HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2009 / JANUARY/FEBRUARY / ASK THE PASTOR

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1

---

D E P A R T M E N T S

Ask the PASTOR

Why make an issue of The Clear Word?
Dale Ratzlaff

 

Question: Mr. Ratzlaff, why do you folks make such an issue of The Clear Word when so many other Bibles are printed with the author's remarks and interpretation? It seems you are just picking on Adventists when they do what evangelicals do.

Answer: This is a good question and one which we often get. I believe there is a HUGE difference between most study Bibles and The Clear Word. The study Bibles I am familiar with do not seek to change the TEXT of the Bible itself, but simply give the author's interpretive remarks in the footnotes. Evangelicals seek to make the original meaning as clear as possible.

My copy, which I purchased some years ago, titles this work as The Clear Word Bible. It is now titled The Clear Word. My copy has a jacket on it with the following statements which are very similar to the current advertisements for The Clear Word:

For everyone who hungers for a clearer understanding of God's Word and a richer devotional life….Imagine how much more you would get out of the Bible if the meaning of every passage was crystal clear…The Clear Word Bible lets the power of ancient texts come through today…The result of this careful paraphrasing is that you find not only more understanding in reading the Bible, you find more joy. As the meaning of Scripture becomes more transparent…every text is phrased to make its original meaning as plain as possible to a modern reader.

Here is the current advertising copy for The Easy English Clear Word:

At Last God Speaks Your Language. What better way to get acquainted with the English language than to study the world's greatest book—the Book upon which the culture was founded. This fresh, slightly condensed paraphrase of the Bible conveys the ideas of each Bible verse in the most basic terms. There are no strange idioms, archaic jargon, or big words for scholars. Just pure, simple English to make God's message plain to those who are not native speakers of the language.1

It seems to me that anyone reading the above quotes would conclude that The Clear Word was indeed, a "careful paraphrase", designed to make its "original meaning as plain as possible", and its message is "God speaking our language" and that it makes "God's message plain to those who are not native speakers in simple English."

As I have studied The Clear Word and read what others have found, my conclusion is that The Clear Word is the most corrupt and twisted "Bible" ever printed by a so-called Christian organization. The Clear Word often puts into the actual text the teachings of Ellen White and the SDA church. In other words, it seems to me that The Clear Word is designed to deceive the reader into thinking this is an accurate rendering of God's word in modern English when actually it is a subtle attempt to make the unbiblical teachings of Adventism appear biblical. I can see no other reason for its existence.

The "official position" of the Adventist church on The Clear Word is that the church has nothing to do with the paraphrase. However, consider the following: according to the Seventh-day Adventist Review and Herald Publishing Association website, The Clear Word is known as "the beloved paraphrase". It now comes in some 17 versions or bindings; it is promoted in Adventist journals and the adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, and it is sold in most Adventist Book Centers. Moreover, the recently retired speaker of the Voice of Prophecy, Lonnie Melashenko, has made an audio recording of The Clear Word. It should be obvious this promotion of the paraphrase would not happen if the Adventist church did not give its "unofficial blessing". To give its official blessing, however, would clearly expose to the Christian world that Adventism is a cult. †

 

1. Review and Herald web site: http://www.rhpa.org/index.php/products/search.rhpa.

 

---

More answers can be found in Dale Ratzlaff's four books available on the web at LifeAssuranceMinistries.com or by phoning (800) 355-7073.