Soft check your library and look for interlibrary loans....I always forget about the Library, but when I went yesterday it really reminded me of how easy it is.
What are the best Bible Translations?
by Londo111 49 Replies latest watchtower bible
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tornapart
For straight forward reading I quite like the Messenger Bible. Very easy to read everyday English. As long as I have other traslations to check with. Others I like are the NIV, NKJV, Holman and ASV. It's good to have several versions to be able compare and get the 'flavour' as well as different wording. I haven't ditched my NWT, but it's opened up a new understanding of the bible to have several versions to compare.
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Jeffro
The Bible Gateway web tools are handy getting the perspective of a variety of translations, plus it has references to Strongs Bible Concordance built into its King James Version for verifying the sense of words from the source languages.
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Jeffro
Sorry, www.biblos.com does not recognize the NWT version as a translation.
Most Bibles protected by copyright will not generally appear on websites other than the official one.
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Terry
I think you think you know what I'm going to say here.
But, what if I DON'T say what you think?
Let me seduce you into a moment's reflection.
We are like smitten long-distance lovers who have been carrying on a romantic affair without having ACTUALLY MET the object of our desire.
We shape our ideal vision so easily when reality cannot intrude.
From about the age of 14 there was a composer whose music really knocked me out. (It doesn't matter who.) I couldn't get enough. I began collecting
everything I could get my hands on. I tried to find anything written by anybody on WHO he was, where he was, what he was doing. Mainly because I
wanted to get as close to the music as possible. "If it is IN the music it is in the man" was a saying I embraced.
My collection grew and the number of articles written on the man grew, too. I even managed to find the world's leading expert on his music who lived
in Bristol, England and actually telephoned him long distance to chat. We became very good friends (and remain so to this day.) (Years later when the expert wrote the biography of the composer I was invited to include an article and musical analysis. My photo was included.)
This enabled me to find even more information and music on my favorite composer. My knowledge base broadened.
Now where am I going with all of this? Read on...
Because of my passion for this man's music I myself started teaching myself music. I learned to compose and play. I was "inspired" by the music that
had moved and excited me all because of my--dare I say: obsession with my hero.
Now this next part is IMPORTANT....
I think/thought I had a very accurate idea who and what kind of man my musical idol was. I would have (past tense) described him this way:
Elegant, refined, intellectual, handsome, esthetic, introverted, reserved......
Then, one day, in 1978, I actually got to meet my favorite composer one on one and shake his hand, have my photo taken with him and chat with him in person as well as listen to him speak as he was questioned at a composer's forum.
SO WHAT? What can any of this have to do with the best Bible translation?
Read on!
Fourteen years devoted to studying, researching, listening, analyzing, imitating my hero ALLOWED ME TO THINK I actually KNEW him.
However...
I discovered abruptly: I had been WRONG.
He was crude, coarse, foul-mouthed, street vulgar, arrogant and odd-looking. I was shocked, apalled and stunned.
How was this possible?
NOTE: what follows is where I actually MAKE MY POINT...
I had formed my own personal opinion BASED ON FILTERED data aimed at making the best possible impression on the public at large.
Yes, the music was still music. The photographs had been by experts who choose the best possible lighting and angle and lens. The interviews had been in controlled situations. The bios and articles were by persons equally star-struck.
The TRUTH about anybody or anything cannot be the WHOLE truth when it is pieced together from partial sources.
Look at the millions of fans of Michael Jackson, for example. What must they ignore to remain so enthusiastic?
Our views, attitudes and opinions of Jesus or the bible have been slowly and continuously shaped by our enviornment of FILTERED, BIASED, PROXY accretions. A slow, buildup over time.
The Truth, the WHOLE Truth and nothing but the Truth is impossible by accretion.
We are like smitten long-distance lovers who have been carrying on a romantic affair without having ACTUALLY MET the object of our desire.
We shape our ideal vision so easily when reality cannot intrude.
Are we not in love with the MUSIC of scripture more than the reality?
Sometimes....yes, sometimes the more we know the less we know. What IS intrudes on what we WISH it was.
Bible translations are LESS about "getting it right" than about "getting it to read the way we WANT it to be.
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Fernando
The very best Bible translation is the one that is interpreted on the fly by the Holy Spirit! That covers most Bible translations!
Some, including myself, although knowing almost nothing about Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, have experienced on the fly corrections of translation errors, during contemplative reading of the badly mangled NWT!
The NWT does have quite a number of good features which I personally also like eg Hades/Gehenna and the more descriptive "undeserved kindness" for "grace". Not that Watchtower followers actually believe, teach and practice "grace" which is totally missing from their horrendously truncated and apostate version of the "good news".
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Terry
We ____impose___holy spirit as a deus ex machina. It is cheating. It is an intellectual dodge imho.
Using the concept of holy spirit to save the day and make certain everything comes out tight, neat, trimmed, shiny and true isn't honest.
How can I say this?
Let's be genuine with each other. Consider this.
It was Martin Luther who snatched away from the Catholic Church the means by which christians know what is true.
The Church insisted they had sole Authority to interpret. This is magesterium. Do a google search and read the history and description of it.
Luther cried "NO" at the top of his voice.
Luther insisted it was HOLY SPIRIT and the BIBLE in the hand's of any believer. This is called Sola Scriptura
History has demonstrated how RIDICULOUS Luther's doctrine turned out to be.
Where do you think the thousands of denominations came from? Sola Scriptura! Holy Spirit is an imaginary intellectual construct when it comes to interpreting truth in the bible.
Truth does not self-contradict. The interpretations of scripture and the multitude of competing translations and doctrines derived therefrom are self-contradictory.
WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE NEW LIGHT IS NECESSARY?
"Holy Spirit" (man's mental construct of outside help) is not to be trusted.
Don't recoil aghast with horror at my words.
You know what I'm saying is true. Men pretend they ARE BEING GUIDED BY supernatural power. Men are full of shit.
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Jeffro
Terry:
We are like smitten long-distance lovers who have been carrying on a romantic affair without having ACTUALLY MET the object of our desire.
Speak for yourself.
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Terry
Terry:
We are like smitten long-distance lovers who have been carrying on a romantic affair without having ACTUALLY MET the object of our desire.
Speak for yourself.
The difference between myself and certain "others" is that I ONLY speak for MYSELF.
Speaking for "God" is intellectually fatuous.
Would you offer your college Professor "invisible" homework?
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Band on the Run
I use certain translations depending on my mood. For a traditionaly family bible, I chose the KJV for the language. It is beautiful but I can't read it on a sustained basis. My college prof made us use the New English Bible. Church usage is the NRSV. I also use a NIV. If correct translation is important, a parallel Bible of several translations is informative.
I've been active in church Bible studies where everyone brings their favorite translations. Archeaologial info and maps are important. Personally, the simple, more modern translations drive me crazy. I feel as though they destroy the majesty of the English language. Yet most of the people present prefer them. It is like chalk screeching across a blackboard.
I'm glad that no translation is so much better than the rest. There seems to be a greater truth revealed in seeing how different translators translate different portions. Often, the initial Bible we read from is very different than others. The meaning can change significantly. We don't know which one is better but we do know there is not certainty and to be open to opposing views. We learned a lot from the extra commentary and historical material.