Chacun a son gout. The Messenger drives me out of my mind. In my view, it destroys English. It is easy to understand but it has no soaring English.
What are the best Bible Translations?
by Londo111 49 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Fernando
Terry, if I may offer a different perspective?
Martin Luther and the first reformation made a monumental contribution in reforming society - not religion, which is an irreformable enemy of God and man. We now have many freedoms we take for granted and which were punishable 500 years ago.
Martin Luther and the first reformation made a monumental blunder in delivering "freedom of religion" instead of "freedom from religion". When we as a society are able to tell the baby (faith and spirituality) from the bathwater (religion) we will advance to the next level and address much of the remaining dysfunction that still plagues us.
Londo111, sorry for going off-topic and devolving, hopefully someone can help us back.
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Terry
Martin Luther and the first reformation made a monumental blunder in delivering "freedom of religion" instead of "freedom from religion". When we as a society are able to tell the baby (faith and spirituality) from the bathwater (religion) we will advance to the next level and address much of the remaining dysfunction that still plagues us.
Martin Luther, by all accounts, was an extremely superstitious man. He was so frightened by an electrical storm he promised God he'd become a monk if he didn't get struck by lightning! Luther was an extremist in every way trying to out-perfect the other monks and making up sins to confess.
Luther would not have known "freedom of..." anything. He was an obsessive-compulsive.
He was completely swallowed alive by superstitious nonsense. He could not have delivered anybody from anything. He just happened to be brilliant at refuting outrageously indefensible doctrines at the time society was most disgusted with the malfeasances of the Church. Luther's cranky vituperations included shocking anti-semitism as well. Fred Franz derrived a considerable number of nutty ideas from Luther's voluminous writings, by the way.
Spirituality takes the concept of Religion and empties it of meaning in order to hijack the touchy-feely resonance connected to what it use-to-be before the emptying.
Spirituality is like sex with a blow up doll. It takes alot of imagination, determination and is instantly disposable.
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N.drew
Martin Luther, by all accounts, was an extremely superstitious man. He was so frightened by an electrical storm he promised God he'd become a monk if he didn't get struck by lightning
What? How do you know those things written about Luther weren't spread by his enemies?
When in the timeline do you start believing what the written word says? Where is your cut off date?
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ABibleStudent
Hi Londo111. I would recommend prayer. No matter which Bible that you read, it will be difficult to intrepret what was meant 1900+ years ago without some sort of understanding of the times, idioms, etc. A study bible, which presents both the Biblical text and Biblical scholar's opinions, may help you gain better understanding.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
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Band on the Run
Certainly a Lutheran or someone active in a reformed church will defend Luther. I've read some biogs. and never encountered such a stance before now. The beauty of an internet forum. Don't protestants post here?
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Londo111
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. For a time, I was seriously considering the ESV, but in the end, after seven weeks of deliberation, I decided on the New Jerusalem Bible.
Maybe it's because of my upbringing, but I do like seeing the Divine Name in the Old Testament, and it seems to me in my limited experience a very scholarly work. I look forward to reading the Apocrypha.
Of course, I will still reference different translations online from time to time. I do make extensive use of Biblegateway. I even reference NWT…of course, more and more, I keep learning of places were verses seem to be rendered in a biased manner.
My ex also bought the NJB (we both went Bible shopping tonight). Then we read a chapter out of the New Testament, the Old, and 1 Macabees. Yeah, I know how to party like its 999...BC. :)
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designs
'in the name of Allah the Messiah and the Holy Spirit' that is how 3 Bible translation groups are publishing a Bible in Arabic, Wycliff, SIL, and Frontiers. Petitions are being sent by conservative groups to protest this wording. Wycliff publishers supported their translation because they did not want to convey to the Arabic audience the idea that as Father and Son God had physical relations with Mary.
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Wonderment
Londo111 asked: "So...what modern translations are the best? Which are free from preconceived doctrines? Which have the most consistent renderings? Which have the most accredited translators who know ancient Hebrew and Greek?"
Which are free from preconconceived doctrines?
None! No one translator is totally free of personal bias.
Which have the most accredited translators who know ancient Hebrew and Greek?
It doesn't matter as much as many are led to believe. The "most accredited translators" will not necessarily produce the best translation. Of course, a good knowledge of the ancient biblical languages is necessary, but general "attitude" and the level of "dogmatism" displayed is just as important in translation work. When I mention "attitude," I refer to the translator's disposition toward truth and fairness to potential readers, how "open" is the translator to other views.
One common mistake many folks make at the time of selecting a Bible translation is to choose only the ones that agree with what they are inclined to believe. For instance, a JW that only uses the NWT and rejects others is not going to get the full benefit of Bible translation work. Those Evangelicals who only choose to use versions that are "conservative" in line with their preconceived views would also fail to see other equally valid views, etc.
Thus, I recommend to at least get a few Bible versions of various denominations in order to keep a more balanced, open approach. That is, get some Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and any other versions you can get your hands on. Of course, keeping the NWT and the Kingdom Interlinear helps in this matter.
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Londo111
I'm thinking about getting the Concordant Literal New Testament--this seems to be striving for consistency in rendering the Greek. At least, that's what the claim is. They've also different books of the OT, but unfortunately it seems Amazon only has parts, not the whole.
I do still enjoy the New Jerusalem Bible. Of course, I've detected two areas of seeming bias. They render 'idols' as 'false gods'. They also tweak one verse to deflect the argument that Mary did not continue to be a virgin after the birth of Jesus. However, I greatly enjoy the notes introducing each section, and the footnotes are more informative than the Society's.