10AR15-43

( - previous issue - )

Apologia Report 15:43 (1,048)

December 7, 2010

Subject:  Is the Internet "killing truth?"

In this issue:

BIAS - should we blame the Web for today's widespread distortions?

CULTURE - how to utilize the "New Literature" of television

GENOCIDE - responding to objections over God's judgment upon the Canaanites

HOMOSEXUALITY - arguing against the use of the word "homosexual" in English translations of the Bible

----

BIAS

"How the Web Is Killing Truth" by Michael Hirshchorn -- so reads the latest cover of The Atlantic. The feature itself goes by the title

"Truth Lies Here" illustrated by a large tombstone inscribed "Truth." The subtitle reads: "How can Americans talk to one another - let alone engage in political debate - when the Web allows every side to invent its own facts?"

  Hirshchorn complains that "the Internet creates new and enticing ways to play with truth," yet emphasizes examples that vindicate left-leaning political sympathies.

  Hirshchorn reports that "mainstream news organizations have already ceded a substantial chunk of their opinion-shaping influence to Web-based partisans on the left and right." He asks: "[H]ow does society function (as it has since the Enlightenment gave primacy to the link between reason and provable fact) when there is no commonly accepted set of facts and assumptions to drive discourse?" Hirshchorn labels the conflict "truth warfare."

  As for precedence, Hirshchorn finds that "The metaphor of the Internet as a truth engine was crystallized by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page in the 1998 paper that served as a founding document of Google's PageRank algorithm [where] the most important and useful information would rise to the top through a process of natural selection."

  Nearing his conclusion, Hirshchorn finds that "Few forces exist to counterbalance [factual] slippage. The St. Petersburg Times, owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute, started the excellent PolitiFact in 2007 [politifact.com]. The site takes a bipartisan and hyper-timely approach to separating political fact from fiction, though its winning of the Pulitzer Prize last year - that ultimate badge of the liberal illuminati - will no doubt be used in some quarters to discredit its findings." The Atlantic, Nov '10, pp58, 62-64. <www.tinyurl.com/2ckrydu>

  The same issue of The Atlantic features "Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science" by David H. Freedman (pp76, 78, 80-82, 84-86) which profiles professor John Ioannidis and reports that that "the field of medical research is so pervasively flawed, and so riddled with conflicts of interest, that it might be chronically resistant to change - or even to publicly admitting that there's a problem." Lengthy, riveting and useful in contrast with political and/or worldview concerns. <www.tinyurl.com/35fe5kb>

   POSTSCRIPT: See also, "Why Almost Everything You Hear about Medicine Is Wrong" by Sharon Begley (Newsweek, Jan 31 '11, pp8-9) which also profiles Ioannidis.

 ---

CULTURE

"Television as the New Literature" by Robert Velarde -- gives Christians the tools to "understand, interact with, and develop responses to the ideas presented in popular television programs [allowing them to] demonstrate the differences between ideas promoted in popular culture and those within the Christian worldview." Velarde draws examples from various television shows including 24, FlashForward, and Battlestar Galactica. Christian Research Journal, 33:4 - 2010, pp44-52.

 ---

GENOCIDE

"Killing the Canaanites" by Clay Jones -- addresses one of the more common objections to the "Old Testament God" that many non-Christians use to reject the Bible's authority. The contents summary reads: "The 'new atheists' call God's commands to kill the Canaanites 'genocide.' A closer look at the horror of the Canaanites' sinfulness, however, reveals that God's reason for commanding their death was not genocide, but capital punishment." Christian Research Journal, 33:4 - 2010, pp28-35.

 ---

HOMOSEXUALITY

"An Argument Against the Use of the Word 'Homosexual' in English Translations of the Bible" by Christina Richie, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (relationship unspecified) -- targets two words in a 1 Corinthians vice list "which are inaccurate when translated as many English Bibles do. Chapter six, verse nine has produced much debate in the translation of two particular words: malakoi and arsenkoitai. In the New International Version, these words are translated as 'male prostitute' and 'homosexual offender,' respectively. Taking into account the cultural background in which this epistle was written and the original Greek meaning of the words in both Biblical and extra-Biblical literary sources, however, reveals this translation to be anachronistic and imprecise."

  After reviewing the English translation history and lexical analysis of the words in question, Richie adds that "in the last four decades 'homosexual' has appeared as a translation for arsenkoitai in English Bibles. When the New American Standard Bible, the earliest that uses the term 'homosexual,' was written, 'homosexuality' was still considered a psychological disorder. It was with this mindset that the translators opted for the word 'homosexual.' ...

   "'Homosexual' today means one who is only attracted to members of the same sex, and includes women. The terms malakoi and arsenkoitai, however, are not words about feelings or attractions; they refer to actions that a male performs. ...

  "Contemporary definitions of sexuality refer more to attraction than to one's behavior; when individuals define their sexual identity, they refer primarily to attraction. ...

  "The concept of homosexuality was not coined until 1869; although there has been same-sex intercourse throughout the ages, these actions were not necessarily 'homosexual' as this term is understood today. ...

  "The usage of malakoi and arsenkoitai in both Biblical and non-Biblical sources and the cultural milieu in which 1 Corinthians was written render the translation 'homosexual offender' unnecessarily vague and seriously misleading. Paul intended the term malakoi to refer to a catamite, or the boy in the Greek boy/man arrangement, and arsenkoitai to refer to a pederast, or the man in the same relationship. ...

  "Pederasty or pedophilia did not end with Hellenistic culture; it simply is not as tolerated as it was then. However, adult individuals and groups such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association [NAMBLA] continue to perform illegal and lewd acts on minors, and attempt to give the impression that male homosexuals are actually pedophiles."

  Richie concludes: "The loose and inaccurate translation of malakoi and arsenkoitai should not be tolerated in the English Bible, any more than it should be used to persecute adult homosexuals who engage in legal and consenting relationships. Serious damage has been done by the careless interpretation of these words, attempting to inject a distinct social agendas into Paul's actual message, which was to avoid sexual immorality like pederastic relationships, and to strive to remain in fellowship with one another so as to avoid unseemly and improper wrangling." Preferred translation alternatives are not considered. Heythrop Journal, 51:5 - 2010, pp723-729. 

   POSTSCRIPT: 

On Dec 7, 2010, at 1:44 PM, Viola Larson wrote:

This is probably not news to everybody, but Richard Gagnon at Pittsburgh Seminary has answered Christina Richie's widely used argument. See <www.robgagnon.net>

------

( - next issue - )