𝐊𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐦: 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 ‘𝐔𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦’ 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐑𝐓 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

Zondervan Publishing has just released a new study Bible, the Upside-Down Kingdom Bible, with notes, essays, and book introductions that, according to the Amazon listing, feature “difficult issues facing Christians today, with features that are honest, nuanced, and filled with grace.” Should Christians use this study Bible?

Let me say upfront—stay away from this compromised woke study Bible!

The notes in this 2011 NIV Bible, edited by Preston Sprinkle, focus specifically on a series of the aforementioned “difficult issues facing Christians today,” including “race and ethnicity, creation care, science, abortion, wealth and poverty, gender and sexuality, politics, baptism, technology, and others.” Anytime they believe these topics are directly mentioned, alluded to, or thematically present in the text, the notes give a supposedly biblical take, showing how the Bible “flips the wisdom of worldly kingdoms on its head.” The goal is to help Christians in an “exponentially polarized” culture to “think deeply and love widely.” And the result is, well, the opposite of that!

One of our writers and speakers, Avery Foley, took a look at a variety of the notes and essays in this new Bible (particularly the ones on the early chapters of Genesis), and here’s what she said about it,

𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘎𝘰𝘥’𝘴 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 “𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯” 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘙𝘛 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯-𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 “𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴,” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 “𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦.” 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 “𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 “𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥,” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 “𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘺” 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴 (𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 “𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦” 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴—𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴) 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 “𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.” 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥!

Yes, Christians should “think deeply and love widely.” But we don’t “think deeply” from our own wisdom or by applying the world’s wisdom to our interpretations of the biblical text. And we don’t “love widely” by defining love according to how our culture defines it. We think and love according to the standard set in God’s Word! It must be our starting point and biblical truth: the lens through which we filter the world. This study Bible has it the other way around—in many cases, the world is the starting point and its wisdom the lens through which it filters the Word.

I warn Christians to stay away from this study Bible!

https://harbingersdaily.com/ne....wly-released-upside-