Bible Question: Why are there so many versions of the Bible. When I was a child everyone had the same bible. Today you can't read along with ministers in many occasions because you may not have the particular version he is using. I visit a lot of different denominal and non denominal churches with our gospel singing group and I find it frustrating not to be able to read along. Someone that didn't know anything about the bible and not been to church much may not know what to believe. Whatever happened to Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Or not adding to or taking away from the word of God. Is this not what man is doing when they change things around so much? |
Bible Answer: Md1234: Bless your heart! I feel your pain! -") A septuagenarian myself, I find myself lapsing into luxurious revelry from time to time, longing for the good old days that shall be no more -- the simple days of yore when everyone drove either a Ford or Chevrolet in any color he wanted as long as it was black, when a box of cereal meant a box of corn flakes or shredded wheat, when we had a choice of one or possibly two radio stations to listen to, when everybody lived in white frame houses with big front porches, and when almost everybody went to church on Sunday mornings wearing starched collars and carrying their black King James Bibles. Except nobody called it the King James Version back then. It wasn't a version of the Bible. It was THE Bible. Period. You could buy it about everywhere. Even Sears and Roebuck sold it in their catalog. But you never ordered the King James Version OF the Bible. You just ordered the Bible. And the King James is what you always got. ...... Now times have changed and are a changing still. But I am happy to report to you, with hopes that it will assuage your fears, that nothing has happened to Jesus Christ. He is still the same: yesterday, today, and forever. And I am happy also to report to you that certain of His followers, that dedicated cadre of godly men and women who devote their lives and talents to the study of the ancient tongues and customs-- with a scholarly eye ever focused on the enormously difficult and exacting task of translating God's word into good and understandable modern languages -- have been able to accomplish their mission of translating without adding to or taking from the word of God. One would be hard pressed to find any group of translators more honorable, more of conviction, and more dedicated to the task of rendering God's word into an English translation more transparent of the ancient manuscripts than the hard-working teams who translated the original NASB and its 1995 Update -- and this would include the group who gave us the King James Bible in 1611. ..... Yes, admittedly, the plethora of new versions can be bewildering at times. But the advantages of having several excellent modern translations at our beck and call cannot be ignored and, for my money, outweigh the mild "tower of Babel" syndrome some seem to experience when exposed to different translations. ..... It might be observed in postscript that it took some 50 years for the venerable King James Bible to gain general acceptance among its readers. Its translators too were accused of shaking things up and changing things around so much! ..... I'm 70 years old, as I've stated, but I make every effort to keep my mind active and alive and to stave off becoming fossilized for as long as possible. One way to do this is to recognize that all living languages change, and that any work, religious or secular, that was set down in the English language of Elizabethan times, is outdated and in need of updating. But in reading the Elizabethan English of Shakespeare's dramas and sonnets, it is not nearly as crucial to understand his every word as it is to understand God's word. The language of the King James may be beautiful (it is), its sounds musical and its cadence poetic, but if it fails to communicate meaning to the modern reader, it fails to serve him well. ..... Who among modern readers is likely to understand this question: "How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?" (Psalm 4:2b, KJV). Who would not find it much more understandable to read: "How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception?" (Psalm 4:2b, NASB). The fresh new translation of 1611 is the archaic one today. And should the world stand another 400 years, the New American Standard Bible will be the crusty old version that few read and even fewer understand. Life goes on. --Hank |