Bible version schizophrenia
Jason Woolever and Shane Reynor have both just publicly confessed to being Bible version schizophrenics.
Does anyone wish to make any public confessions on this blog?!
:-)
Does anyone wish to make any public confessions on this blog?!
:-)
posted by Wayne Leman at 11:09 AM
8 Comments:
I just wish I would stop getting the guilt trip from my NASB when I walk out the door on Sunday mornings with my HCSB!
And of course, they were both stunned when I took the TNIV with me last night to my class.
I just wish I would stop getting the guilt trip from my NASB when I walk out the door on Sunday mornings with my HCSB!
And of course, they were both stunned when I took the TNIV with me last night to my class.
Rick, sounds like the NASB and HCSB have been used in a Bible Precepts class!!
They are so, like, preceptive!!
:-)
For all I go on about accuracy and contemporary language, I'm not about to stop saying the Lord's prayer in King James English.
I regularly use the NIV/Message or TEV when I go to my small group (which is more prayer group than Bible study) depending on which is closest to the door on the way out. We have NRSV pew Bibles at church -- we're not a church where people bring their own Bibles, and I have a TEV in my desk at work.
For just Bible reading, I like the NIV/Message or TEV. But for NT Bible study I use an interlinear (NRSV). (That keeps me from getting too wrapped up in the original, which I am prone to do when I read straight Greek.)
In the last month I've also used the old Jerusalem Bible and, because I memorized so much from it, I've used the KJV to locate passages that come to mind. So I guess I go down as a complete Bible schizophrenic.
I have a long shelf in my study bookcase that is reserved for various Bible translations. Jerusalem Bible, NRSV, Good News, Phillips, Amplified, NIV, and many more. I don't have a copy of The Message.
I have to keep my old Strong's for the KJV handy, because almost every verse I have committed to memory is in King James English.
:-)
My three favorites are the NASB, and the NKJV--maybe because I grew up on the King James Version and will always love it--but for devotional reading (and for preaching to my overwhelmingly blue-collar church folks) I love the NLT. Partly because of the gender-inclusive language.
My next purchase will be a TNIV.
We need to have a KJV reunion sometime. It is the only software Bible search that I can use. But then maybe that is because I tend to look up words like neighbour and saviour and can't find them in any other version.
Here's the problem. We all love the KJV but when I was asked to do this research by someone offblog, they said "Not the KJV." I am also really enjoying the TNIV - my first inclusive lg. version.
"Hi...my name is Mike Sangrey...and...I...I...I read from many different versions of the Bible."
"Hi Mike, welcome to BBA (Better Bibles Anonymous)"
"Thanks for having me. About once a month I preach at our church. I don't think I've used the same version twice yet. I'm disheartened by the number of people that get so incredibly focused on OVO (One Version Onlyism). I recall how the RSV was buried under a huge heap of one verse (Isa 7:14). And that the International Bible Society received a Bible with a bullet hole through it, and still receives phone calls with people yelling and screaming and ranting. And why is it that, once gaining their trust, people confess to me (as if in a confessional) that they sneak lengthy peaks in the Living Bible?
"Three of my children are part of the cast of a play called, 'The Pirates of Penzance.' One of my favorite lines in the play is the pirates saying: 'We don't think much of our profession, but contrasted with respectability, it is comparatively honest.'
"So, call me schizophrenic if you must, but I'm closer to meeting what people need than those more respectable than me.
"Thanks again for this opportunity to confess. Perhaps others will take the 12 step program to Better Bibles."
Hehe, this is nice.
I used to use NKJV for study but now I have used the NASB95 for about 4 years.
I use the ESV as my travel Bible because I was given a small one as a gift.
When I taught Jr. High sometimes I would use the New Living Translation for certain passages in order to help make it clear for the kids - but my main text was either the NKJV or the NASB
But now when I study I use all the versions in E-sword that I have in it (NET, ASV, ALT, HCSB, YLT, GW, ISV, MSG, IGNT) but that is mostly for fun, just to see how each is translated and how each differs from the others.
So I guess that makes me a little bit of a Bible schizophrenic...
brian,
ha ha! That's awesome. I get scolded all the time for buying new bibles. When I was in seminary, I told the bookstore to not allow me to buy anymore bibles because I had an addiction. Then, like an addict, I would go in and say, "Come on, man, just let me buy it." It was sheer addiction.
Now, i have to sheepishly tell my wife that I spent my monthly clothing allowance on a bible. Its always a nervous encounter for me.
At least I'm not the only bible-buying addict in the world.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home