The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-04/18/2002 DISCLAIMER: Baptist Press should be credited for any reprinted stories that originate with BP. Suggested credit line: Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. Please note that Baptist Press periodically carries stories from other sources by permission. Individuals interested in reprinting non-BP stories should contact the entity where the story originated to seek reprint permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bethlehem crisis festers as Powell ends peace mission by Art Toalston Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The volatile standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity cries out for an "urgent nonviolent solution," Secretary of State Colin Powell said April 17. But he left Jerusalem not having found one during his 10-day mission to seek peace between warring Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli troops and tanks remained in place around the 1,400-year-old Church of the Nativity where an estimated 250 Palestinian gunmen have been holed up since April 3. Also inside the church are 40 or more clerics and four nuns. At least three Palestinians have been killed in gunfights in Manger Square, the site where Jesus was born according to various Christian bodies. "I'm deeply concerned about the situation at the Church of the Nativity," Powell said in a departing news conference. "... We are working to see if we can find a solution," he said, volunteering no details or imminent hope. "Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon said that he would not assault into that holy place, although we saw there was a fire fight of some kind last night that caused some damage, and that's troubling. But we are trying to find a solution." Compromise will be necessary in resolving the crisis at the church and the region at large, Powell said. "Both sides will have to make difficult choices. And both sides may well have to shift from long-held positions. "That's the nature of a negotiation," Powell said. "[L]et's get into that negotiation and see who is willing to compromise what and who is not. But we will never get to a negotiation, and we will never be able to move forward until we bring the violence down" from current levels in which Israeli forces are moving with resolve against the onslaught of Palestinian suicide bombers. "[C]onfidence between the two sides that existed in some measure previously no longer exists" amid the reality of "so much human suffering that is now taking place," Powell said. "That's what we have to bring to an end as quickly as possible, so then we can get into those kinds of negotiations that will deal with these difficult compromises." For now, calls for compromise voiced by Israelis and Palestinians quickly ring hollow with each side's unwillingness to take the first step. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a CNN interview April 16 that Israeli forces within a week would be leaving all of the Palestinian towns they have entered except for Bethlehem and Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been confined in his battered headquarters. Israeli troops will not leave Bethlehem, however, until the gunmen in the Church of the Nativity surrender or are expelled from the country, Sharon said. And Israeli troops will not end their presence in Ramallah until various Palestinians wanted for terrorism are in custody. "We have problems in Bethlehem -- terrorists took shelter in the Church of the Nativity. Once they will leave ... we will be leaving," Sharon said. "They must leave their weapons behind. They have to come [out]. They will be identified. Those who have no connection with terrorism will be released immediately. Those who are connected and had to do with terrorism and murder will be arrested. "Maybe the Palestinians think in a few days now there will be a change -- Israel will have to leave those places," Sharon continued. "I want to make it very clear: We will leave Bethlehem only after they either are arrested and tried in Israel or deported." He told CNN that a British plane could be utilized in transporting the Palestinians to an undisclosed destination. Sharon's call for a regional peace conference involving the United States, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Palestinian representatives found preliminary favor among moderate Arab leaders with whom Powell met during his peace mission, The Jerusalem Post reported April 17. Powell told reporters April 16 that Sharon's refusal to include Arafat in such a conference doesn't necessarily doom the idea. The conference perhaps could begin among high-level officials, including those representing Arafat, Powell said. Bethlehem's mayor, Hana Nasser, meanwhile has said he intends to appeal to Pope John Paul II to come to the city to help bring peace, the Associated Press reported April 18. "If we cannot reach a reasonable agreement [with the Israelis] that could guarantee and protect those inside the church, I have no other choice but to invite the holy father, the pope, to come to the Holy Land and visit the town of Bethlehem in order to save the mother of churches, the Church of the Nativity," Nasser said. The Vatican had issued no response to Nasser's statement, the AP reported. On April 13, leaders of various Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical churches in Jerusalem proposed a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian tensions in a meeting with Powell. The AP did not specify which churches were represented in the exchange. The leaders urged a three-day Israeli withdrawal from Bethlehem to permit the armed Palestinians inside the church to lay down their weapons and go home, the AP reported. A 16-year-old Palestinian who escaped from the church April 15 told reporters of the stench of rotting bodies and gangrenous wounds permeating the inside of the church; the sight of one wounded Palestinian's exposed intestines; one toilet being shared by all; and sleepless nights stemming from loudspeakers deployed by the Israelis blaring the sounds of approaching helicopters, tanks and barking dogs. Describing the Palestinian gunmen's resolve in the church, the youth quoted them as saying, 'Rather than surrender, we'll go out shooting.'" --30-- (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: NOT YET. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Judge protects Oregon law legalizing assisted suicide by Tom Strode Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)--A federal judge acted April 17 to protect Oregon's law permitting physician-assisted suicide. Judge Robert Jones permanently blocked an order by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to bar the use of federally regulated drugs by doctors assisting patients in committing suicide. The Department of Justice said it is considering an appeal. In his November directive, Ashcroft declared that the use of such drugs for assisted suicide is not permitted under the Controlled Substances Act. While his ruling did not overturn Oregon law, it meant physicians who prescribe or pharmacists who distribute federally controlled substances to aid in suicide may have their licenses to prescribe and dispense such drugs rescinded. The federal government does not have the right "to act as a national medical board," Jones wrote in his ruling from district court in Oregon, according to The Washington Post. "The citizens of Oregon, through their democratic initiative process, have chosen to resolve the moral, legal and ethical debate on