The Gospel vs The Message

Let's first look at Matthew 7:21. In the NIV; "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Now from the Message; "Knowing the correct password - saying 'Master, Master' for instance - isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience - doing what my Father wills." Where does Mr. Peterson get the concept of a 'password'? And what about the kingdom of heaven? Also, note that the in the NIV, we can take the point that not all who say that Christ is Lord are saved. This truth is lost in the Message.

Now for the Lord's Prayer as found in Matthew 6. Read from the NIV it says, "Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Now to hear from the Message; "Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - as above so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes." Why does the Message lose 'hallowed by your name'? Also, "set the world right" is kinda ambiguous as to the meaning. It could vary from person to person, however, 'thy will be done' is absolute to the will of God. I'm not going to go into great detail as to the "as above so below". I will say that it is inherintly linked to magic, it is 100% pagan in origin and has nothing to do with submitting to the will of God. Also, when fleeing Egypt, they had manna and quail for quite a while; nowhere near three square meals, so why does Mr. Peterson feel the need to ask for what he does not need? Why does Mr. Peterson see fit to add 'from ourselves'? Also, where did the part "You're in charge...Yes. Yes. Yes." come from? Why does NO other translation contain this? Indeed this breaks significantly in the fact that he is now praising in prayer which is not set forth in the Lord's Prayer, and could indeed classify as "babbling on like the Pagans." Also, God cannot do anything he wants. Period. God cannot destroy the earth by water again because he swore not to and God does not lie. And what is this 'Yes. Yes. Yes' nonsense anyways?

One final passage for this post: Romans 3:29-30. Read in the NIV; "Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith." Now for the Message; "And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religion and those who have never heard of our religion." Ignoring that Mr. Peterson just made faith into a work which we "welcome" and "enter", how does he get off saying that God welcomes those who have never heard of our religion? This sounds as if he is propagating the heresy that there are many ways to the Father. At best this is a poorly phrased reference to the Old Testament and the religion of the Jews, but then who, having not heard the Law, and therefore not suffered the condemnation of the Law, could recieve the gift of Christ? Again the Message has botched a passage.

For these reasons and for many many more, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I urge you to be vigilant against this insidious poison and let it spread no further.

Soli Deo Gloria