New Bible publication literally cuts out unused parts
'Western Bible Foundation' says some verses simply don't apply nowPosted: October 20, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Western Bible
A new publication of the Bible by a Dutch organization could take a lot of the stress out of reading the Holy Book's instructions for contemporary Christians, according to its publisher.
That's because those troublesome verses about justice for the poor, responsibility for the rich to address their neighbors' needs, and all that talk about money, are gone. Not just edited out, cut out.
A report from Assist News Service said the Western Bible Foundation published the book to meet the "growing wish of many churches to be market-oriented and more attractive."
"Jesus was very inspiring for our inner health, but we don't need to take his na�ve remarks about money seriously. He didn't study economics, obviously," said a Mr. De Rijke, the chairman of the foundation, in a news release obtained by ANS.
After all, no serious Christian takes such texts literally, he said.
"What if all Christians stopped being anxious, for example, and started expecting everything from God? Or gave their possessions to the poor, for that matter. Our economy would be lost," he said.
"The truth is quite the contrary: a strong economy and a healthy work ethic is a gift from God," he said.
The foundation's announcement said that it wanted to "boldly go where no one else has gone before" by eliminating those texts.
"We don't use them anyway! There's no single Christian selling his possessions and giving them to the poor," De Rijke added.
The publication, so far, is available only in Dutch, from the well-known Christian publisher Buijten & Schipperheijn. It has discarded passages of the Ten Commandments, sections of Isaiah, the Proverbs, and the Sermon on the Mount. It contains just holes where the original texts urged "radical" actions around money, justice or affluence.
The publisher has reported that it has sold hundreds in just the first few weeks of availability.
However, the names listed for the officials of the foundation, "De Rijke" and "Fortuijn" give away the joke, which sometimes has produced more anger than humor among Christians.
"De Rijke" means "rich," and "Fortuijn" means "fortune," and the Bible actually is published by Time to Turn, a network of Dutch Christian students "who want to choose a sustainable and just way of life, based on their faith in Jesus Christ."
"They do not believe in a new legalism, or in a utopian state, but in a God who is willing to deliver the world from materialism and injustice. Time to Turn is linked to the international student movement Speak," the announcement said.
There was some surprise at the reaction. Frank Mulder, chairman of Time to Turn, said, "Many Christians accept the Western lifestyle, including the degradation of creation and the injustice of our trade, and they only take the easy parts of the gospel. But it isn't until we publish this gospel with holes, that they get confused!"
