According to Bibles Unbound, there are 57,725 people still waiting for a Bible in China, 9,710 in North Korea, 3,875 in Columbia and 3,290 in Egypt. Meanwhile here in North America, we are spending money on something these people could not even fathom - the newest, most relevant, prettiest looking Bible to add to our book shelves.
“the annual expenditure for Bibles in America is currently $425 million and that the average American household contains four Bibles”In this culture and age of consumerism, isn’t it interesting to see how many different types of Bibles are being popped out of the publishing industry assembly lines? Just take a look at some of Zondervan's popular NIV choices, for example.
-SOURCE: Why are there SO MANY Bibles in the world? (www.biblestudy.org)
Let’s see…there’s a Bible to meet everyone's needs...the Grandmother’s NIV Bible, the Adventure Bible (Revised), the orange and blue Teen Study Bible, and the red and blue NIV Teen Devotional Bible (published by Zondervan in partnership with the contemplative Youth Specialties). Then there’s the Take-It-Anywhere Bible, the Boys Bible, the Camouflage Bible, and even the Back Pack Bible for kids on the go. Walmart carries a Journey-NIV: Study Bible for Spiritual Seekers as well as Beginning the Journey - TNIV - Compact (that's the gender neutral version). For those who don't know English too well, the New International Reader's Version (NIrV) has simplified the NIV to the fourth grade level, by making shorter sentences and shorter words. And for the race car lover there’s even the NIV Thinline Stock Car edition (Gentlemen, start your—Bibles!).
For our ears there is an audio version called Inspired By . . . The Bible Experience, A Dramatic Audio Bible Performed by 400 of Today's Biggest Stars (in today's New International Version).
Zondervan even carries a Bible for those struggling with addictions. The Celebrate Recovery Bible (1) includes a foreword written by RW, as well as articles on the eight recovery principles and “Christ-centered twelve steps.” There's also the NIV Recovery Devotional Bible which ties over 400 Bible portions to the Twelve Steps, and 2000 cross references to the Twelve-Step Plan.
For ladies only, the NIV Women of Faith Study Bible (Zondervan) will help today's Christian woman experience authentic inner joy. This one includes quotes from popular Women of Faith speakers/authors and some historic writers (one such figure is a mystic named Catherine of Siena).
And how about the Heart of the Outdoors Bible (THE BIBLE FOR SPORTSMEN) with a rugged camouflage cover (designed for hunting and fishing enthusiasts to slip into their tackle box). I'm not exactly sure if Zondervan publishes that one (not to pick on Zondervan), but the point is, and this is my personal opinion, that in general this reveals a very strange thing about us - while we have oodles of Bibles in our country, there is a famine in the land for the Word of God.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: Amos 8:11A regular Bible (the living Word) is obviously no longer enough to satisfy our spiritual hunger. We want the pretty one that is relevant to ME! The one that gives us SELF esteem. The cool one that LOOKS the nicest. The one that will help US! The one that entertains US. In a nutshell, we want the ME version, when the whole reason God gave us His Word in the first place was to reveal HIMSELF to us.
With all these best selling revised versions and options that are so popular, one question is (in the light of the newest revision of “the most trusted translation” -so trusted that they have to change some words to make it politically correct and gender friendly), when Zondervan has finished their next revising and morphing of the NIV, will all these other NIV Bibles be revised too?
Mind you, there are still some very good study Bibles out there, but here's the thing. As these newly revised "most trusted" Bibles gain more popularity, will anyone even notice the changes? Will anyone say anything? Will objectors be looked upon as intolerant? Will those who stand for the truth lose their friends? Will it cost them? I’m not a KJV only kind of person, but I’m beginning to gravitate that way. Does anyone know if it comes in the underground church camouflage cover?
Those who don’t care about these things needn’t worry, they say that frogs in the pot don’t even notice when the water starts to boil.
Endnotes:
(1) See Is Celebrate Recovery the same thing as AA?
~ ~ ~
Thar...me has blogged me's opinion...
May'st thar be ears to hear
Aye, 'tis good to be back
In the land of Blog.
Thar...me has blogged me's opinion...
May'st thar be ears to hear
Aye, 'tis good to be back
In the land of Blog.
8 comments:
Yup, fasten your seatbelts, folks. She's baaaaaack! :)
I'm not a KJ-only person. I thought I would pass on a link written by J J Prasch about KJ-only...
http://www.moriel.org/Discernment/Discernment.html?tab=8&panel=0#Discernment
I think that there are some people out there who actually believe that the King James Bible is the last inspired bible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Only_movement
then you have...
A Creationist's Defense of the King James Bible
by Henry M. Morris*
http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_kjv/
The King James Bible has undergone three revisions since its inception in 1611, incorporating more than 100,000 changes. Which King James Bible is inspired, therefore?
And if you google King James Bible errors, you will come up with a load of links!
I for one have read the bible from beginning to end and I reckon that the King James, NASB [which is considered to be one of the most literal], Holmans Christian Standard Bible [a relatively new translation, much like the NASB, Calvin Smith who is affiliated with Moriel and is the principle of the college "King's Evangelical Divinity College" prefers this translation] and even Youngs Literal Translation are all good!
Here is a search done on Translations of the bible at the King's Evangelical Divinity College...
http://collegeblog.midbible.ac.uk/category/bible-translation-thoughts/
The message is not watered down, the triune nature of God is prevalent throughout these translations. And that is exactly what they are, translations.
The one I would never even put into the category of being a bible is "The Message"... and I think there is one called "The Voice" are paraphrases at best or New Age commentaries at worst.
