I had a ritual growing up every time we traveled to an assembly or convention. In the hotel I would always take a look at the Gideon Bible's that were always stored in one of the drawers. Immediately upon finding it I would open up to Psalms 83:18 to check if the Bible had God's name within it. I was told that if the Bible did not have the name there, it did not have it anywhere.
For some reason it was important for me to keep building evidence that no matter where we went we found the stench of deceit.
I finally bought myself a New International Version and it has been more emotional than I would have thought. I had been using BibleGateway.com to read it for far too long. Here is a link to the one I got, I think it's pretty nice. I had been a staunch defender and user of the NWT for vast majority of my life. Now I only use it when I need to figure out why a Witness has the wrong idea. The difference between the NWT and the NIV are humbling.
It's very nice to have a Bible actually in my contemporary language. It's all so clear to me now. We are not supposed to read it root word for root word we are supposed to read it like we would other pieces of ancient literary art. Historical context is good for getting what the writers originally meant, but there's no need to stop there. There are many different logical approaches to the texts that bring out things that maybe the orginal writers didn't know they were describing. The possibilities are endless.
My hardcore dub mother in law has been trying to get into Bible discussions with me lately. She's been making an honest attempt to try to find some sort of common denominator. It's very sweet, but unfortunately the dub in her will always keep in pouncing formation. We are currently debating on who is the wisest person in the Bible besides Jesus. My guy is Job hers is Solomon. I have been using the NIV to understand Solomon's words and I think I have a decent understanding of his core message. She on the other hand uses the NWT which turns his words into a bunch of riddles, none of which she solves.
She was over the other day and I was, carefully, trying to explain to her why the NWT has given her an inflated view of this ancient king in Jewish lore. I told her that if we are going to have Bible discussions then she is going to have to read both the NWT and the NIV versions so we'll know where each other are at. I pointed out the Bible in the living room and immediately she went over to get the book in my case. I knew what she was going to do before she did it because I used to do it too. She didn't say what she was doing and I found it odd that she felt the need to keep it from me. So I asked her why she thought that the translators of this Bible replaced YHWH?
She then told me that it was because of ancient Jewish prejudice that the name was removed. I felt it was kind of an anti-semitic comment, but I knew it was from the insight book as it was one of the first things that led me out. I told her that there is a scholarly reason for it and then told her about the missing vowls and whatnot.
It was a surreal experience for me because I believe it showed me how different I have become. I used to be scared of my own shadow and checked Bible's for God's name, which the Witnesses obviously believe to be enchanted, and similar whacky stuff.
In my first apartment, when I was single, I used to have a rat named Athena. I had this couch that my older brother gave me that had some hollow places in it. Athena was a darter. Sometimes she would get out of her cage and dart over to the couch and go inside it. There was litterally no way of getting her out without destoying the couch. So I'd just let her kick it in there. She did this odd thing when she was inside. This couch, like most couches, had cushions. You know how in the back of the cushions where they meet the back of the couch there are those space holes? She would use filling she tore away from the inside of the couch and was filling them in one by one. Every single one would have filling stuffed there. That's how I would get her out, I would pluck one up and soon she would be there to fill it in again and I would attempt to grab her.
Myself and my mother in law's compulsions to check for enchanted words in books is much like Athena trying to fill the couch holes. It's the right behaviour in the wrong setting.
-Sab