physician-assisted suicide for themselves by voting -- not once, but twice -- in favor of the Oregon act." Pro-life advocates denounced the decision. "Once again, a federal judge has made a decision that defends death rather than life," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Assisted-suicide advocates applauded the ruling. Estelle Rodgers, the executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center, said in a written statement her organization was "gratified and relieved that the people of Oregon will continue to have the humane option of hastened death" that has been available for four years under the state's Death With Dignity Act. Land said, "To say that allowing doctors to kill patients is death with dignity and that 'hastened death' is a 'humane option' shows the extent to which Ms. Rogers and all those who follow her moral compass have gone awry, as well as the extent to which our very language is being corrupted by the culture of death." Bioethics specialist Ben Mitchell called the ruling "another step down the slope to utter moral bankruptcy." "Oregon is showing the world what the erosion of moral medicine looks like," said Mitchell, a consultant for the ERLC and an associate professor of bioethics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in suburban Chicago. "In Oregon, doctors kill their patients. In moral medicine, doctors treat their patients' pain and compassionate caregivers relieve patients' suffering without killing them." Rep. Henry Hyde, R.-Ill., said the decision was "the worst kind of judicial policymaking." "Today's ruling turns the constitutional system upside down and makes the government of Oregon the primary interpreter and administrator of a federal criminal law," Hyde said in a written statement. "The United States Constitution requires the president, not the state of Oregon, to 'take care that the laws are faithfully executed.'" Ashcroft's November order reversed a ruling by his predecessor, Janet Reno, that allowed the use of federally regulated drugs in assisted suicide. The state filed suit the next day to block implementation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency of Ashcroft's ruling. Jones issued an order temporarily restraining the federal government. The controversy over the use of federally controlled drugs in assisted suicides in Oregon began in 1997 when the state's voters reaffirmed an earlier approved initiative that had been blocked in the courts. The Death With Dignity Act, which remains the only assisted-suicide law in the country, made it legal for a person to request a prescription for drugs to take his life when he is judged by two doctors to have less than six months to live. Shortly thereafter, Thomas Constantine, DEA administrator at the time, announced the prescription of federally regulated drugs for suicide would be considered a violation of the Controlled Substances Act. In June 1998, however, Reno overruled Constantine, saying the law does not permit the federal government to take action against physicians who prescribe medication for terminally ill patients in order for them to commit suicide. Opponents of assisted suicide inside and outside Congress highly criticized Reno's decision at the time. When he released his November directive, Ashcroft sought to assure doctors the ruling would not threaten their efforts to care for terminally ill patients. In a letter to the Oregon Medical Association, the attorney general said the state's physicians "will have no reason to fear that prescription of controlled substances to control pain will lead to increased scrutiny by the DEA, even when high doses of painkilling drugs are necessary and even when dosages needed to control pain may increase the risk of death." While the American Medical Association opposes assisted suicide, it had expressed concern about doctors' ability to use drugs to treat pain under Ashcroft's order. A total of 21 people committed suicide with a physician's assistance in 2001, according to the latest report on Oregon's law. It marked a decline from the 27 suicides reported each of the previous two years. Of the 17 assisted-suicide victims in 2001 about whom such information was reported, only one was concerned about inadequate pain control. Sixteen feared losing their autonomy and 13 were concerned about a decrease in the ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable. That information was based on interviews with doctors who assisted in the suicides. The ERLC's Land said the decision was part of a tragic two days for the country. "In the last 48 hours, we have witnessed the tragic spectacle of the Supreme Court ruling that adults' so-called right to produce and view virtual child pornography completely trumps society's obligation and responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of children," Land said. "When you combine that with a federal judge reasserting Oregon's assisted-suicide law, hailed by supporters as protecting the 'humane option of hastened death,' and 161 congressional members elected by their constituents [voting] that a girl younger than 17 should be transported by an adult across a state line to kill her child without parental consent, a profoundly dire and disturbing portrait of American culture is revealed. "When large chunks of a building come loose and fall into the street, it's a tell-tale sign that the foundation and the building are in deep trouble," Land said. "These three events within a two-day period represent huge chunks of the edifice that is America that have fallen and shattered as rubble in the street. All Americans who care for their country's future should be gravely concerned. People of faith should call upon the nation to heed God's advice: 'If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'" The House of Representatives approved the Child Custody Protection Act April 17 in a 260-161 vote. A day earlier, the Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Holman Christian Standard Bible: maintaining a faithful heritage by Art Toalston Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A full-fledged translation of Scripture such as the Holman Christian Standard Bible is an undertaking of biblical proportions. Among the challenges: addressing questions not just among the HCSB's Bible scholars and editors but also among pastors and church members. The proverbial question of whether another Bible translation is really needed is always at hand, as is the question that can be posed in myriad ways of why a particular Bible passage has been translated in a particular way. "The explosion of knowledge means there's always going to be a need for new translations," general editor Ed Blum noted. The Holman Christian Standard Bible, however, is especially in the spotlight amid the debate over how extensively "he," "him" and "his" should be replaced by gender-neutral language in Bible translations. Scholars on all sides regard the debate as highly significant in terms of a translation's integrity, readability and cultural sensitivities. Yet the thrust of the Southern Baptist Convention entity producing the HCSB -- LifeWay Christian Resources through its Broadman & Holman Publishers division -- is far broader than staking out ground as a gender-accurate translation within the biblical inerrancy tradition. The Holman Christian Standard Bible is an original translation from the biblical Hebrew and Greek languages within a heritage stretching from William Tyndale's translation in the 1500s to the New International Version in modern times. The HCSB translation