The Source!
Ok so before I start up this topic/discussion thing I think that what needs to be figured out first is where to get the information from as far as the Bible goes. And as far as the Bible goes no one would really think anything of it as far as the different versions that are out in print. Its still the Bible, so what is so important about the different versions right? There are Bibles that are published so that they can relate to teens; there are Bibles so that they can relate to adults; there are Bibles so that they can relate to business leaders; there are Bibles so that they can relate to pastors; etc. So just looking at it at first it must be really great that there are people that are willing to take the Bible and use it in many ways so that people in different areas of their lives or in different situations can relate to it and understand it. I, personally, had many different Bibles because they were either given to me as a gift from the church or from family. And it was pretty cool to have a Bible that would break down and interpret what is being said in the verses so that I could apply it to my life and the various situations that I was in. So, I think that it can be safely said that there are people that don't really care about the version they have(because they either don't really read their Bible or they just listen to what their pastor reads outloud in church), and people that haven't really heard about what the different versions contain, and people that have heard about the King James Version being the preserved Word of God but haven't seen why. I am really hoping to relay what I have learned so far and what I am still learning to everyone so that they can decide for themselves how important the Word of God is to them and show some things that may be surprising in contrast to what has been the traditional way things go.
To start out, I will say that I use and will be using for scripture the King James Version(KJV). Yes, that is the version that contains all those weird words like Thy, Thou, Ye, etc. Some have heard people read from the KJV and wonder how they can even follow it as they compare it to the easy and simple version that they have. Well, I will try and get to the meaning of those words and why they are there later, but right now I want to start out with the New International Version(NIV). Going to the NIV website and reading through the main page you can find, "The NIV was created and is maintained with the mandate to accurately and faithfully translate the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic biblical texts into clearly understandable English." and, "The NIV is the most widely accepted contemporary Bible translation today. More people buy the NIV Bible than any other English-language translation." Well just reading this will make someone go out and buy an NIV so it must be a good Bible. It has to be God's preserved Word that He promised He would preserve. Also I would like to use The Message which I have come across before. On their main website it says, "Language changes. New words are formed. Old words take on new meaning. There is a need in every generation to keep the language of the gospel message current, fresh, and understandable—the way it was for its very first readers. That is what The Message seeks to accomplish for contemporary readers. It is a version for our time—designed to be read by contemporary people in the same way as the original koin� Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were savored by people thousands of years ago." and, "The goal of The Message is to engage people in the reading process and help them understand what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather "a reading Bible." The verse numbers, which are not in the original documents, have been left out of the print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today." Alright, so this version is great to use because the writer has obviously read the Word of God himself and taken the time to "break it down so that everyone can understand it". Well, good for them. The original Bible must have been too complex for us dumb people to understand.
Considering that the main topic is going to be on Creation and Evolution, I will use the Genesis account as an example.
KJV- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) In the beginning the God of the Bible created the heaven, the earth, the light, separated the light from darkness, called the light Day, called the darkness Night, and He did all of this in THE FIRST DAY.
NIV- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) In the beginning the God of the Bible created the heavens(so he created multiple heavens on the first day), the earth, the earth either was for sure formless and empty OR became formless and empty(this Bible must not be sure of which one), the light, separated the light from darkness, called the light "day", called the darkness "night", and He did all of this in THE FIRST DAY.
The Message- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1-2First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. 3-5 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) It wasn't the beginning, it was just the first thing God had on His big list. The God of the Bible created the heavens(so he created multiple heavens on the first day). He created earth but not THE earth so maybe there is another earth somewhere in outer space. The earth He created was a SOUP of NOTHINGNESS, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness(kinda sounds like my youngest brother describing something he doesn't want to eat. But if a person has an evolution background then they will love this Bible). The Spirit of God must be like a bird because we can relate to those. God just said the word "Light" and it appeared. He gave the light a name and He gave the dark a name. And all of this happened on Day One.
Wow, so reading just the first five verses a person can come up with lots conclusions as to what God created on the first day or on day one. So, obviously this is just a little bit compared to the rest of the Bible and I will for sure bring up more verses from the Bible and probably bring in some other versions that people are familiar with. And throughout this I will try to explain what the original texts are and how they are related to the interpreting of the Bible. And remember I am still learning too so I for sure don't know everything. So if you have a version that I don't have on here then for sure tell me and I will add it to the list so that we can all compare them and see what might be different and why. And I think after a couple weeks of explaining that having a good source greatly impacts the way that things are interpreted, then I will get on the evolution and creation discussion. And PLEASE, comment on anything and everything if you want to. I want to know what everyone else thinks about this and how it relates to them. Thanks!
