Resolutions adopted by the
Independent Fundamental Churches of America

ON POLITICALLY CORRECT TRANSLATIONS OF SCRIPTURE

1997 - Schroon Lake, NY

WHEREAS, the historic position of IFCA International has been "We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20,21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12, 13); and,

WHEREAS, we have a responsibility as the people of God to maintain the accuracy of the biblical text for present and future generations; and,

WHEREAS, translation practices which strive for "political correctness" above accuracy fail to reflect the fact that the very words of scripture are given by God; and,

WHEREAS, these principles of translation have great potential for either obscuring or distorting the doctrines of scripture resulting in grave error; and,

WHEREAS, the Inclusive Language Edition of the New International Version has been released in England and is the product of such practices;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the members and delegates present at the Sixty-eighth Annual Convention of IFCA International, meeting in Schroon Lake, New York, June 23-27, 1997, express our appreciation to the Trinitarian Bible Society for having raised concerns about the Inclusive Language Edition of the New International Version, to Dr. James Dobson, for actively pursuing these concerns, and to the International Bible Society and Zondervan Publishing House for responding to concerns expressed by evangelical Christians; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage the entire constituency of IFCA International to guard against the incipient dangers of any and all translations which result from the application of the aforementioned translation practices; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution and a letter be sent to the Trinitarian Bible Society, Dr. James Dobson, the International Bible Society, and Zondervan Publishing House.

ON TODAY'S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

2002 - Kalamazoo, MI

WHEREAS the historic position of IFCA International has been "We believe the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20:21; Matthew 5 :18; John 16:12,13); and ,

WHEREAS we have a responsibility as people of God to maintain the accuracy of biblical text for present and future generations; and,

WHEREAS translation practices which strive for "political correctness" above accuracy fail to reflect the fact that the very words of Scripture are given by God; and,

WHEREAS these principles of translation have great potential for either obscuring or distorting the doctrines of Scripture resulting in grave error; and,

WHEREAS the 68th Annual Convention of IFCA International raised concerns about the gender inclusive translation practices of Zondervan Corporation and The International Bible Society; and,

WHEREAS Zondervan Corporation, as part of its marketing strategy, has falsely equated the translation group of the Today's New International Version with that of the New International Version;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the members and delegates present at the Seventy-Third Annual Convention of IFCA International meeting in Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 24-28, 2002, reaffirm our historic doctrinal position concerning the Word of God; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we reject translation philosophies that degrade the authority and power of the very words of Scripture given by God as reflected in Today's New International Version produced by the International Bible Society and Zondervan Corporation; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we encourage the entire constituency of IFCA International to guard against the incipient dangers of translations which result from these translation philosophies; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution and a letter be sent to the International Bible Society and Zondervan Corporation.