Professor wants all to read one Bible

indystar/religion news service ^ | 012404 | Douglas Todd

[TigersEye]

Those who seek to know cheese enter by the narrow gate
but once you have partaken of the wheel you cannot pass back that way.

[Basilides]

It is amazing to me the ignorance on this board of where the English translation of the New and Old Testaments came from, and the difficulties encountered in producing the first widely distributed editions of the first translations....

I suggest everyone on here do a Google search of one name --

William Tyndale

[xJones]

Let's hope he doesn't take the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts and run them through Babelfish.

[solitas]

Interesting site. Thank You! I copied it for a full-read later. Check out: http://www.htmlbible.com/ - quite useful (for me, at least) and worthy of a donation.

[IronJack]

The spiritual message of the Bible can be conveyed in virtually any language, from Olde Englishe to handpuppets. But the rich texture and grammatical embellishments of Elizabethan English lend the King James a poetic feel that augments the message with a lingustic majesty that vernacular simply can't inspire.

Take the passage from Ecclesiastes:

"Unto all things there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven. ... A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together."

Or Ruth's famous declaration:

"Whither thou goest, I will go. And whither thou lodgest, there will I lodge."

And what would the Christmas story be without:

"And it came to pass, in those days, that a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed ..."

The language is important. What would the Commandments be if they began "DO" and "DON'T"? And in a more secular vein, who would remember the Gettysburg Address if it started "Eight-seven years ago, a bunch of guys ..."?

[Smokin' Joe]

AHhhhhh Yess! The "Orange Catholic Bible" from Dune. (by Frank Herbert)

Nope. Sorry. Not happening. Too many 'renegade' KJV coppies in print. (Thank God)

[Smokin' Joe]

Yep. Even in American English, phrases like "you can't drink too much" could be misinterpreted. I always wondered if the Aztecs hadn't taken the 'give your heart to god' idea a tad too literally....

[nmh]

I tend to agree with you. I use the KJV and the NKJV. Other versions and translations OFTEN rewrite to fit an agenda. It's often soooo dumbed down that the original point is missing if not moot. People need to be VERY careful on what they read - atleast when it comes to the Bible. MANY "Bibles" out there are turning into whisper down the lane type texts which encourage you to have the Bible - YOUR way instead of His way.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

And you are heretics

All hail Asiago the Grate!

[sasportas]

And in the same vein, the 23rd Psalm. It looses something when its not quoted with Elizabethan "poetic feel" as you call it. The KJV 23rd Psalm is majestic. I love it.

[LS]

I think you misunderstood when I said Jesus didn't have any problem with the other so-called prophets. I can't think of one instance where HE identified a "competitor" by name. In other words, Jesus knew His message was sent from God, and that all others were false.

However, there is also the phrase (don't want to look it up now) that is the inverse of the one you quoted: "if they are not against us, they are with us." This was, as I recall, specifically directed at the disciples "clique=ishness" in their view that ONLY THEY could possibly talk about Jesus and His good news.

I totally agree that it is nit-picking to say there are different interpretations of the Bible---there really is only one, God's. But I do not think any church on earth has "all of it" right. The church DID at one time . . . but human sin intervened and made of one, many. Nevertheless, Jesus said He would return after we came into a "unity of the faith." Personally, I take that to mean that all faithful believers of different denominations will, eventually, all get back to the positions of that original church. But please, if you don't accept that, don't debate, and don't post scripture. I'm not going to argue about it.

[scripter]

A lot of folks just aren't interested in that information. Why? Well, I think part of it is the way God wired us up - we all have different gifts and interests. Granted, some interests should be better held by more folks.

[AD from SpringBay]

The question is does God give you credit for the attempt, even if in the wrong direction, or the execution of the correct way?

If a person is honestly seeking for the truth, asking God for help, searching the scriptures, knocking on the door..., then it's pretty clear that even if that person starts in the wrong direction, that those who seek will find, and those who ask will have answers. I'm not quite sure what you mean by credit - but a heart and a mind and a soul open to the truth, one who loves the truth, will find some if they look.

Or maybe think of this way - suppose one oncologist recommends one treatment while a second oncologist recommends something different. This does not mean cancer does not exist, nor does it mean they are both right. Yet the patient has to keep looking because the problem is so serious. A third opinion/search to verify the validity (or lack thereof) of the others is a far better path than to no longer look.

[DallasMike]

I disagree. Jesus did make a statement as to what was right. He claimed he was and the Jews of the time were in error not recognizing Him for what He was.

I did not say that Jesus never made a statement about what is right, I said that Jesus never made a statement on which sect of Judaism was right. Nicodemus was a Pharisee as was probably Joseph of Arimathea. One of His disciples, Simon, was a Zealot. It is likely that He had followers from all "denominations" of Judaism.

[sasportas]

scripter, some of us are quite aware of White's arguments, been around for some time now, and adequately answered and refuted by conservative scholars... in my opinion.

[DallasMike]

You remind me the Democrats, Dallas. You may be conservative politically, I would think so, most on this board are, I sure am, but when it comes to the scripture, you are a liberal, I'm a conservative.

Please elaborate on why you think that I'm a liberal when it comes to the scriptures.

[FreedomCalls]

Professor wants all to read one Bible

Then learn Greek (NT) and Hebrew (OT). All versions then are the same.

[scripter]

Thanks for your comments. I've read a number of rebuttals to White's position and found them, in no small way, lacking. As I see it, White's arguments at the Christian Research Institute's link I provided have been responded to, but never refuted. In fact some have called White names unbecoming of the conservative scholars you mention. You probably know to whom and what I mean and I don't mean to go there; it's just as I see it, responding to White's arguments does not imply refutation.

[sasportas]

My statement here illustrates what I meant.

What they (Westcott and Hort) did is comparable to having Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton rewrite the constitution for us. The liberals think its great. We manuscriptural conservatives think otherwise.

[solitas]

...like rewriting a Shakespeare sonnet in ebonics.

ROFLMAO!