Southern Baptists

A new report by a leading critic of the TNIV finds that 75 percent of gender-related problems in the now-defunct version are retained in the updated NIV Bible.

The Committee on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood this week published a full critical evaluation of the new NIV Bible, concluding that the latest translation "cannot be considered sufficiently trustworthy in its translation of gender language." The findings were consistent with the group's November statement that refused to commend the 2011 NIV (actually copyrighted 2010) due to "gender-related" language problems it previously identified in the TNIV.

In the new NIV Bible, the Committee for Bible Translation – translators of the NIV – put back in some passages masculine pronouns, including "son," "he," "him," "his," "father," and "brother." The new translation debuted in March and was promoted by publisher Zondervan as "gender-neutral" and the latest update to the bestselling NIV in 25 years. more >>

Rob Bell wasn’t misquoted or attacked as he claims. Rather, the Michigan megachurch pastor was the one who threw the “grenade” at evangelicals, said the author of the new book Counterfeit Gospels.

“For a very popular, charismatic, evangelical pastor to come out and call the traditional view of hell as toxic, misguided, and for him to mock the view of his grandmother – which he admits in the book – he has really thrown a grenade at the evangelical count,” said Trevin Wax in an interview with The Christian Post on Thursday.

Wax, who is also the editor of a small group curriculum developed by the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources, said it is “disingenuous” of Bell to portray himself as “under attack, being misquoted, and being maligned” when his book “is very much an assault on the traditional understanding of heaven and hell.” more >>

More than 100 reported tornadoes have devastated the South, killing as many as 248 people across six states – the worst outbreak since 1974.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. said it received 137 tornado reports into Wednesday night, including 66 in Alabama and 38 in Mississippi.

The majority of the fatalities occurred in hard-hit Alabama, with authorities recording 162 deaths from Wednesday night’s storm. more >>

The edition of TIME magazine timed for Easter Week features a cover story on the controversy over Rob Bell and his new book, Love Wins. Interestingly, the essay is written by none other than Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former editor of Newsweek –TIME’s historic competitor. Meacham, who studied theology as an undergraduate at the University of the South, helpfully places Rob Bell in the larger context of modern theology, even as he offers a basically sympathetic analysis.

Meacham explains:

The standard Christian view of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is summed up in the Gospel of John, which promises “eternal life” to “whosoever believeth in Him.” Traditionally, the key is the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God, who, in the words of the ancient creed, “for us and for our salvation came down from heaven … and was made man.” In the Evangelical ethos, one either accepts this and goes to heaven or refuses and goes to hell. more >>

A dynamic young pastor who's fighting brain cancer isn't taking it easy on fellow preachers.

Matt Chandler wasn't shy when he told more than 5,000 of them – some of whom are in training – on Wednesday: "You're a much better pastor when you're saved than you are when you're not."

Pastor of The Village Church near Dallas, Texas, Chandler was invited to speak at The Gospel Coalition's annual conference, which draws mainly those in the Reformed tradition. more >>

For too many evangelical pastors, the Old Testament is a “foreign book” that is better left alone or used only as background knowledge, lamented prominent theologian Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. on Tuesday. But preachers who neglect the Old Testament do so at the risk of “robbing” their congregation of fully understanding Jesus Christ.

“I’ve actually heard some preachers state as a matter of principle that they preach from the New Testament because it is the Christian book,” said Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., during the first plenary session of The Gospel Coalition’s national conference in Chicago. “How they are robbing their people of the knowledge of Christ from the scriptures. How impoverished is that preaching. How undernourished are those congregations.”

Mohler, whose session was titled “Studying the Scriptures and Finding Jesus,” contends that Jesus and the gospel are found throughout the Old Testament and therefore not teaching from those books would be failing to tell the full story of Jesus. more >>