of each book of the Bible starts with a scholar's draft from the original Hebrew or Greek. The process subsequently includes two committees of scholars who study each draft word by word with an eye toward refinements and improvements drawn from their expertise and the latest in biblical scholarship and archaeology. A state-of-the-art software program, for example, can speedily provide HCSB scholars and editors with the ability to compare a Scripture passage in progress with the same passage from 30 previous Bible translations or revisions. Also available through the software program are a searchable array of Bible dictionaries, commentaries, atlases and other resources. Another distinction of the HCSB as an original translation is that the scholarly fruits of the in-depth studies of the original Greek and Hebrew words will be included as a feature in most HCSB Bibles, in addition to the usual cross references and footnotes. "In working through the Greek and Hebrew texts, the translation team often came to words that had several possible translation options," Blum, a former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, recounted. "To decide on the best English rendition, we would take ourselves through focused word studies [which proved to be] both interesting and instructive in honing in on the exact meaning of the words. By including some of these, we hope to bring readers even closer to the truth of Scripture." The HCSB New Testament, which was released in 2001, includes 222 word studies. The HCSB Old Testament translation is to be released in the spring of 2004. The HCSB, incidentally, is not solely a Southern Baptist undertaking. Among the 95 scholars and editors involved in the translation, Blum and about 60 percent of the participants represent other evangelical traditions. The HCSB's associate general editor, meanwhile, is Ray Clendenen, a Bible scholar on staff at LifeWay who also is the general editor of B&H's 40-volume New American Commentary series. A belief in biblical inerrancy is shared and fleshed out in the HCSB by Blum, Clendenen and the translation's other scholars. "The standard of evaluation has to be, What does the [original] text actually say?" Blum noted. With a goal of achieving both accuracy and readability, the HCSB strives for a word-for-word translation within the English language's noun-verb-subject framework, Blum said. Translations in the King James tradition, meanwhile, may be a bit more difficult to read, he said, because they reflect more of the original languages' word order, which can place nouns, verbs and subjects almost anywhere in a sentence. And the HCSB differs from New International Version because the latter moves beyond a word-for-word approach to a concept-for-concept style. Because the HCSB is an original translation, various passages sometimes have an unexpected tone -- even its gender-related renderings. In Romans 12:6-8, for example, the King James Version includes six uses of "he," "him" or "his," and the New International Version includes nine, while the HCSB has none -- the same count as Today's New International Version, an NIV revision that immediately ignited debate after its release earlier this year over many of its gender-neutral word choices. Even with its biblical inerrancy orientation, the HCSB incidentally may share common ground with the controversial TNIV translation simply because in some cases HCSB scholars saw that a passage in the original language indeed had no gender specificity. On the other hand, in some cases the HCSB may break with the 1984 New International Version which added masculine pronouns not reflected in the original text. After the TNIV was introduced earlier this year, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood challenged as inaccurate more than 100 passages with gender-neutral translations. The HCSB translated the same 100-plus passages in a gender-specific fashion, keeping intact the meaning of the original languages. In large part, the TNIV-HCSB differences can be attributed to the fact that the International Bible Society, which produced both the TNIV and the earlier NIV, announced earlier this year it was "withdrawing its endorsement" of the 1997 "Colorado Springs Guidelines" for translating gender references in Scripture. The IBS said it had decided "upon further review and consideration" that "many of the technical guidelines are too restrictive to facilitate the most accurate possible text in contemporary English." The guidelines were forged in the midst of a controversy over plans by the International Bible Society and its NIV partner, Zondervan, to introduce a gender-neutral NIV revision for the U.S. market in 2001 -- plans that surfaced in news reports but had not been publicly announced by the IBS and Zondervan. Among those voicing concern at the time were James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; various Southern Baptist leaders, including seminary presidents R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Paige Patterson; and the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. The IBS and Zondervan quelled the furor by announcing they had "abandoned all plans for gender-related changes in future editions of the New International Version." Their representatives also were among 12 signers of the Colorado Springs Guidelines that emerged from a May 1997 meeting convened by Dobson in Colorado Springs outlining gender-related principles for trustworthy Bible translation. The CSG signers noted, "Specifically, we agree that it is inappropriate to use gender-neutral language when it diminishes accuracy in the translation of the Bible, and we therefore agree to the attached guidelines for translation of gender-related language in Scripture." Their statement also noted: "We agree that Bible translations should not be influenced by illegitimate intrusions of secular culture or by political or ideological agendas." The Holman Christian Standard Bible, meanwhile, has embraced the principles in Colorado Springs Guidelines throughout the translation process. Bruce Ware, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, in an e-mail letter noted he had compared the HCSB with various passages in the TNIV "that were of deep concern to us at CBMW ... and the HCSB does not use gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language in those passages as the TNIV does." "Please remember that we are not opposed to every change made in the TNIV," Ware wrote, "but we are concerned in passages where intended gender specificity is eliminated." In passages he has examined thus far, Ware wrote, HCSB translators "have not followed the same policy as has been employed in the TNIV." The Colorado Springs Guidelines can be viewed on the CBMW's website, at http://www.cbmw.org/resources/articles/niv/guidelines.html. Broadman & Holman's publisher, Ken Stephens, told Baptist Press, "The goal of the Holman Christian Standard Bible project is translation accuracy and readability. Our language guidelines have specified from the beginning that inclusive pronouns are used only where the original text, not our contemporary culture, allows it. Those guidelines also prohibit changing gender references to achieve inclusiveness and from adding to the inspired writings of the biblical authors. This is compatible with the Colorado Springs Guidelines endorsed more than four years ago by Broadman & Holman, Focus on the Family and other organizations and biblical scholars. "Our goal is to be gender-accurate, not gender-neutral or gender-inclusive," Stephens said. "Masculine