The “Queen James Bible” that
has recently been released purports to be based on the King James Bible version
and is being touted as the “first-ever gay Bible in the world,” reports the
Daily Mail.
The “Queen James Bible” is
said to offer an unconvoluted and unbiased explanation of all of the standard
biblical verses that pertain to homosexuality.
“Homosexuality was first overtly mentioned in the Bible in 1946
in the Revised Standard Version. There is no mention of or reference to
homosexuality in any Bible prior to this – only interpretations have been
made,” according to the book’s editors.
“The Queen James Bible addresses those controversial verses by
editing them very slightly for interpretive clarity. The edits all confirm that
the Bible does not condemn homosexuality, and therefore renders such interpretations
impossible.”
The publication of the
revisionist interpretation of the holy word comes at a time when same-sex
marriage is being hotly debated throughout the country. The bound book,
which is being sold online for $34.95, oddly enough does not explain how it
germinated, nor is a publisher, editor, or translator listed anywhere.
Douglas J. Moo, Wessner Chair
of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and a professional Bible translator,
contends that the Queen James editor’s interpretations is not entirely
accurate.
“Few, if any English translations use the actual words
‘homosexuality’ or ‘homosexual.’ But the history of English translation shows
that versions have consistently used other language to refer to what we would
call homosexual relationships,’ Moo told The Christian Post. “For
instance, the King James Version of Romans 1:27 refers to ‘men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly. It would be very difficult to deny that
this language, and the language found in many other places in both the [Old
Testament] and the [New Testament], refers to homosexuality.”
Reverend Glynn Cardy of St.
Matthew in the City Church located in Aotearoa, New Zealand, is standing firmly
on the side of the book’s publishers. He told the Daily Mail that since
“homosexuality” was not a word until the 1800s, any mention of it in the Bible
would come with mistranslations. He also pointed out that there were no
references to Jesus’ sexual orientation, “The fact is we don’t know what his
sexual orientation was.”
Rev. Cardy placed a huge
poster outside of his church, depicting the baby Jesus lying in a manger with a
halo of the gay rainbow suggesting that the son of God is gay, causing outrage
in those who are staunch religious conservatives.
As the debate with regards to
the gay bible continues, here are some excerpted interpretations from both
books:
Jude 1:7 (King James):
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about
them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after
strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire.
Jude 1:7 (Queen James):
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about
them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after
nonhuman flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire.
Genesis 19:5 (King James):
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him,
‘Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto
us, that we may know them.
Genesis 19:5 (Queen James):
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where
are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we
may rape and humiliate them.
But unto the wicked
God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or [that] thou
shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
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Seeing thou hatest
instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
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Thou givest thy
mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
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