not keeping these things in perspective, it's easy to take almost any single Bible verse and make it seem to corroborate almost any idea.

By adding The Message to the melting pot of Bible versions, a new dimension of problems are before us.  There are many passages in The Message that distort God's original intentions to make it appear that God is much more "PC" than we first were taught.  More disturbing are basic core concepts like sin, and the diety of Christ that are understated and even downplayed to seem less important than other, more feel-good ideas like love.  Progressive pastors in ecumenical churches are now armed with new support for their watered down social versions of Christianity.

I'm not concerned as much with the pastors who were already walking that path...God will deal with them when He's ready.  My concern is for the pastors and leaders who are being led down this social Gospel path in small and almost imperceptible ways.  Pastors who use The Message because others do, because their cursory examination of The Message yielded no major red flags, or because they enjoy it's casual demeanor as a refreshing change in their personal study.  These are the pastors who I hope will join me on my journey and take an honest, critical look at this paraphrase to determine if in fact it is worthy of being endorsed from their pulpits.

I challenge you to take a hiatus from using The Message in public in any way, until you have taken time to formulate your own conclusions as to its usefulness.  In the event that we find glaring and dangerous issues, you will save yourself from having to make apologies to your congregation and avoid the risk of looking foolish for following this fad blindly.

There is a prophetic Word from Ezekiel that was first spoken to the shepherds of Israel, but taken at face value, still is powerful and poignant given the discussion at hand.  The entire chapter of Ezekiel 34 discusses faltering leadership and God's message to both the leaders and followers.  At the time, they were dealing with corruption among the leaders - embezzelment, over taxing, harsh and unjust rulings, perversions with other religions, and general uselessness.  Many of today's leaders are guilty of a different kind of corruption, but equally as dangerous.  The warning God gave to the leaders of Israel is the same warning to leaders today, because God is the same today as He was thousands of years ago.

Read Ezekiel 34, paying special attention to Ezekiel 34:7-10, 17-22.

The verse that stands out the most to me as it pertains to using Scripture in self serving and misleading ways is verse 10: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

As leaders, may we always strive to be on the right side of God's fury.  May we never be guilty of cherry picking, of manipulating the Holy Scriptures to suit our own ideas.  May we resist the temptation to choose passages in a variety of versions based on how their wording supports our suppositions.  May we be careful to lead those who listen directly to the Cross and save ourselves from the fate of the corrupt.

Good journey...
Mikayla Kayne

About six years ago, my husband was sitting with the teens in his Sunday School group, taking turns reading passages of Scripture for the lesson.  Another leader began reading, and before she was finished, the room erupted in the uncomfortable laughter of disbelief when she read the words "barbecue beef."  No one else in the room had a Bible that used that wording, making it unexpected, and so informal and contemporary that the distraction of it completely derailed the rest of the lesson. He was mortified that it caused the youth to mock the Bible, as they snidely repeated the phrase over and over. 

It was the first time we became aware that The Message, a casually worded paraphrase from Eugene Peterson, was being used as a replacement for the Bible by average believers in the church.  We did some initial digging to see if there were more ridiculous or dangerous word choices, and were quite surprised not as much at what we did find, but more with what we didn't. 

Then came Rick Warren's 40 Days of Purpose, and all of a sudden, pastors were taking his cue and "mixing it up" with not only Bible versions, but books like The Message to illustrate their sermons.  I thought we were safe, but when our Baptist pastor used The Message from the pulpit, I knew this was a serious problem and sought God's wisdom in the matter. 

It used to be a lot harder to cherry pick the Scriptures, but thanks to Warren's "find the version that says it best" approach, pastors and teachers around the world are now free to twist and contort God's Word to suit their every whim.  But this blog is not about Rick Warren. I'm not out to accuse any one person, not even Eugene Peterson.

No - this blog is a chronicle of my journey through a book I don't want to read.  I've already seen enough to know that The Message is not for me.  Apparently though, God has a different idea.  He has made it perfectly clear to me that He wants me to read The Message and compare it to the NIV.  The Holy Spirit will show me the things He wants brought to light.  I'll be honest and admit that I have no idea if this type of research has already been done - actually, I'm pretty sure it has.  That's not really my concern.  It's my job to do the task I've been given, and I'm going to use this blog to keep track of my progress. (I will not engage in any debate about the NIV - I'm using it as my comparison because it's been the number one selling version for years, and because it's the one I could get in a side-by-side print copy with the Message.)

I'm not a scholar, but neither are probably 97% of all the people who own a copy of The Message.  I am literate, and that makes me qualified to take this on.  I am a Christian, unlike at least 30% of all the people who own a copy of The Message, and from what I've seen in my preliminary research, if all they read is The Message, they are likely to miss the point entirely and run the tragic risk of never being convicted of their sin and need for the saving blood of Jesus.

I understand that The Message is quite popular, I know it has entire endcaps dedicated to its various incarnations in every Christian bookstore in the country.  I know that the very existence of this blog will anger a great many people, and that's ok.  I know that great teachers like Beth Moore and Angela Thomas hold Eugene Peterson up on a pedestal and have no problem using The Message as if it were a version of the Bible. I am doing this comparison regardless of these things, because I was directed to.  If, as I read and compare, the Spirit shows me that I'm wrong, and The Message is not misleading and potentially dangerous, I'll happily admit it.  You may not believe me, but I'd actually like nothing better than to be proven wrong. 

I don't fault anyone for using The Message as a study aid, alongside a valid translation of the Bible, in fact, I can see how it would be helpful in many instances.  I do believe that there is a danger in the new trend of referring to The Message as a version, or translation of the Bible.  It is not.  Mr. Peterson himself is careful to remind readers that it is a paraphrase. 

Decades ago in 1971, another paraphrase shook up theological circles, The Living Bible, Paraphrase by Kenneth Taylor.  It too is filled with interesting word choices, some embarrassing, some profane, and it too became a runaway best seller.  After it was widely accepted regardless of its issues, in 1989 Tyndale embarked on the most expensive translation project in history, and put 90 scholars to work revising Taylor's book to give us the New Living Translation.  To this day, my mom prefers her Living Bible - I only mention the Living Bible and it's story to point out that a one man paraphrase of Scriptures is not a new idea.  Nor is it new that a one man paraphrase has problems.  The Message needs the 90 scholar treatment, but we can't wait until 2015 to get started.  Time grows short, friends.  We very well may be the last generation.  We can't afford to be peddling Bibles that don't do their job.

Pastors should be fully aware of what The Message is before they endorse it from their pulpits.  They have the ultimate responsibility to filter all resources for their congregations, but in today's busy world, they must rely on the recommendation of trusted or popular national teachers, or trust the reputation of publishers.  When those sources become unreliable, pastors are left exposed, as they have been in the case of The Message.  I hope that this blog will be a resource and an eye-opener for any pastors and teachers who happen across it.

I also hope that any nonbelievers who choose to follow this blog will be shown the way to the cross and shown their dire need for the redemption and forgiveness it brings.

I do not wish to be contentious or divisive with this endeavor.  I hope that is understood and respected.

Good journey...
Mikayla Kayne