references to God are translated as such," he added, "and pronouns referring to God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are capitalized to ensure clarity, which the KJV and NIV do not do." For general editor Ed Blum, there's also a vital human dimension to the HCSB's thrust for faithfulness to the biblical text. At a family retreat for those involved in the HCSB translation, Blum engaged in an evening discussion with about 15 students ranging from grade school through high school fielding questions from "Why do they call it the Bible?" to detailed facets of the translation process. "In the middle of it all, looking around at all those eager faces, it struck me anew why we're doing this," Blum recounted. "These young men and women represent our legacy. They're the ones depending on us to pass the Word of God down to them accurately, undefiled and uncompromised by contemporary trends and secular cynicism. "They and all who follow them will live in a world of relativism I could scarcely have imagined when I was their age," Blum reflected. "Ironically, when they need inerrant truth the worst, that truth itself is most at risk. And they can't know the difference between the real truth and fallible, relative truth unless we leave them a reliable guide." --30-- (BP) photos posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo titles: YES, A NEW TRANSLATION and ED BLUM. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Some gender translations can weaken Bible's personal touch, scholar says by Art Toalston Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)-Changing the pronouns "he," "him" and "his" in translating Scripture may undercut the Bible's personal touch, said Ray Clendenen, associate general editor of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. A key biblical theme - one that has made "a profound impression on Christians through the centuries," Clendenen said - is "the stress the Bible places on the importance of the individual." "Many Bible scholars are concerned to provide the church with a Bible translation that does not make women feel slighted or overlooked," Clendenen acknowledged. "One of the most common ways of achieving this goal is to render Greek or Hebrew masculine singular nouns and pronouns as plurals. 'He,' 'him' and 'his,' then, often become 'they,' 'them' and 'their.'" But, he explained, "This changes an aspect of the biblical message at that point by changing the audience or person concerned from an individual to a group. "The Bible shows God confronting not just humanity," Clendenen said, "but individuals with their sin and warning individuals of judgment to come. "Similarly, the Bible confronts individuals with the claims of Christ and calls upon not just 'us' but 'me' to turn from sin, to trust Christ and to enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with him." Where the original biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew do not utilize masculine pronouns, the HCSB translators used language that can refer to both men and women, Clendenen said. But where the Greek and Hebrew refer specifically to "he," "him" and "his," the HCSB has maintained a priority on accuracy by translating the pronouns in their masculine form, he said. Revelation 3:20 is an example Clendenen noted of a Bible verse "commonly used to invite someone to have a personal relationship with Christ." The HCSB renders the verse as "Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me." A gender-inclusive Bible translation, meanwhile, might say that Jesus will eat with "them," and "they" with him, Clendenen said. "By not eliminating generic masculine singular nouns and pronouns," he noted, "the HCSB has sought to maintain the biblical stress on individual blessings and accountability." The Holman Christian Standard Bible is being produced by a 95-member team of interdenominational Bible scholars and editors for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Clendenen, in addition to serving as the HCSB's associate general editor, is general editor of B&H's 40-volume New American Commentary series. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Greek & Hebrew word studies added by Holman Bible scholars by Art Toalston Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--While translating God's Word, they discovered unexpected riches and decided to share the bounty of their insights into key words imbedded in the Bible's original languages. Thus, 222 New Testament word studies have been crafted by scholars working on the Holman Christian Standard Bible. And more are on the way when the Old Testament is published in 2004. The word studies, along with cross references and footnotes, will appear in various editions of the Bible being produced by an interdenominational team of scholars for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. An example of a focused word study in the HCSB: Greek word: anastasis [ah NAH stah sihss] Translation: resurrection Uses in John's Gospel: 4 (Mt, 4; Mk, 2, Lk, 6) Uses in John's writings: 6 Uses in the NT: 42 Key passage: John 11:24-25 The Greek noun anastasis is derived from the verb anistemi, meaning literally to stand up and then by extension to rise up. Both words could be used metaphorically. The word anastasis was common in the ancient Greek world; but it rarely referred to the resurrection of the dead, which is the dominant meaning of its occurrences in the NT. Two major events are described with the word anastasis in the NT: the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus in the past (Rm 1:4, 1 Co 15:12-13), and the physical, bodily resurrection of believers in the future (Jn 5:29; 11:24-25; 1 Co 15:42; Php 3:11; Rv 20:5-6). Among other words from the New Testament Greek explored in the HCSB: Abba, Almighty, Alpha, authority, baptize, believe, blasphemy, Christian, church, circumcision, commandment, confess, Counselor, covenant, crucify, deacon, disciple, elder, epistle, evangelist, faith, fast, fear, fellowship, forgive, Gentile, glory, gospel, grace, heart, heaven, hell, holy, hypocrite, I am, Jesus, kingdom, law, life, light, Lord, love, Master, mercy, Messiah, praise, pray, preach, priesthood, prophet, redemption, rejoice, righteousness, sacrifice, Satan, Son, Spirit, Teacher, testify, tribulation, Word and worship. Ed Blum, the HCSB's general editor, recounted the genesis of the word study feature: "In working through the Greek and Hebrew texts, the translation team often came to words that had several possible translation options. To decide on the best English rendition, we would take ourselves through focused word studies [which proved to be] both interesting and instructive in honing in on the exact meaning of the words. "By including some of these," Blum said, "we hope to bring readers even closer to the truth of Scripture." --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Translation editor works to find apt words for new Holman Bible by Mandy Crow Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Translating Scripture from an ancient text is a lot like cooking from a foreign cookbook. Sometimes you have to substitute words and ingredients to get the intended flavor. That's the type of issue Dave Stabnow, Bible translation editor in Broadman & Holman's product development department, deals with every day as one of the translators of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. "If it were up to me, I could translate something that's really convoluted, backwards, and it would look just fine to me," he said, referring to his familiarity with