Opus 2011-59, Gender Neutral

"Gender neutral" is one of the current terms used to justify attacks on the validity of God’s word.  It starts with an assumption.  It assumes that modern ideas of sexual equality are right because they fit our current philosophy and that the Bible is wrong in not accepting that idea.  An even more basic assumption is that of Eve in the Garden, we are wiser than God and He needs us to protect Him from His own folly.

Gender neutral means that when the original Greek says “brothers” or “man” in the generic sense of referring to all human beings, then we need to clean up the translation and make it “brothers and sisters” or “people.”  If you were doing this in a commentary or a sermon there is no problem with that.  It is probably correct in its understanding.  The problem comes when you take a clear word in the Greek or Hebrew and set yourself up to change what it says.  The utter arrogance of that boggles my mind.  So God made a mistake in His editing and you are going to tidy up for Him?

This is not interpretation it is mistranslation.  It is deliberate deception.  There are obviously places where words are hard to translate accurately.  We face this in translating agape as love.  We face it in translating chesed.  I can accept if you choose “mercy” instead of “lovingkindness.”  I understand the difficulty of translation across time and cultures.  We see the same problem in modern languages.  That is not messing with holy scripture, that is seeking truth.

But “gender neutral” isn’t.  What is it?  It is a political and philosophical statement that modern man is more advanced, intelligent and sophisticated than those rubes entangled in barbaric patriarchal society.  Every time you change the meaning of a word for political, social or philosophical reasons you are deliberately turning your back on truth.  I guess another word for it is sin.

Satan gloats.  God weeps.

homo unius libri