Which Bible?

OK folks, its question and answer time again. Here it goes:

Which version, or translation of the Bible should I be using? My church says I should only use the King James Version.

This is one of those "touchy" areas that I will be more than happy to give my spill on. Let me give you the short answer first: Pray, and let the Holy Spirit guide you.

Now for the long answer: There are literally hundreds of English translations of the Bible. The most popular versions in America according to the American Bible Society are 1. King James, or Authorized Version 2. The New International Version 3. The New Living Translation 4. The Message and 5. The New King James Version

If you included all of the translations done by missionaries, there are well over 1000 English translations. But of those, only THREE, yes three, come directly from the ORIGINAL Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. They are the original King James Bible, the New International Version, and the New Living translation.

A panel of scholars recently (1995-1999) spent over 10,000 hours pouring over the original text's to make a decision on which were the most accurate. They included the top scholars of all the major denominations including Baptist, Southern Baptist, Independent Baptist, Church of God (Cleveland), Assembly of God, Catholic (eastern orth. and Roman), Lutheran, Anglican, etc. And over 20 non denominational doctors of Religion. Their conclusion: There were no "perfect" English translation of the Bible using today's language.

Consider this: Since the King James Version was first published, the English language has grown by more than 9,000,000 words and phrases. It was concluded that this version of the Bible was accurate at its time of publication, and could still be considered true scripture today. Just a note, this version of the bible has been updated over 1100 times since its original publication. There is exactly 1 "original" left at Oxford university, and most of us would not understand one word of it compared to today's version.

The most up to date version that was the closest to the original scriptures is the New International Version. This was the version the panel recommended for use in today's church. They compared it to Luther publishing the Latin Vulgate in German: This is an up to date English version that is even more accurate than the KJV. This is because the scholars that translated the NIV had 5,000 more manuscripts than the translators had in 1600 due to archaelogical finds.

The worse English translation: The New King James Version. Their report calls this version the "biggest travesty of scriptures since the Vatican changed scriptures with every new Pope". They reccommend not using this version at all.

Another accepted version was the New Living Translation (NLT), which uses original manuscripts along with the KJV, NKJV, an NIV and puts in into todays language. They reccommend this version for new Christians and for "home Bible studies".

They did not say a lot about The Message Bible, but found that it "may be useful in bringing teenagers into the church, but it should not be considered authorative because it is a "paraphrase" of original scriptures and is used in many New Age Churches.

Bored yet? I use the King James Version and the New International Version, with a Holman Illustrated Bible as a back up. If you are serious about Bible study, consider getting a Interlinear Bible, which has the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic scriptures with the direct English translation word for word underneath. You will be amazed at the difference and you will quickly realize why an up to date Bible like the NIV is needed.

This is my reccommendation: If the King James Version seems like a foreign language to you, go with the New International Version. It is easy reading, and is more accurate than any other version out there when compared word for word to the original text's.

And a shout out to all of those who are preaching that any version other than the KJV is heretical, I will be sure to tell all of the Apostles that there versions of Scripture were wrong when I see them in heaven, and you say hello to all the Pharisee's for me as well. I'm just joking, but see how ridiculus this whole debate is???

Jesse