the inverted sentences of Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, the original languages of the Bible. "I need somebody around me to tell me that that's not good English." Stabnow spends each day reviewing and perfecting the books of Kings and Chronicles. The books have already been translated and read over. David is working on the third draft, which will then be read by the HCSB's general editor, Ed Blum, and associate general editor, Ray Clendenen. Stabnow's job is to review the work of previous translators, checking the accuracy of their Old Testament translation work with the original Hebrew language and bring it into the HCSB style. For Stabnow, that process is a team effort in more ways than one. Stabnow usually spends half his day working with English language stylist Sheila Moss, who makes suggestions about his and other translators' work in order to create the best English translation possible. "We work together to get as good of an English style as we can that's faithful to the Hebrew," he said. Stabnow then spends the second half of his day reviewing those suggestions and his translation, consulting the original Hebrew, dictionaries and commentaries. And every once in awhile, he gets a little help from his friends. "It's fun when Dave bounces ideas off everyday people like me who don't have the same advanced theological education that he does," said David Schrader, Bible publicity administrator for B&H's marketing department. "He seems to value our opinions about word choices and the clarity of certain passages. That's a testament to how serious he and the rest of the team are about making the HCSB not only the most accurate, but the most readable translation available yet." Interaction among different groups of people is vital to a good translation, Stabnow said. Because he is comfortable with popular Bible translations that do not showcase a particularly good English style and because he has good knowledge of ancient languages, he said getting his colleagues to help with the review process makes for a better translation. "Our target audience is the person on the pew -- the person in church who studies his Bible," Stabnow said. "So it's important that the average Christian churchgoer can understand what we're writing." In the end, Stabnow's work is just one component in the HCSB mix. Seven different committees have been working to complete the translation of the Old Testament manuscript, and each individual book has undergone a detailed, three-stage editing process. Once translation is complete, the Old Testament manuscript will pass through a final proofreading stage and the entire Holman Bible will then be ready for release in the spring of 2004. --30-- (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: WORDS WELL CHOSEN. -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: An English stylist amid Bible scholars by John Perry Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Among about 95 people who have worked on the Holman Christian Standard Bible, I'm one of a handful with an English-only pedigree. I can't read Greek or Hebrew and, if I could, I might never get any work done. My job as an English stylist is to make sure the text from a translator in England through an editor in Chicago is consistent with another section from California edited in Texas. I'm a stylistic funnel of sorts, which would be easy except that I have to change things without changing anything. By the time a translation text gets to me, biblical scholars and language specialists have hammered out hundreds of decisions about meaning and nuance, syntax and grammar. But that still leaves personal variations in word choice, sentence structure and application of the HCSB project guidelines. My challenge is to conform various sections from different translators without compromising the precision of the English rendering. The most useful tools in my box are also the simplest: punctuation and word order. Subtle differences in how sentences are broken up and how various sections are connected can dramatically improve readability. Moving words and clauses around a little can bring big improvements as well. When I want to change a word or verb tense, or anything else that might affect the meaning, I talk it over with one of the translators first. Although I don't get caught up in scholarly arguments, I do ask questions about consistency and ease of reading. How easy is the translation to memorize? How does it flow when read aloud? Are there obscure words American readers might stumble over or misunderstand? One more crucial element is the guffaw factor. Even if a translated phrase is clear and accurate, is it appropriate for Scripture? What about an irritated speaker saying, "Who are these guys?" Or an Old Testament patriarch calling somebody a jerk? Based on contemporary American English, these are probably the most accurate readings of these passages. But could a seventh-grader get through them without snickering? Could a layman read them from the lectern without hesitation? Probably not. So we settle on alternatives. Once I've made my recommendations, the text goes to the general editor one last time to make sure it still meets HCSB standards of accuracy. Though my emphasis is on readability, the meaning and the message always come first. When a section of text is finally committed to type, my work is invisible if I've done it right. There's an inevitability about a good translation: whether you read it or listen to it, it sounds like it could never have been any other way. All the discussions and dueling e-mails about whether angels speak using contractions, and the countless other questions great and small that translators have wrestled with in a particular chapter or book, disappear beneath the surface, leaving a smooth, clean, confident page containing the inspired Word of God for a new generation and a new century. Few projects in my life have been so intense and complicated. Fewer still have been so richly satisfying. --30-- Perry is an author in Nashville, Tenn., in addition to serving as an English stylist with the Holman Christian Standard Bible. -------------------------------------------------------------------- House passes ban on transport of underage girls for abortions by Tom Strode Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to protect parents' rights when an underage girl is seeking an abortion outside her state in order to avoid a parental involvement law. In action April 17, the House voted 260-161 in favor of the Child Custody Protection Act, H.R. 476. The legislation would make it a federal offense for a person to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion when the state in which the girl lives requires either parental notification or consent before such a procedure. It marks the third time in five years the House has approved the bill. It appears, however, Senate approval may be a problem again. The House easily adopted the measure in 1998 and 1999, but the bill died in the Senate both times. President Clinton refused to endorse the legislation when it was passed by the House previously, but supporters of the bill are hopeful President Bush will back it. The House "did the right thing," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "The sad thing is that 161 representatives, each elected to Congress by the people of their district, voted against this legislation. "One representative, ironically named [Louise] Slaughter, said the bill was 'blatantly unconstitutional,'" Land said. Arguing for the constitutionality of "interposing