Featured So what is 'preservation'?

I have seen many be born again. Haven't you ever seen the light of the Lord come upon someone who has just trusted Christ as Savior? I have. It is observable. To clarify, though, providence has a part in a person's salvation, like when Missionary D. and I met the yakuza gangster while doing dendo (evangelism) downtown. He later trusted Christ as Savior along with two of his gang of drug pushers. The original meeting was providential, but the salvation was a true miracle!

Providence, on the other hand, is a theological term describing how God orders all things for good. The clearest Bible statement of this is, of course, Rom. 8:28--"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

It is not possible to interpret this verse as meaning there is a process to a miracle. Again, a miracle is an event, like the feeding of the 5,000. Providence is a process, like how God put me in Japan:
1. I was called to be a missionary as a college sophomore.
2. I prayed for 4 years about Hong Kong.
3. God put a missionary to Japan behind my parents at my graduation. He then asked me to pray about working with him.
4. I did pray, and God revealed His will for me in my private devotions from Rom. 10:14-15.
5. A mission board accepted me, and I did deputation, arriving in Japan by God's grace in May of 1980.

 

They would have liked it better if you had translated off from the Kjv itself!

 

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I feel same way about the Nas, as still have the 1977 edition of it, tried 1995 revision, did not like it as much, and 2020 revision looks like going more inclusive language, so spoiling a great translation!

 

From the Bible, is that the answer you want? I might use the KJV to study. I might use the TR or the Byz. Textform. I might use the Hebrew OT.... Don't know what you are fishing for here.

 

That answer will all depend on how one views the accuracy of the underlining original languages texts being used for translation!

 

I have examined the KJV NT in comparison to the TR, and can say that yes, sometimes they conflict. I have examined some of the KJV OT in reference to the Hebrew OT, and sometimes they differ. But the authority rests in the originals, not in any translation. This is a basic fact which any translator of any kind will tell you (except Jacques Derrida the deconstructionist). This can be proven from the Bible itself, because there are many places in the Bible where it translates itself, giving priority to the original.

The various Greek NTs will agree with each other in doctrine, but disagree in details of text. My position in those cases is Byzantine Priority as regards the NT text. I take this position because of how God has worked providentially.

 

Is there any Major doctrine various greek texts used to translate off from would not affirm?

 

Before I answer any more of your questions, I'd like to know what you think. What is your position on these matters?

 

Wow. So you still don't see a difference between providence and a miracle.

I hope I can clarify for you, but at this stage it doesn't look like it.

I'll grant your first paragraph. Yes, salvation as an act of God wherein God regenerates the human spirit cannot be directly observed by human eyes. However it is certainly an event, and it is surely a miracle. Surely you won't argue against these statements.

As to your second paragraph, surely you do not think that every event of translating the Bible is miracle! Just because synapses fire in my brain and I translate the Word of God does not mean that a miracle has occurred, does it? Do you honestly think that thinking is a miracle equivalent to Biblical miracles such as the feeding of the 5000, the healing of blind men and lepers and others, the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord? If so, you cheapen the idea of a miracle from God.

I have just finished my final task in translating the Lifeline Japanese NT, which was adding the proofreading corrections of Miss N., a very smart young Japanese lady. In Matt. 28:14, she rightly corrected my を (wo), indicating a direct object, to が (ga), indicating a specified subject. Guess my synapses totally missed on that one! I made a mistake. No, miracles do not usually occur in the process of Bible translation. In 1000's of hours of doing and teaching Bible translation (even in Africa!) I have never experienced a miracle, though I have seen miracles occur in other contexts. But God's providence was all over our translation effort: leading me to be a Greek teacher at a Japanese Bible school so that I took seminary Greek on our first furlough, leading Uncle Miya to help, leading Missionary S. to help as the final editor, leading Japanese believers to be proofreaders, etc. etc.

Take a look at Waite's book, Defending the King James Bible, pp. 62-82, where he talks about the admittedly great translators of the KJV. Not a single miracle is mentioned. Do you have The Men Behind the KJV, by Gustavus Paine? Not a single miracle mentioned.

 

The Originals were the actual books written down by Paul and John and et all!
And no need to become a Greek and hebrew expert, just use legit translations!

 

Either learn it yourself, or realize that God has gifted some of us linguistically to help.

If you think final authority rests in a translation, you must never become a Bible translator. Or if you can speak a foreign language, you must never become a secular translator. You'll be fired quickly. (I knew a guy who tried to translate into Japanese from the KJV, and ended up translating "wine" into the Japanese loan word ワイン [wain], which always means alcoholic wine!)

Look at some of the times the Bible rests authority in the original:

Eli, eli, lama sabacthani.

Talitha cumi.

Immanuel.

etc., etc.

P. S. Yes, I trust copies of copies, preserved by God's providence, just like you trust copies of copies of the KJV. And I'll produce the original manuscripts of the Bible when you produce the original handwritten manuscripts of the KJV.

 

No.

 

How can I know that unless you tell me what it is?