Bible Question: Ed, you bring up an interesting point. Which bible publishers publish for profit and which ones are not for profit? Which Bibles are published for marketability and sales and which ones for advancing God's Kingdom? How is the average "pew potato" to know which to purchase? BTW Most "Christian" book stores in my neck of the woods push the NIV. If you walk in one and are baffled by the cornicopia of bible assortments, most suggest the NIV. I have seen this happen many times. The NIV is now the best selling version followed by the King James. Does this indicate that most Christians do not know about the Zondervan promise or that they don't care? Is perhaps the product is more important than the publisher? |
Bible Answer: Greetings my friend, As you have stated before, you use the NIV to reach those whom you teach, and that is very good! The NIV is an easy to read translation that remains otherwise faithful to the original Greek and Hebrew, and it is a very good choice for a Bible translation in your situation, as compared to other choices that could have been made instead. You should not feel "unconfident" in your leading to use the NIV in this way, since it has become the best-selling evangelical Bible translation in just a short time. However, those of us who are a bit more mature in faith than those whom you teach have certain convictions against using the NIV, and for good reason. Just as the KJV has its detractors and supporters, so does the NIV. Some people will use the KJV and nothing else. Some will use the NIV and nothing else! Some people avoid the KJV for one reason or another. Others avoid the NIV for their reasons. Some don't care, others use both the NIV and the KJV. It doesn't matter, since everyone is convinced in his own mind what is right (Romans 14:1-5), and we should not judge one another on which of these that we use (Romans 14:10), even though some of us avoid the NIV for good reason (Romans 14:3,14). But let this not be a source of contention between us, my Brother in Christ! Blessings to you, Makarios |