another adult between a parent and child when it comes to the question of aborting the parent's grandchild and the child's child should be beyond comprehension," Land said. "Clearly for 161 members of Congress it isn't. And we wonder why families often feel assaulted by their government." At least 24 states have laws that require the notification or consent of at least one parent or a guardian, or authorization by a judge, before a minor can have an abortion, according to the National Right to Life Committee. The House-approved measure does not require any state to adopt a parental involvement law. Some studies have shown a majority of minors who become pregnant are impregnated by men 18 or older. Supporters of the Child Custody Protection Act argue such a man has an incentive to keep the pregnancy hidden by means of a secret abortion, since he is vulnerable to a statutory rape charge. In the best-known example of such an incident, a Pennsylvania eighth-grader was secretly taken to New York in 1995 for an abortion by the stepmother of the 18-year-old man who impregnated her. Such occurrences may not be rare. Also in 1995, abortion-rights lawyer Kathryn Kolbert of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy said, according to a news report, thousands of adults are helping minors travel from states with parental involvement laws in order to obtain abortions. Opponents of the bill have argued in part it will cause girls to obtain unsafe abortions to avoid informing their parents or seeking a judicial bypass. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, called the bill "mean-spirited" and criticized the rejection of an amendment that would have protected from prosecution adult family members and religious counselors who transport girls to other states for abortions. "This bill doesn't improve family communications or help girls," Veazey said in a written release. "This is not a bill about solutions; it's a bill about punishments." Laura Echevarria, NRLC's director of media relations, said in a written release her organization believes Congress "should not override state laws by empowering siblings, boyfriends or other persons who do not hold parental authority under the pertinent state laws." In the vote on the bill's passage, 58 Democrats and an independent joined 201 Republicans in approving the measure. Fourteen Republicans and an independent voted with 146 Democrats against the bill. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R.-Fla., is the bill's chief House sponsor, as she was during its previous passage by representatives. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Punitive damages levied against church in 16-year-old's drowning by Malinda Hallman McGill Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday COLUMBIANA, Ala. (BP)--First Baptist Church of Columbiana, Ala., will pay $950,000 to the family of Terry White, a 16-year-old boy who drowned May 31, 2000, while on a missions trip with the church. A Baldwin County jury reached the verdict April 3. The jury found that the church should be sued for punitive damages in a wrongful death suit issued by White's parents, Norman and Quilla White. First Baptist, Columbiana, and other Shelby County churches were on a missions trip to three Baldwin County migrant camps when the accidental drowning occurred. The group stayed at the Lutheran-owned Camp Dixie in Baldwin County. The Whites claimed that if the church had had a lifeguard on duty at the camp the death would not have happened. The parents sued the church for $2 million, but were granted $950,000. "I feel that two tragedies have occurred," said Mike Miller, the church's pastor. "The first one was a terrible accident May 31, 2000, that rendered a tragic loss of life. The second was on April 3, 2002, when the jury rendered the verdict. "In a wrongful death suit, there is only one award for damages," Miller said. "They are considered punitive damages. The jury basically said the church deserved to be punished for a tragic accident." White, a member of Providence Baptist Church, a church in Shelby County, had been involved with the youth group at First Baptist and went on the trip to share the gospel with migrant workers. "Some of the boys were walking in knee-deep water at the camp about 100 yards from the shore," Miller said. "There's only one small area in the bay that's deeper than that where they dredged the place for sand. There was no cry for help, no struggle and no splashing. We think he just slipped into that hole. I don't think even a lifeguard would have noticed it or helped. The boys just thought he had gone inside or to play. "It was a tragic, unforeseen, unexplainable accident. No one was at fault," he said. "You can't control every circumstance that may occur -- with children or adults." The rule of law in Alabama, Miller said, is based on what a reasonable church would do in the same circumstances. He noted that the jury's decision sets a dangerous precedent for churches in Alabama, and feels blessed because First Baptist has insurance to cover the amount. Miller said attorneys "whipped up emotion," and the "fiery emotional atmosphere" had a lot to do with the decision. "I feel like we've been dealt a huge blow," he said. "I did not expect a jury in Baldwin County to render this kind of verdict." Miller said they have no bitterness toward White's family. "I'm sure they'd rather have their son back than have $950,000," he said. "This is a tragic time for them, and I don't blame them. If I were going through the same situation, I'd be searching for answers, too. I know they're hurting." The church, however, has plans to continue its mission to serve God. "We're going to put this behind us because God has plans for us," Miller said. "We are in the middle of a strategic planning process, and we will not let a temporary setback get in our way. Satan is trying to put a roadblock in front of us, and we're not going to let it keep us from continuing to be on mission together for the glory of God." Miller also gave advice for other churches: "You can't let the fear of an unforeseen accident hinder you from doing God's work and being on mission for Jesus Christ." --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Evangelistic prayer ministry can energize churches, he says by James Dotson Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday ONTARIO, Calif. (BP)--A comprehensive prayer strategy might be more ideal than reality for many churches pressured with competing ministries. But it can yield powerful results in the lives of individuals, the church as a whole and the cause of Christ globally, a California prayer evangelism leader said. Randy McWhorter, director of evangelism for the California Southern Baptist Convention, shared details of a model "Great Commission Prayer Ministry" during the Connection 2002 conference sponsored by the North American Mission Board April 10-13 in Ontario, Calif. "We can almost capture what God's up to by the volume of prayer that his people are doing," McWhorter said during one of the conference's small-group workshops. "When there is a greater emphasis on prayer, a great desire for prayer among God's people, God's action is not far behind." While many church prayer ministries are often confined to individual prayer and an intercessory prayer service on Wednesday, McWhorter said, churches can begin to see real results when they begin focusing prayer also on spiritual growth among themselves and on reaching people with the gospel. "Ultimately the most important thing is that as many people as