The Various Translations of the Bible
Chapter 3 deals with "Inaccurate vs Accurate Translations". I must admit that I was rather surprised to learn just how much different translations of the Bible differ. Of course I knew there were major differences, but for the first time I really compared scriptures, and the meaning is completely different from one translation to the other. This author advises to use the King James version as the true translation and to measure others to that.
And then there's The Message ... and I never knew that the message is not a translation of the scriptures, but rather an interpretation of scripture by the author. Now that casts a completely different light on it. It is disturbing then that the use of the message in churches are gaining so much popularity.
Rick Warren states that he doesn't believe in self-help, and quotes Matthew 16:25 from the message: "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self". Seriously, does the real Bible talk about self-help, true self, false self at all? The way this verse has it, is that it is all about yourself, which is directly the opposite from what the Bible teaches.
Now lets see what the King James version says: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." What do you think? Do these two quotes even remotely mean the same thing? The message quote is all about yourself, whereas the KJ quote is all about Jesus!! From the popular song ... "It's all about you, Jesus"
There are a ton of examples in the book ... I'll probably spend a couple of days on this topic. Let's look at a couple more tonight.
Rick Warren quotes Psalm 147:11 from the CEV (contemporary English version) "The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love". KJV: "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy". Can you see that the meaning is different? Fear of the Lord is not the same as worshipping him, and God's love is not the same as God's mercy. God is full of love and mercy, but those are two different concepts.
Why is the church trying to remove the fear of the Lord as a component of Christianity? When was the last time you heard a sermon about fearing the Lord? When did Christianity change into a feel good movement, where there are no real requirements, where everything is just lovey-dovey? When did the focus change completely to God's love for us, and that God wants to be our "friend"? And we're forgetting about God's terrible justice! And the mercy of God that we need to badly? I also prefer concentrating on God's love for me, but when I think about the way I have lived and sometimes still behave, it scares the daylights out of me to think of God's justice. Thank you Lord Jesus for DYING on the cross for me, and for conquering death. Please be merciful to your weak servant.
Now here's one of Rick Warren's quotes that leave out a very very important part of the scripture, and in such changes the whole meaning of the quote. He quotes Psalm 14:2 from the Living Bible: "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise, who want to please God". Now here's the quote from KJV including the important verse 3 that Warren conveniently leaves out: "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, the are all together become filthy: the is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Well, that changes the picture a bit doesn't it? With Warren's half a quote, you might be led to think that yeah maybe there are a few good people, like when Abraham was pleading for Sodom and Ghamorra. But the full scripture clearly tell you that everybody has fallen, we are all guilty. And therefor once again, we have to live in fear of the Lord and beg his mercy.
Until next time ...
And then there's The Message ... and I never knew that the message is not a translation of the scriptures, but rather an interpretation of scripture by the author. Now that casts a completely different light on it. It is disturbing then that the use of the message in churches are gaining so much popularity.
Rick Warren states that he doesn't believe in self-help, and quotes Matthew 16:25 from the message: "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self". Seriously, does the real Bible talk about self-help, true self, false self at all? The way this verse has it, is that it is all about yourself, which is directly the opposite from what the Bible teaches.
Now lets see what the King James version says: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." What do you think? Do these two quotes even remotely mean the same thing? The message quote is all about yourself, whereas the KJ quote is all about Jesus!! From the popular song ... "It's all about you, Jesus"
There are a ton of examples in the book ... I'll probably spend a couple of days on this topic. Let's look at a couple more tonight.
Rick Warren quotes Psalm 147:11 from the CEV (contemporary English version) "The Lord is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love". KJV: "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy". Can you see that the meaning is different? Fear of the Lord is not the same as worshipping him, and God's love is not the same as God's mercy. God is full of love and mercy, but those are two different concepts.
Why is the church trying to remove the fear of the Lord as a component of Christianity? When was the last time you heard a sermon about fearing the Lord? When did Christianity change into a feel good movement, where there are no real requirements, where everything is just lovey-dovey? When did the focus change completely to God's love for us, and that God wants to be our "friend"? And we're forgetting about God's terrible justice! And the mercy of God that we need to badly? I also prefer concentrating on God's love for me, but when I think about the way I have lived and sometimes still behave, it scares the daylights out of me to think of God's justice. Thank you Lord Jesus for DYING on the cross for me, and for conquering death. Please be merciful to your weak servant.
Now here's one of Rick Warren's quotes that leave out a very very important part of the scripture, and in such changes the whole meaning of the quote. He quotes Psalm 14:2 from the Living Bible: "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise, who want to please God". Now here's the quote from KJV including the important verse 3 that Warren conveniently leaves out: "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, the are all together become filthy: the is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Well, that changes the picture a bit doesn't it? With Warren's half a quote, you might be led to think that yeah maybe there are a few good people, like when Abraham was pleading for Sodom and Ghamorra. But the full scripture clearly tell you that everybody has fallen, we are all guilty. And therefor once again, we have to live in fear of the Lord and beg his mercy.
Until next time ...
posted by Evert DuToit at 11:06 PM
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