The Lord God has a stern warning for the W.E.L.S. and anyone else relying upon and defending the use of the NIV for anything other than the comparison of texts:
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Revelation 22:18,19 (KJV)
The New International Version (1984) used by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (and some other churches) in their worship services, and Bible and Catechism Instruction does exactly that - it removes words (and even whole passages of God's Word!) and is even so bold as to add words which detract from the original meaning of the passage.
The (1984) NIV attempts to minimize (if not totally remove) the deity of Jesus Christ and it threatens the fundamental doctrine of Universal Justification and other sound Lutheran teaching; including changing the wording of passages, that result in opening the door to synergism. A group now calling themselves the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA) broke fellowship with the W.E.L.S. in 2006 over disagreement concerning acceptance of the fundamental Lutheran Doctrine of Universal Justification. The toleration and prolific use of this corrupted translation, the 1984 NIV, has led and will continue to lead to deeper and more serious error and divisions within the W.E.L.S. ~ and they wonder "why?" Perhaps the worst part of this whole issue is that the pastors of the W.E.L.S., who claim to be faithful to God’s Word, are completely aware of the NIV’s serious failings.
On a positive note, it is my understanding the W.E.L.S. is currently working on a new translation – a “Lutheran” translation, if you will, due, in part to the multitude of ‘gender elimination’ problems encountered with the latest corrupt version of God’s Word - the NIV 2011. The W.E.L.S. is currently using portions of their new "Lutheran" translation in some worship services. However, until their “Lutheran translation” is complete, the W.E.L.S. continues to use the 1984 NIV for the majority of their worship and other instruction, all the while very well cognizant of the 1984 NIV’s dangerous mutilations of God’s Word.
Woe unto those pastors, professors and congregations that knowingly use and promote this corrupt translation or any other translation derived from the Westcott and Hort Greek translation they produced using an eclectic "textual criticism" method of translation from the minority (corrupted) manuscripts!
The Lord says so himself in Revelation 22:18,19: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
The Lutheran Watchman © 2014
For more information, please see: "Modern Bible Versions"