Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

by Dan Barker

The motives of the NIV and LB translators are made clear in the preface to each book. The NIV, translated by a team of evangelical scholars (instigated by the National Association of Evangelicals), is introduced with these words: “We offer this version of the bible to him in whose name and for whose glory it has been made. We pray that it will lead many into a better understanding of the Holy Scriptures and a fuller knowledge of Jesus Christ the incarnate Word, of whom the Scriptures so faithfully testify.” If there is a contradiction in the New Testament, then it could not “faithfully testify” anything. The NIV team was extremely selective in choosing its scholars: “[T]he translators were united in their commitment to the authority and infallibility of the bible as God’s Word in written form. They believe that it contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, that it sheds light on our path in a dark world, and that it sets forth the way to our eternal well-being.” This is not the agenda of a team of objective scholars. This is evangelism. If there is a contradiction in the bible, the NIV translators, who were confessedly committed a priori to infallibility, could never see it! (Some skeptics might be tempted to use the phrase, “There is none so blind as he who will not see.” I would never stoop to such ad hominem tactics.)