possible make it into heaven," he said. "We have this small window called life to prepare for all of eternity. And we ought to be praying that God would give us the strength, the wisdom and the courage [to witness], and that God would be preparing the hearts of those who need to hear the gospel." The Great Commission Prayer Ministry model has three main components, McWhorter said. On a personal level, the church needs to encourage and equip every member to have an effective and vibrant prayer life -- thus ensuring their own hearts are right before God. "As we are connected with the vine, the heartbeat of God flows through us," McWhorter said, referring to the familiar teaching of Christ in John 15. "The closer we are to God the more we're producing fruit." On the second level, regular corporate evangelistic prayer efforts and special prayer events could harness the power of prayer in the community. Prayer journeys through neighborhoods and other areas are especially effective not only in lifting up individual families to God but also in awakening participants to the excitement of prayer. "Being in a constant attitude of prayer -- and realizing that I don't have to be in a room on my knees and that I can pray with excitement -- has brought a whole new dimension into my prayer life," McWhorter said. "And biblical prayer is contagious." The third component involves "the kingdom," the needs that do not directly involve the individual or the local church. Participating in the National Day of Prayer, See You at the Pole, community prayer groups and worldwide prayer emphases are just a few examples. Getting such a ministry up and running often begins with enlisting one individual with a heart for evangelistic, McWhorter said. A Great Commission Prayer Council also can help set the direction and serve as a conduit for working with other church leaders. From that point, strategies can be developed from the wealth of resources available for both training prayer warriors and providing detailed information that can guide focused, specific prayers. "No great movement of God occurs until first of all the people of God are mobilized in extraordinary prayer," McWhorter said. "Always before a great movement of God there occurs a great movement of prayer among God's people." The Ontario conference was the first of three Connection events being sponsored this spring by the North American Mission Board, with others scheduled for Baltimore, Md., and Atlanta, Ga., in May. --30-- Further details and resources for implementing a Great Commission Prayer Ministry are available at www.namb.net/prayer. (BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: RANDY McWHORTER. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Church mission education: more than organizations by James Dotson Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday ONTARIO, Calif. (BP)--A church that has mission education organizations for every age group and gender may still be missing a large part of its membership in trying to develop "on mission" Christians, a North American Mission Board mission education leader said. It is only when mission education is integrated into every church ministry -- including corporate worship, Bible study, evangelism, discipleship, fellowship and opportunities for personal involvement in missions -- that the entire congregation becomes focused on the shared mission of bringing others to faith in Christ. Kenny Rains, NAMB's manager of mission opportunities and events, addressed the topic at a workshop held during the April 10-13 Connection 2002, the first of three regional conferences sponsored by NAMB for pastors, missionaries and other denominational partners. The key to having a coordinated focus on mission education is the "On Mission Team," NAMB's term for the group in the church that brings together representative leadership from different areas to promote missions awareness. Its objective, Rains said, is to keep the church abreast of where God is at work, how members can serve him and what skills are useful in seeing that come about. Among the primary tools in the arsenal of the On Mission Team are the traditional Southern Baptist missions organizations -- including Mission Friends, Royal Ambassadors, Girls in Action, Challengers, Acteens, Baptist Men on Misson and Women on Mission. But mission education also can be stressed through mobilizing members in mission trips, integrating missions in worship and Sunday School, and employing other strategies. "These organizations are strong tools and resources, but I have to remind my brothers and sisters in mission education all the time that if we really had the key of being a church-wide concept then why are we struggling today?" Rains asked. "We're not reaching every child through RAs, GAs and Mission Friends. We're not reaching every adult or youth. I think it goes back to seeing mission education in a different light." Organizations remain helpful, however, in teaching the skills needed to grow missionaries -- whether locally, through short-term missions trips or eventually longer-term service. Many churches that do not have mission education organizations because of calendars already full with other activities can find alternative ways of incorporating the materials, noted Tim Seanor, NAMB's director of mission education. Seanor shared how he used Challengers materials for a group of teenage boys meeting in homes. Several were not even members of the church. It became a small group focused on mutual accountability and missions rather than just another church program, he said. "Within a year I had two of those boys accept Christ," he said. "And the rest of them read the entire Book of John, and they are involved in all kinds of mission projects." --30-- More information on church-wide mission education is found in the "The On Mission Church Planning Kit," a NAMB resource available through LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Leisure ministries make personal evangelism fun by James Dotson Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday ONTARIO, Calif. (BP)--A bowling-alley missionary or beach evangelist might not be the first to pop to mind when people think of missions service, but it is in these sorts of settings that Christians can be most effective in sharing the gospel, a North American Mission Board evangelism leader said. Jeff Wagner, manager of special ministries evangelism for NAMB, said personal evangelism can be fun, particularly if it occurs naturally within relationships formed through shared recreational interests and activities. "Jesus sent us as disciples into non-church situations, and that's where we rub shoulders with people," he said. "And the most natural place to rub shoulders with people is when they're having fun, and you already naturally have an affinity with them." Wagner led a workshop on the topic during the April 10-13 Connection 2002, the first of three conference being sponsored by NAMB this spring for pastors, missionaries and other denominational partners. Wagner suggested that churches examine the community around them to see where people are gathering around common interests. It might be a resort area, small-track car racing, soccer field or antique row. For the church, it can be an intentional effort to set up some sort of servanthood evangelism presence in these areas, while for individuals it can be simply building relationships with others around their own interests and looking for opportunities of sharing Christ. When individuals express an interest in beginning an intentional