To start out, I will say that I use and will be using for scripture the King James Version(KJV). Yes, that is the version that contains all those weird words like Thy, Thou, Ye, etc. Some have heard people read from the KJV and wonder how they can even follow it as they compare it to the easy and simple version that they have. Well, I will try and get to the meaning of those words and why they are there later, but right now I want to start out with the New International Version(NIV). Going to the NIV website and reading through the main page you can find, "The NIV was created and is maintained with the mandate to accurately and faithfully translate the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic biblical texts into clearly understandable English." and, "The NIV is the most widely accepted contemporary Bible translation today. More people buy the NIV Bible than any other English-language translation." Well just reading this will make someone go out and buy an NIV so it must be a good Bible. It has to be God's preserved Word that He promised He would preserve. Also I would like to use The Message which I have come across before. On their main website it says, "Language changes. New words are formed. Old words take on new meaning. There is a need in every generation to keep the language of the gospel message current, fresh, and understandable—the way it was for its very first readers. That is what The Message seeks to accomplish for contemporary readers. It is a version for our time—designed to be read by contemporary people in the same way as the original koin� Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were savored by people thousands of years ago." and, "The goal of The Message is to engage people in the reading process and help them understand what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather "a reading Bible." The verse numbers, which are not in the original documents, have been left out of the print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today." Alright, so this version is great to use because the writer has obviously read the Word of God himself and taken the time to "break it down so that everyone can understand it". Well, good for them. The original Bible must have been too complex for us dumb people to understand.
Considering that the main topic is going to be on Creation and Evolution, I will use the Genesis account as an example.
KJV- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) In the beginning the God of the Bible created the heaven, the earth, the light, separated the light from darkness, called the light Day, called the darkness Night, and He did all of this in THE FIRST DAY.
NIV- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) In the beginning the God of the Bible created the heavens(so he created multiple heavens on the first day), the earth, the earth either was for sure formless and empty OR became formless and empty(this Bible must not be sure of which one), the light, separated the light from darkness, called the light "day", called the darkness "night", and He did all of this in THE FIRST DAY.
The Message- Genesis 1:1-5-The First Day
1-2First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. 3-5 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
Reading this passage a person can conclude that:
1) It wasn't the beginning, it was just the first thing God had on His big list. The God of the Bible created the heavens(so he created multiple heavens on the first day). He created earth but not THE earth so maybe there is another earth somewhere in outer space. The earth He created was a SOUP of NOTHINGNESS, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness(kinda sounds like my youngest brother describing something he doesn't want to eat. But if a person has an evolution background then they will love this Bible). The Spirit of God must be like a bird because we can relate to those. God just said the word "Light" and it appeared. He gave the light a name and He gave the dark a name. And all of this happened on Day One.
Wow, so reading just the first five verses a person can come up with lots conclusions as to what God created on the first day or on day one. So, obviously this is just a little bit compared to the rest of the Bible and I will for sure bring up more verses from the Bible and probably bring in some other versions that people are familiar with. And throughout this I will try to explain what the original texts are and how they are related to the interpreting of the Bible. And remember I am still learning too so I for sure don't know everything. So if you have a version that I don't have on here then for sure tell me and I will add it to the list so that we can all compare them and see what might be different and why. And I think after a couple weeks of explaining that having a good source greatly impacts the way that things are interpreted, then I will get on the evolution and creation discussion. And PLEASE, comment on anything and everything if you want to. I want to know what everyone else thinks about this and how it relates to them. Thanks!
Written by Dylan at 12:38 PM
4 Comments:
All praise be to God the Creator for doing what He said He would do: preserve His Word for us (Psalm 12:6-7)with ONE real Bible. Keep "studying to shew thyself approved" (2 Tim 2:15), Dylan, and He will reward your efforts. Over the last year of studying this ourselves, we have found Him to be faithful when we "apply our heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things..." We have much still to learn, and are thankful to be on this journey with you. Love, Dad and Mom
Hey Dylan , First I want to say that its really great that you are seeking truth . Also I recommend a movie I saw a few months back called Expelled , basically its about how creation professors and intelligent design professors are being fired from there jobs because they don't tow the Darwinian party line . Ben Stein interviews a lot of people both Darwin advocates and intelligent design advocates . The interview with Richard Dawkins was a real eye opener to how illogical he really is . I am not a King James only person , but its not because of the thee and thous and doths or whatever , its because there are other versions of the bible that are translated directly from the Greek and Hebrew . In the preface of my NIV it says that over a hundred scholars worked directly from Hebrew , Greek and Aramaic texts . I think that is important . Why do people believe that only the men that King James appointed to translate the holy scriptures are the only ones that could be accurate ? I often think we might want to learn Hebrew , Greek and Aramaic to clearly understand the scripture , but realistically who is going to do that . And about the verse God created the heaven and the earth verse God created the heavens and the earth ; couldn't heavens mean the multitude of galaxies ? I will agree there are plenty of versions that "dumb people down " and versions that are gender neutral , these are terrible . Anyway I hope I didn't tick any King James only people off . I like the King James and I dont have a problem reading it . bye Live Oak Florida
Hi Dylan, The only respectful reading of this passage is a litteral 6 day creation. Those who want to push some kind of theistic evolution are just ashamed(of the truth) to look foolish to evolution crowd. Evolution proponents cannot even explain how the first life Spontaneously Generated. We need to hold them accountable for this because it demands an intellegent Designer.
Keep up the good work!
Don't turn this into a Bible version debate. The enemy would like nothing more than to get the spotlight off of the very weak foundations of evolution.
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