Like the Santa Claus tale we tell children "for their own good".
Terry makes good points. The Bible is different to different people. It is also
different in different points in time, and will continue to evolve into something else.
There are Bibles that take away the gender of God. Some water down the unpopular
point of view that was in there.
As long as language and culture keep changing, the Bible will change. For a fact,
we don't know exactly what was meant when most of the original writings were
recorded, or what the editor meant when he changed it.
I chose the Santa Claus comment because that is so appropriate. The tales are
not anywhere near as old as the Bible, yet Santa has evolved. The reason he wears
a red suit is mainly because the Coca Cola corp. had a huge campaign using him and
they used their company color (red) for his suit. Before that, green was the most
common, although there was no steady standard. Various factors put Santa at the
North Pole with elves and flying reindeer and various magical abilities. Rudolph was
developed for the Montgomery Ward company and became folklore when someone
put the story into a song, later popularized by Gene Autry.
As our culture drops the belief in Santa, he is kept around. He still sells Coke and
many other products. He will continue to evolve into something useful to selling products.
Maybe he will become thin when he becomes a spokesman for a diet plan or health club.
Maybe he will trade in the sleigh for a gyrocopter, or get a suit from Men's Wearhouse.
He already pushed Jesus out of first place at Christmas, and he is getting pushed out now.
Maybe another Bible will use extreme possible modern-day meanings of terms and be
just as whacko as the NWT, but fit better into modern culture because it promotes the
values of that culture. My guess would be a heavier focus on rebellion to the status quo.