A mature Christian Bible class teacher was teaching Matthew 21 to her first and second grade class one Sunday morning. Her custom was to have each student read a consecutive verse until the lesson text was read and then they would discuss the entire passage. The children read nicely until they came to the boy whose turn it was to read verse 5. He abruptly stated, "I can't read this verse!" "Why?," the teacher asked. "Because it has a bad word," the first grader responded. The King James Version translates Matthew 21:5: "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass" (Mt. 21:5). The teacher explained to the class that the word "ass" was an older word that refers to a donkey. When used that way the word is good. However, the teacher explained, some people will use that same word in a bad way to call others names.

As soon as class was over, the excited boy ran to his mother, "Mommy, mommy, guess what I learned in Bible class? There's a good 'ass' and a bad 'ass'!" His puzzled and shocked mother looked at the teacher and before she could say a thing the teacher began to relate what happened in class.

The moral of the story (which happens to be true) is twofold. First, words have different meanings in different contexts. To the typical older generation "Bible-Belt" member of the church, "ass" is clearly a legitimate word for donkey and would not usually be offensive, unless, of course, it was spoken derogatorily. However, to a person who was not raised on a farm or around animals (i.e., a "city slicker"), "ass" might be offensive. In fact, one might be offended if he only read the title above without reading this article. Second, Bible translations are expedients and none should be regarded as so sacred that it could not be set aside for a more effective one. True, some translations, like the NIV, are dangerous, but there are also translations that could be more effective in communicating God's word to some people. Any translation that accurately renders the Biblical languages into the language of the people is good. Let us love God's word and desire its effective communication!