Best English Translation of the Bible

There are some who are goofy enough to think that knowing Jesus Christ and knowing a particular style of English are one and the same thing. This Brazee [gentleman] gives us multiple examples.

[edited for style only, not content]

[ May 27, 2002, 02:00 AM: Message edited by: DocCas ]

 

I agree, Ernie. I used to think the AV was really difficult to understand. Why? Because I was always told it was. I never gave it a proper chance. I suspect a lot of people on here do the same thing. But once upon a time, someone said, "why don't you pray for understanding before you read the bible?" What a good idea!!! Try it. It works. OK - there are a handful of words you might need to look up in a dictionary - but that applies to most Bibles. And there will always be passages we don't understand - no matter what kind of trendy modern version we use.

 

Bartholomew..I agree...

 

Why not pray for understanding to read the Textus Receptus also? Maybe your not really saved if you can't read Hebrew and Greek?

To bad for the Non English speaking world, they are beyound salvation since they can't read the English of the KJV.

 

You just hanged the "Only true believers use and understand the KJV" argument right there. Otherwise (1) Why use a dictionary?; (2) That does apply to all Bibles; (3) There are some passages that are difficult to understand regardless of translation.
Why?

This has nothing to do with understanding the vocabulary per se, but the natural man or woman cannot accept these things because they do not have the Spirit of God who breathed out these things. They can possibly understand the language but they cannot understand the implications of the Word. This is why people scoff at the deity of Christ, the inerrancy of the Word, the personal return of Christ, the sovereignty of God in salvation, etc. To use the arguments typical of the KJVO folks is to grossly misapply the Word of God.

[ May 27, 2002, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: TomVols ]

 

Although I have several different versions of the Bible, my personal favorite is the KJV.

 

Since I was saved in 1980 (that night I read from/followed along in a KJV), I have used nothing else. No need to. All other versions at best seem watered down. You know when your traveling and you tune into a contemporary christian radio station and listen to a portion of scripture being read. Sometimes the modern translation is outright blasphemous. Cuss words added or doctine (the virgin birth denied) altered. I'll stick with the KJV, because "Things That Are Different Are Not The Same".

 

The KJV while an excellent translation is just that...a translation translated by fallible men just like the translators of the NKJV,NIV,NASB,RSV, AMPLIFIED, ESV etc..I think the idea that any of these modern translations deny the virgin birth or a conspiracy by the mythical "Alexandrian Cult" (A myth propogated by Chick, Ruckman)has no merit (Though the RSV,NRSV, NEB do have a liberal bias)

No one can claim inerrancy for a translation (unless you have a belief that the Church of England was inerrant). Also, my KJV only friends often leave out the fact that the Apocrypha was in the KJV until the 1800's and was only removed to lower printing costs.

[ May 28, 2002, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: Kiffin ]

 

Tom,

Any person who uses the Amplified
Bible should get credit for reading
the Bible twice.

BTW, I have it, but never use
it.

Clay

 

I'm sure everyone understands the meaning of that phrase. Less transparent are passages in the KJV like "Ye are straitened in your bowels" (2 Corinthians 6:12), or "By his neesings a light doth shine" (Job 41:18), or many others (I'm too lazy to type them all). Sure, we can look up the difficult words, but why insist that every reader do so? The comment above by Andrey, while perhaps not technically accurate (this is not a seminary classroom, after all), is certainly true: we do not speak the same language as the translators of the 1611 KJV. No English version covers all our needs, so having so many translations to choose from is a good thing, I believe, even if they are not all of equal quality.