Uhdum:My question for both groups is this: how does the thought of God giving us imperfect translations reflect on preservation and God's character? I am pretty sure of the KJVO answer on this one, but would like to hear from them anyway. I also would like MV supporters to explain how this idea does NOT attack God's character or doctrine of preservation.
God also gave us all our various LANGUAGES. We know that no one language will translate 100% into any other, but God presents His word by various means in almose every one of them. If we cross-translate the Scriptures from their versions in several languages into one common language, no two of them will be alike.
While no man has lived throughout all the time that's passed since God finished presenting His messages to all mankind, GOD has, and since it's HIS words to us in the first place, we must rely on the evidence HE has given us. And we must remember that with God, all things are possible.
I once read the story of a missionary husband & wife who was trying to evangelize an isolated South American people whose very culture was based upon deceit, thievery, and murder. Even the separate villages of this tribe fought with each other, & the only way the missionaries could befriend them & not end up being missionary stew was to keep them supplied with steel tools. As they learned the tribe's language, they prayed to God for a way to present the Gospel to this people who had no written language & whose culture was so different from most other people's.
One day, there was a "feud" between two villages. During a lull in the fighting, two important-looking men from each village sat down & talked privately. Then, each man returned to his band & gestured for them to put their weapons away. Then, each man went to the enemies' band(all the people of both villages had shown up to watch or to take part in the fight) and selected a male baby & took him from his mother & carried him back to their own respective bands. Then, both bands headed home.
The missionaries were alarmed!They thought those babies were gonna be sacrificed or were gonna meet some other barbarous end. However, a tribesman who'd closely befriended the missionaries explained what had occurred. This is NOT a verbatim quote, but in effect the tribesman said, "We residents of a certain village who trust no one from any other village or people must have a way to call a truce and end a fight between villages, and to guarantee our promises. That way is to exchange one male child with our opponents. These boys are called 'love children' and are raised in great honor and luxury. Long as one or both of them live, there will be no fighting between the respective villages. The love children are a pledge of our word."
Suddenly, the missionaries saw how to preach the Gospel to these people! To keep a long story short, they explained that Jesus was God's once-for-all Love Child given to all men to make peace between them and the God whom all men have sinned against. Without going into detail, let me conclude by saying their evangelism was successful, with several hundred of these tribespeople becoming Christians.
The point is, GOD HAS WAYS to do what we cannot. He could've given His missionaries the power to do miracles, or He could've directly influenced the tribesmens' minds, or He could've used methods completely unknown to us. This applies to His word. While it's improbable that these tribesmen could ever have understood everything in the Scriptures, especially since their knowledge of other peoples was VERY limited, they understood what God wanted them to know in order to be saved. We might ask, "Why didn't God show this to those missionaries in the beginning of their mission?", but we must remember GOD does things in HIS time, not ours. HIS thoughts and knowledge are infinitely greater than ours. One thing the missionaries understood was that they had to become proficient in the tribe's language for them to be able to effectively preach to them, & this took nearly one year.
The evidence within the Scriptures themselves in any language shows us that God has allowed man to handle His word. And many parts of Scripture are actually the words of men, inspired by God and chosen by Him to be Scripture. Such is the case with the Pauline Epistles. They were written(or dictated) by Paul to be sent to specific congregations, but they were copied & sent to other churches, and were recognized by Peter, under guidance of Jesus, as Scripture .(2 Peter 3:16)
The clear evidence God has left us is that He's allowed His word to be written by men into many versions & translations, but yet His messages are plain to the readers. I believe that to deny that a given BV is NOT God's words without any proof is an insult to God, denying His ability to present His words as HE chooses.
, you articulated this truth very well!
