[Evangelical]

Let's examine UntoHim's claim that Jane presents "solid, reasonable and biblical proofs" by addressing the core of the matter - how Satan influenced the bible translation.

This is the book's claim about how Satan influenced the bible, from Chapter 2 of the book:

"There were no female members on early bible translation committees. So it was easy for Satan to use innate male bias to influence the translation of verses that pertained to women's roles"

She gives no citations or references whatsoever for these claims, but vaguely refers to Bushnell.

Let's examine each part.

"There were no female members on early bible translation committees"

That is factually correct. Also none to my knowledge on Wycliffe's translation committee, or the KJV and many others.

"So it was easy for Satan" ~ lack of female members on a committee makes it easier for Satan to influence?

From a common sense point of view, I don't know how the presence of one gender over another guarantees protection from Satan's influence. Satan can use man's "male bias" but cannot use the females?

The presence of a man and a woman in the Garden of Eden didn't stop the fall, but arguably the man would not have been deceived if the woman had not been there. Satan did not even try to tempt Adam, he knew his best chance was with the woman. Last time I read Genesis, it was the female who was deceived by Satan, not the man. It was the woman, Eve, who made it "easier" for Satan to influence Adam. Based on Genesis, if any particular gender should be removed from a committee, it would be the female gender.

What is "innate male bias"? Let's examine this term.

The word innate means "inborn, natural, inbred, congenital, inherent, intrinsic, instinctive, intuitive, spontaneous, unlearned, untaught;"

So "innate male bias" simply means "being a man".

In other words, Satan used the fact that the translators were male, to influence the translation of verses pertaining to women.

The next part:

"to influence the translation of verses that pertained to women's roles"


So wherever there was a verse that pertained to a woman, Satan used the fact the translators were male, to mistranslate the verses.

If that were possible, then I wonder what other verses in the bible Satan influenced via the fact that he was a man? Apparently, God was unable to prevent mistranslation of the bible into English simply for the fact that the translators were all male.

In summary:

Is it solid? No, it is based upon a view that an equal number of genders on a committee provides protection against Satanic influence and no references are given to support this claim.
Is it reasonable? I would say no. Jesus's "committee", the 12 disciples were all male. This makes it easier for Satan than if Jesus chose 50% male 50% female? That does not seem reasonable to me.
Is it biblical? No. As the story goes in Genesis, it was the woman deceived by Satan, not the man. There are biblical examples of Satan influencing both men and women. I don't think the presence of both genders on a committee provides any guarantee or protection from Satan.

This is probably the only Christian forum where the forum moderator declares books by non-experts (without much support for their claims from real experts), to be "solid, reasonable and biblical proofs" and Greek NT experts from Dallas Theological Seminary are disregarded.