[GCFL-discuss] Versions

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

Yolanda,

I hope this is not too long-winded, but if I were in your shoes, I would
try several different versions of the Bible. The fact that there ARE
different versions, and that each recounts Scripture in slightly
different ways, shows that none of the published versions are a perfect
record of what God was trying to tell us. I hope someday to read an
Aramaic version (still used by some Christians in Iraq, Syria and central
Asia) because that is the language Jesus actually spoke. But learning a
whole new language is a lot of work, and I have not gotten around to it.
(Most English translations rely on Greek texts, the language in which
Paul wrote his Epistles, also a language the Gospels were translated into
early, and many dispersed Jewish communities also relied on Greek
translations of what we now call the Old Testament).

A woman I respect once told me that she relies on the New International
Version because it makes everything clear. But I thought, if it makes
everything clear, that means what was not clear in the King James was
made clear by the publishers of the NIV. Who knows if they made the
correct choice of HOW to made it clear. They might have taken out words
that could have provided me with better inspiration.

But when you find different Christians have different understandings of
the same Scriptures, try Ephesians 4 to understand it. And I believe
Nancy is right that it is better to read a whole chapter than to quote a
single verse.

Siarlys


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