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New Scripture publication literally cuts out unused parts 
'Western Bible Foundation' says some verses simply don't apply now

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 naïve 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!"

Any serious Christian knows that Jesus is the same yseterday, today and forever. They also know that He is a better economist than any person on earth.

Let's just serve the needs and desires of man instead of those of our creator.   ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Pastor Roger,

Brother, here we see the emergence of more churches who are serving the world - not GOD. We have many examples and threads on the forum where it is becoming obvious that many churches are trying to shove GOD out of their church.

I've even heard people say "toss the entire Old Testament". One MUST understand the Old Testament and study the Old Testament before many portions of the New Testament make sense.  Instead of tossing any portion of the Holy Bible, I would say to toss the church wanting to do this. The proofs for many portions of the New Testament are in the Old Testament, and many topics require a detailed study of both portions of the Bible before there is a chance to understand the topic. As an example, fulfilled Old Testament Prophecy in the New Testament adds reason to believe that the Holy Bible is absolutely true and accurate.

How could we understand the wonderful changes that took place on the CROSS if we didn't understand what things were like before the CROSS? There would be hosts of questions just like this that could not be ignored. How could anyone begin to understand Bible Prophecy if they didn't understand GOD'S relationship to Israel in the Old Testament? The questions could go on and on, but the obvious is that church wants to serve the world, NOT GOD. As far as I'm concerned, that church might as well turn itself into a saloon.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ephesians 1:18-23 NASB  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

And as we saw in post here on the forum that is precisely what some are doing.