ministry, Wagner said it is important that they first be active within the local congregation -- and that the church encourage and support those called to that particular ministry. "You have to be tied to a local church," he said. "It's the responsibility of the leadership of the church to equip them, encourage them and send them out." Once a particular leisure ministry has been identified, Wagner outlined a process for following through with a ministry -- beginning with identifying the group of people being served, identifying needs, bathing the effort in prayer and enlisting volunteers. Sometimes opportunities for evangelism can be developed by individuals, he noted, recounting how earlier in his ministry he would fly a kite near a picturesque white church popular with tourists. The kite-flying attracted interest, and the location prompted discussions of church, and ultimately Jesus Christ. "They kind of got into a thoughtful mood as they came to look at the church," Wagner said. --30-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST-PERSON: Some count missionaries as 'American Taliban' by Erich Bridges Date: April 18, 2002 - Thursday RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--What's the difference between "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh and any zealous young missionary preaching the gospel overseas? Not much, to hear some folks tell it. In their view, Lindh is a dangerous fanatic -- and so are evangelical missionaries. Lindh, 20, sits in a federal jail in Virginia awaiting trial on charges of taking up arms against Americans overseas and supporting terrorists. Pundits already have noted the obvious ironies surrounding him: Named after late Beatle and peace activist John Lennon (remember "Imagine no religion"?). Raised in hyper-liberal Marin County, Calif. Encouraged by open-minded parents to experiment with various forms of "spirituality." Lindh experimented, all right. He ended up ditching mushy Marin County, his family and his country to look for the most extreme form of Islam he could find. The quest led him to Yemen, Pakistan and finally into the arms of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The quest apparently was okay with his enablers -- at first. Mom and Dad even financed his trip to Yemen. His transgression was picking an ideology marked by intolerance and absolutism. Those are possibly the only two unforgivable sins in the cathedral of postmodernity. The Taliban wanted to kill or imprison anyone who disagreed with their definition of truth. Every civilized nation should oppose that kind of intolerance. But America's pluralist establishment has no use for any belief system that embraces absolutes -- particularly religious faith. And missionaries who dare to proclaim absolutes abroad -- such as "Jesus Christ is the only way to God" -- are positively anathema. Christianity is a missionary faith. Yes, the church (like the mosque) has historical chapters of violence and forced conversion we would prefer to forget. But Christians are clearly commanded by their Lord and their Scriptures to spread the gospel. The very word "gospel" means "good news." Good news is supposed to be joyfully shouted from every street corner and housetop, not just politely murmured in churches. Wherever Christ's command to evangelize all nations is rejected or redefined, the church begins to settle down, get comfortable -- and die. The final gasp may take decades or centuries, but death is assured. It happened in Europe. It can happen here -- regardless of the size and wealth of our churches -- through apathy, unscriptural priorities or outright disobedience to God. The pluralist police would like to see the American missionary movement shut down altogether. For years they have portrayed evangelical missionaries as little better than medieval Crusaders, bent on converting all non-Christians -- or destroying their cultures. Since Sept. 11, media types have begun "casually equat(ing) evangelical Christians with the murderous Taliban and their hero ... Osama bin Laden," James A. Smith Sr. has reported in Baptist Press, citing multiple examples. Smith calls it bigotry, and he's right. It's also dangerous. National Public Radio recently reported on a missionary group that parachuted tiny gospel recordings into tribal villages whose leaders forbade any other form of evangelization. A listener responded with this chilling thought: Those who dropped the recordings are no better than the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center -- and should be treated as such. Meanwhile, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has declared America's "real war" is not against terrorism. "Terrorism is just a tool," Friedman says. "We're fighting to defeat an ideology: religious totalitarianism. World War II and the Cold War were fought to defeat secular totalitarianism -- Nazism and communism. World War III is a battle against religious totalitarianism, a view of the world that my faith must reign supreme and can be affirmed and held passionately only if all others are negated. That's bin Ladenism." Friedman quotes Rabbi David Hartman, who contends that the three major faiths of the biblical tradition -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- "have the tendency to believe that they have the exclusive truth. When the Taliban wiped out the Buddhist statues, that's what they were saying. But others have said it too." "The opposite of religious totalitarianism is an ideology of pluralism -- an ideology that embraces religious diversity and the idea that my faith can be nurtured without claiming exclusive truth," Friedman writes. "America is the Mecca of that ideology, and that is what bin Laden hates and that is why America had to be destroyed." So there you have it. America is the Mecca of pluralism, and the fanatics among us who preach exclusive truth are essentially bin Ladens who must be enlightened -- or somehow silenced. There's just one problem, besides the obvious threats to freedom of religion and speech: Christianity without belief in -- and proclamation of -- Jesus Christ as the one Lord and Savior of all nations bears little resemblance to what the Bible declares, what Jesus himself (and the apostles) preached, what countless millions have believed for 20 centuries. Meanwhile, young people are as hungry as ever for truth, meaning and purpose. As Mother Teresa once said, "Today's youth are looking for the challenge of self-denial." John Walker Lindh sure was. My guess is that he was so hungry for meaning and purpose that he traded the meaningless existence of Marin County for the brutal assurance of the Taliban's Afghanistan. If he had experienced the love of Christ in his own country, he might not have lurched from one absurd extreme to the other. "I submit that our world's structures of sin are intentionally created to enforce generational patterns in order to trap youth," says mission researcher Justin Long. "For firebrands [who] simply will not yield to [the usual] temptations, [the devil] offers the fire of spiritual revolution -- on his terms, not God's." An estimated 1.8 billion people, by the way, are under age 15. That's about 30 percent of the world's population. Three-quarters of them live in unevangelized nations, according to Long. The youth of the world are looking for truth, not pluralist pap, wherever they can find it. We should offer it to them in the person of Jesus Christ -- with love and without apology. --30-- Erich Bridges is a senior writer for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.