I grew up reading the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. However many thousands of verses I memorized as a child/teen, as well as both of the books I've memorized, were done in the NIV. Then, in 2011, Biblica, Inc. published a brand new version of the NIV (so the NNIV?), which was updated to reflect the changes in language since 1984. Some of those changes included shifting from traditional male-oriented language to more gender-neutral language in passages where the original language did not explicitly intend one gender over the other.
Naturally, as a Southern Baptist from small town, NC, everyone I knew immediately flipped out. Gender-neutral language is dangerous, they said, because it can undermine the original meanings and/or roles and/or authority of the Bible. Essentially, because people sometimes take inclusive language too far and replace God's word with their own words, we should never accept it under any circumstances.
Now that I think about it, the whole thing was rather similar to the old pharisaical proverb, "If it ain't King James it ain't Bible!" that I was taught—by the same people, mind you—was completely misinformed and legalistic.
Nevertheless, I didn't notice the similar thinking then, so I spent the next two years in agony, because the version I loved best had been "defiled" by this inclusive language. I began reading the English Standard Version (ESV) instead—which I like, because it's a little more of a direct translation than the NIV, but it's also less readable. The NIV was my favorite because it felt natural. The ESV feels like a translation—which, to be fair, it IS. Still I was a little sad.
Then suddenly, tonight, I discovered that BibleGateway.com has stopped offering the 1984 version of the NIV, which I had been using in an attempt to pretend the new NIV didn't exist. You can imagine my righteous anger. I thought, how could I ever look up the verses I love in the NIV if they're now tainted by new cultural norms? Will I have to reference my tattered, pink pleather hard copy every time I want to practice reciting Philippians or James?
In a state of near desperation, I decided to research the use of inclusive language in the new version of the NIV just in case maybe I had been misinformed in 2011. And as it turns out, I was. I followed a link straight from BibleGateway.com to Biblica, where I found a detailed note straight from the translators about the recent NIV updates. There's an entire section dedicated to the use of inclusive language, and I learned how meticulous they were in choosing where it was and was not appropriate—based on the original meaning in ancient Hebrew and Greek, as well as modern English use—to change things like "brothers" to "brothers and sisters" or "his" to "their". They did not change any language intended to specify gender, including the gender of God.
So what I discovered tonight is I spent two years on a soap box for no good reason. As for being judgmental towards things I don't actually know anything about?
