When the Song does not remain the same

If there is one gift from the Lord that I feel is ultimately divine in origin; it is music. Art should produce emotion or inspiration and when that Art is music; it has the ability to transport the human heart so that the presence of the divine can be felt to the marrow of one’s soul.

Collapsed Catholic that I am, whenever I read the Christian bible or use Christian biblical references I tend to use the King James Version of the protestant bible. I do have a standard modern English Catholic bible but I find the language cold and sterile. I am not a big poetry fan but I find the language of the King James just sings off the page when I read it wherein the Catholic Standard English version just puts me off reading it which very well may be the point.

When I was pregnant with my last child it was a particularly troubled time in my life. I thought my heart was breaking. Then one night I had a dream that I gave birth to another son and in my dream I named him Isaiah. I woke up from that dream and name just seemed to echo like the notes of a song to say. I straight away went to search the Prophet Isaiah in the King James Version. My eyes were immediately drawn to the verse that reads: I will give you beauty for ashes, and for those that mourn I will bring you the oil of joy. Now that verse refers to the messiah returning to Zion and Isaiah means the Salvation of the Lord. My Isaiah Sender has been the oil of joy and he has given me nothing but beauty for ashes. Though there is a part of me that wished I had read the entire section before I sent in his birth registration as Isaiah does seem to share the same fiery temper of his namesake which ultimately led to the Prophet’s incurring the wrath of King Manasseh who commanded that Isaiah be seized and put into a hollow log and sawed in two for preaching against taking on the evil ways of others.

All of which brings me to this discovery in the Daily Telegraph:

For readers of the Bible confused by its archaic language, such as its use of the term "stoned" for a form of execution rather than the effects of smoking dope, help is at hand. One of the world's most widely read Bibles, the New International Version, has been modernised by a team of 15 American and British scholars and is published today.

Gone is the word "aliens", which the academics thought was invariably associated in the minds of the younger generation with extra-terrestrials. It is replaced with "foreigners". Even the term "saints" is deemed to be too "ecclesiastical" and has been banished, to be replaced with "God's chosen people". The Virgin Mary is no longer "with child"; she is "pregnant".

And, to the dismay of traditionalists, who will suspect a feminist agenda, "inclusive" language has been introduced throughout. Where the original read: "When God created Man, he made him in the likeness of God"; the new version says: "When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God."

For those unfamiliar with the punishments meted out in Biblical times to blasphemers and adulterers, the new version is also helpful, changing "Naboth has been stoned and is dead" to "Naboth has been stoned to death".More than 45,000 changes - about seven per cent of the text - have been made. Even the title has been changed to Today's New International Version.

In Judaism, there is a strong prohibition to changing one word of the Torah. It seems a shame that Christianity which owes so much to Judaism cannot pay heed or absorb this lesson. The inherent danger of changing scripture for the sake of vernacular fashion which by its nature is here today and gone tomorrow risks that the message will be lost or changed far beyond the scope of the original intent. That is the way of the lost and tone deaf.

If we continue down this road I can foresee a time when there will be a hip-hop bible and when the Angel asks Mary if she will consent to bear the child instead of answering: "Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord", she answers: “Yo, I'm G-d bitch." Just doesn’t quite have the same effect does it?

(Tipped off by A Black and White World)