Eugene Peterson: “Well, why do people spend so much time studying the Bible? How much do you need to know? We invest all this time in understanding the text which has a separate life of its own and we think we’re being more pious and spiritual when we’re doing it. But it’s all to be lived. It was given to us so we could live it. But most Christians know far more of the Bible than they’re living. They should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God
http://www.leaderu.com/marshill/mhr03/peter1.html
So when Paul says,”Study to show thyself approved” and Jesus says to “..abide in my word” then Eugene Peterson thinks it is the devils works because he said,”One of the Devil’s finest pieces of work is getting people to spend three nights a week in Bible studies.” ??
To attribute studying the Bible to the devil is close to calling Jesus accursed:
1 Cor. 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
I’m also studying this website which has some interesting information on Eugene Peterson and I have to question his credentials and those who would support his work:
The Message Doctrine & Gnostic or New Age Terms and Concepts Cont. May 13, 2006
The god of “green hope”?
I was looking through the Gnostic or New Age terms and concepts at this link and the term intrigued me so I went looking online at Biblegateway and found the verses:
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!-Romans 15:13 The Message
There isn’t a reason to add a color like ‘green’ but colors often come from crystals (‘the life-giving energy’) and the earth is Green and those who believe in the Chi force might read this.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
2 Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
Is God an energy or is God a person? The Bible uses personal pronouns for the Holy Spirit because He can be grieved (Eph 4:30) and lied to (Acts 5:3) which means that He is a person and not a New Age energy.
Isaiah 46:5 ¶ To whom will ye liken me, and make [me] equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
Remember that this is God speaking when he asks to whom will you liken me to or compare me to. What would you dare say? Most people wouldn’t dare say a thing. In fact, at the White Throne Judgment, they are saying apologetically: “[but]Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?” (Matthew 7:22) Note that it is an appeal.
Eugene Peterson likens God to a power or crystal that appeals to New Agers because you can harness a crystal or energy (chi force). They are treating God like a magic box (1 Samuel chapters 4-6) and God can let your magic box become taken (1 Samuel 4:17) because as soon as Eugene Peterson applies a color to the God of hope, he is creating an image of idolatry in people’s minds:
Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up [any] image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I [am] the LORD your God.
The Message Bible is a Bible that only a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness could love:
“I and the Father are one heart and mind.”-John 10:30 The Message by Eugene Peterson
That can be thought of as eccumenical. Wouldn’t my brothers and I be thought of as one heart and mind? Are God and Jesus ‘one’ by essence or ‘one’ by temporary emotions?
Evidently Peterson finds himself in a difficult position trying to defend his paraphrase, which attained such unexpected popularity, while trying at the same time to indicate that it is not really the Word of God and not suitable for use in the church-without being very specific about why it isn’t suitable. “You can’t tell people they can’t do it,” he says, unable to articulate his reservations. Meanwhile, the publisher is doing everything it can to make it happen. By the end of 2003 almost nine million copies had been sold through aggressive marketing techniques. (9)