Anyway... it's and exhaustive topic. And if you know the Word of God as the Whole council of God, then you are on the right track. Context, context, context!
Nice post....
Vee
I have some 20 Bible versions. Have found the KJV to have the most depth of them all. There are at least 100 versions in English out there.
I do reference the others, but always lean towards the KJV.
I was Born Again and Saved through Jesus Christ by reading a paraphrased version called "The Book". But there was not much depth in "The Book". Most Bible versions at least keep the gospel message of Salvation correct. But from that point on, I have had many disappointments in all but the KJV.
Quote: livingjourny: "The King James Bible has undergone three revisions since its inception in 1611, incorporating more than 100,000 changes. Which King James Bible is inspired, therefore?"
This is from a book I own called "Answers to your Bible Version Questions" by David W. Daniels
~Question: Has the King James Bible been changed, between 1611 and the present day?
Answer: There have only been two modifications of the King James Bible: correction of printing errors and changes in the English Language itself.
Printing Corrections
Typesetting in the 1600s was a very laborious task. Each letter on each page had to be put into place. Since there are 3,566,480 letters in the Bible, that leaves a lot of room for mistakes. But in 1628, only 27 years after the first editions of the Bible were printed, 72% of the around 400 printing corrections were already accomplished. By 1850 all corrections of printing errors were made (with the exception of two which shall be detailed below).
Changes in the English Language
The King James Bible was originally printed in Gothic type. That means "v" looked like "u," "J" looked like "I," and there was an "s" that appeared in certain words that looked a little like our "f." So "Iefvs" in Gothic type was the same as "Jesus" in Roman type. The Bibles we read now are in Roman type. Changing the type from Gothic to Roman has been labeled by some as a "change," but it really is not. The words themselves were not changed, only the way the letters were written.
But the spelling of words also changed. By the 1800s, "wee" was "we, "fheepe" was "sheep," "sayth" was "saith," and "euill" was "evil." But those spellings are not difficult. You can figure out what the words said, even from a 1611 copy.
Textual Changes
This is a very important point —there was not a single textual change in the King James Bible. But the New King James (NJKV) is a different story. The NKJV is not a true King James Bible. The NKJV publishers used different manuscripts and introduced completely different meanings into their texts. They did not stay with the accurate, preserved meanings of Hebrew and Greek words you find in your King James Bible. They switched words to be what you find in a NIV, NAS or RSV. I will say it again: the King James Bible has no textual changes in any edition, whatsoever.
Two Current Mistakes in Some KJVs
There are actually two single mistakes that were introduced by printers at Oxford University Press over 60 years after the KJV was first printed. They are in 2 Chronicles 33:19, where it says "sins" instead of "sin," and Jeremiah 34:16, where they mistakenly printed "whom he" instead of the correct "whom ye." Both of these were originally translated correctly. But Oxford printers made these two mistakes. Cambridge University Press did not make the printing error. And all Cambridge-type texts have the correct readings. But some publishers misprint one or the other verse in their Bibles. Amazingly, the New King James also has the same Oxford mistake in Jeremiah 34:16!
Put to the Test
In the 1850s, after the typographical corrections and spelling changes were completed in the King James, the American Bible Society wrote *two reports on the present condition of the English Bible. In the second report was this statement:
"[The] English Bible as left by the translators has come down to us unaltered in respect to its text."
The simple fact is that the King James Bible you can purchase in almost any bookstore, allowing for changes in spelling (and possibly the two printing errors), is the same Book of God's preserved words that was printed in 1611. We can thank God for that.
~David W. Daniels
Here is an example of one of the most misconstrued verses in many of the newer Bibles. Some of the literal translations do OK here, but miss it greatly in other places compared to the KJV:
1John 5:7
(KJV) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
Now but a few others:
(ASV) And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
(The Book) So we have these three witnesses: the voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the voice from heaven at Christ's baptism, and the voice before he died.
(BBE) And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is true.
(CEV) In fact, there are three who tell about it.
(DBY) For they that bear witness are three:
(ESV) For there are three that testify:
(GNB) There are three witnesses:
(GW) There are three witnesses:
(HCSB) For there are three that testify:
(ISV) For there are three witnesses-
(LITV) For there are three bearing witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
(MKJV) For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
(MNT) For there are three who bear testimony, the Spirit, and the water,
(MSG) A triple testimony:
(NAS) And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
(NAS 95update) For there are three that testify:
(NIV) For there are three that testify:
(NKJV) For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
(RV) And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
(TCNT) It is a three-fold testimony--
(WEB) For there are three who testify:
(YLT) because three are who are testifying in the heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these--the three--are one;
Did you look at the other versions of 1 John 5 verse 8?
Answer to Anonymous:
The sample verse you take differs in various translations principally because it is missing from many ancient Greek texts. Every Bible student must get to grips with this issue. There are differences in the ancient texts, and most scholars, including those who put most weight on the large body of "Byzantine texts" would leave out the verse you are quoting
Blessings
I agree with "Anonymous". I have read much on the matter, both sides, and have concluded that KJV is the most pure. Before learning otherwise, I worked at a christian bookstore and was trained by the bible reps to point to the NASB as the most literal and accurate (which I believed and repeated), but my current understanding is that it is based on the same "ancient" texts as all the other versions, except for KJV, which does not use these manuscripts. Perhaps "Anon" could clarify my poor representation of this matter. Clearly, I'm certainly not qualified to debate the issue, nor do I reproach those who believe otherwise, but a truthful comparison of many, many verses lead me to use the KJV as my sole soul food.
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