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RC Church produces Bible with Hindu texts
 A new Indian version of the Bible recently, published by the Catholic Church, has run into controversy over its inclusion of verses from the Bhagavad Gita, a form of Hindu chant, and references to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Although approved by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and published by the Society of St. Paul, the Bible has met the disapproval of Protestants and other Christian groups, who believe it diverts from biblical truth.
The Times reported:
Barefoot and wearing a sari, with a bindi on her forehead and a naked baby on her shoulder, the woman in the picture is unmistakably Indian. So is the man behind her, clad in a loincloth and turban.
They could be any poor family in an Indian village, or at one of the country's teeming railway stations. This, however, is no ordinary family.
The image is one of the Virgin Mary with Joseph and the baby Jesus in the first “Indianised” version of the Bible, published by the Roman Catholic Church last month.
The New Community Bible is part of an attempt by the Vatican to attract more converts in the world's second-most populous country as congregations decline in Europe and North America.
Meanwhile a report in The Christian Post quotes a head of an Indian Bible college:
'Pastor Vijay Thomas, who heads a Bible college in Chennai, told Christian Today, “By making it appear ‘Indian’ with references to Hindu scriptures and great poets, people will not come to the truth. This is a complete turn back from the real Bible."'
Question:Seeker-sensitive or sacriligeous? Outreach or Apostasy? Answers on a postcard |
Christians Together, 20/08/2008
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