From the Pickled Pietists of Pewaukee:
Delegates adopted three resolutions Thursday, July 28, that set the stage for choosing a Bible translation that WELS can use in its publications.
The first resolution thanked the five-person Translation Evaluation Committee (TEC), which has been evaluating the New International Version 2011 and other alternatives for the past year. President Mark Schroeder put the committee together in 2010 because the NIV 1984, the translation currently used in WELS publications, will not be available for use in the near future.
The resolution also asked that the TEC continues to function to educate the synod on the translation principles and to help build a consensus on which translation to use for synod publications.
Rev. Paul Wendland, TEC chairman, says that the committee is already planning a symposium on the topic in November and looking into other ways to keep the conversations going. “I’m really looking forward to a symposium to be held in Mequon where we can hear from all different perspectives,” says Wendland. “Maybe as we talk together all in the same room we can come to a greater consensus.”
Another resolution asked that a task force be appointed to study the feasibility of producing a confessional Lutheran translation and/or study Bible for whatever translation was selected. [GJ - Hahaha. Put Wendland in charge. He will hire Moo.]
The last resolution recommended that the TEC produce a “Final Report” that incorporates input it receives from ongoing evaluation and that the district conventions choose a translation via ballot next summer. The resolution calls for a two-thirds majority vote of delegates at the district conventions; otherwise the decision will be made at the 2013 synod convention or in a special single-issue convention next summer.
The TEC recommended in its report to the convention that the NIV 2011 could be used with a high degree of confidence by our church body. “It’s a translation that is rendered in good, contemporary English. It is very familiar to our people—it won’t involve a large change that would be disruptive. Ninety-seven percent of the words in the new NIV are exactly the same as the old NIV,” says Wendland. “We are concerned about different points, but as we compare them with the other versions we’ve looked at out there we don’t see any other version that takes care of all those problems without adding more of their own.”
Others, however, expressed concern over the TEC’s recommendation of the NIV 2011. Delegate Rev. Paul Naumann from Good Shepherd, Benton Harbor, Mich., says that no translation is perfect, but that he feels the NIV 2011 overuses gender-inclusive language and over interprets messianic prophecies. “In my opinion and the opinion of several others it is the overall weight of objectionable passages that make us prefer to consider another option,” he says.
Naumann was happy that the resolutions give the synod more time to continue this discussion. “I didn’t want us to make a hasty decision,” he says “We need to take the time to do the necessary study and make an informed decision. I think the resolution provides for that.”
“We knew coming in that people wanted to have more time because a consensus in our church body just hasn’t been reached,” Wendland says. “So we need to work really hard looking at other versions as well, making sure that we’ve been able to do as much due diligence to them as we have had time to do on the NIV 2011.”
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GJ - Naumann's father was the SP who got Church Growth started in WELS.
This reminds me of the nursing journal I found at Yale Medical School when I was working there. The practical suggestion was, "Ask the patient if he wants his enema before or after dinner." That gives him a choice and makes him happy to be in charge.
So WELS asks, "Do you want to approve the NNIV now or at the district conventions?"
I tried this approach with bathtime, when LI was a toddler. "Do you want your bath now or later?" LI said, "Neither!"
Wendland is happy - it's in the bag.
Naumann can boast he is a confessonal Lutheran leader when he is actually a recessional Lutheran, leading the sheep out to the slaughter.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Contemporary Bible Twisters Adopt Mascot: WELS Fin...":
Read the bios of the individuals who translated the 2011 NIV.
http://www.niv-cbt.org/translators/
The translators of the NNIV would form a veritable Medusa of false teaching and enthusiasm based on their confession and background. Is it any wonder that the NNIV furthers the Baptist, RCC, Reformed, Pharisaical, Feminist and New Age religious agenda which the apostates in the Lutheran Synods are lusting after?