Is it a fake Bible verse?
April 30, 2008 by roz kohls staff writer
Filed under General
US Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has a favorite Bible verse. She likes to quote it in official statements about global warming and the environment, the budget, Martin Luther King Day and Christmas. She also cites this Bible verse as why she is a Democrat. Pelosi claims it is in Isaiah. Here it is: “To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.” So far, no one has been able to find this verse, not even Old Testament scholars. I think she made it up, or someone made it up and told her it was in Isaiah. Either way, it’s probably fake, although I’m not a Bible expert. There are many Bible-based churches in the Herald Journal area. Does anyone recognize this verse?
It is not a direct quotation of Christian Scriptures (Old Testament or New Testament) in any translation of which I am aware. Online searches of the KJV, NKJV, NET, NIV, ASV, RSV, and NLT provide no passages that even come close to paralleling the statement (eliminating the likelihood of a paraphrase attempt).
I believe it is possible that Representative Pelosi is quoting someone else who she *thought* was quoting Scripture. The statement, while not direclty part of scripture, could fit a biblical model of stewardship. I can envision such a statement being the conclusion of a message that reviewed the biblical model of stewardship and the environment, but claiming it to be sacred writ is, minimally, an error or misattribution. The fact that she has been using this same phrase time and time again (just search for the words in your favorite search engine to find other references), suggests that she must believe it to be fact. I cannot imagine that others have not brought this to her attention previously. It will be interesting to see if she will acknowledge the controversy and provide a response.