We have talked in the past about false teachers. Isn't it nice to know that with God's Word, we never have to worry about finding the truth? You'll never find something crooked, perverted, or wicked? (Verses 6-9).
Also take notice once again who wrote the book of Proverbs? Yes, Solomon. The wisest man that ever lived or will ever lived. Also the wealthiest man that ever lived or will ever lived. Which was more important to him? Wisdom or Wealth? Which verses answer this question?
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We will be having a read-a-long of Pilgrims Progress. We will start the second week of September. This will give everyone that wants to join us ample time to get the book. I would recommend a modern version; we like the one edited by Warren Wiersbe. Any will do though. (Hubby says he likes the original non-edited version but he forgets he's married to a hillbilly sometimes.)
We humans are so greedy. We often care more for wealth and the acquiring of it, than we do righteousness and wisdom. I don't know that asking for wisdom would have been my first request of God, if given the opportunity. If we "listened" to wisdom and followed "her" precepts, things would be so much easier for us. (Hmmm, note to self.)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is comforting to know that the Bible is always true. And there is no untruth in it from beginning to end. Some pick and choose the parts they want to believe, and claim the other parts are not truth. That is just sad.
This made me think of a discussion I was having the other day. The person I was talking with has trouble with accepting that God's Word (our Bible) is always true, and (I think) has no errors. He thinks that in all the years since the parts of it were written, there are too many chances for mortal men to have made mistakes. Translating, transcribing, etc. I have a hard time answering that. I know that there are some translations available today that leave out important doctrines, like the virgin birth - those are obvious in their errors. But what about all the rest? I guess in my faith, I have just accepted that what I read in my Bible was protected through the ages, and came to me with no errors! I guess we need Solomon's wisdom sometimes, just to defend our faith!
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to argue with someone who sounds reasonable. I just have to believe that God's hand was in every word written, every line transcribed. He is the God of ages, and makes no mistakes, thus His inspiration and guidance in all the transcriptions, and translations can't be faulted. What would be the reason He would allow mistakes to be made to His Word after the initial writing? I just believe the Holy Spirit would have filled the hands of every transcriber.
ReplyDeleteWhat do the rest of you think?
Hmmm....gotta disagree with you on that one sister...only I am mean and cannot explain until little guy goes to bed so I can think proper...
ReplyDeleteOk, sorry to keep you all waiting. Especially you Belinda. I was giggling when I typed that last comment knowing it was ornery of me...forgive me for having an ornery moment.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, even though we are chasing rabbits away from the original text...I don't mind. I like discussing things--at least until it gets heated which we aren't like that. Yippee--love you gals!
Now for our little rabbit discussion--
God can and will use any means to draw someone to his saving grace. That means a good translation or a bad translation. But He also requires wisdom as well as knowledge. As far as knowledge, we have to realize that what God inspired was written over the course of thousands of years by men he divinely inspired.
The many translations we currently have are not truly inspired. They are just that, translations. And the fact is, some of them are not good translations because they were written by human beings who are not God and are sinful at heart. Their intentions might have been good, but the effort was human. Even the most exact translations have issues that theologians will debate until Christ comes and gets us.
That's where the wisdom comes in. Yes, we must debate things like the accuracy of translations, but never let that interfere with our witness of the gracious Lord and Savior we serve.
I have a little story to tell you. My husband was a pastor at a fundamental Baptist church one time. There was a little girl in town that wanted to go to church. Her family never attended church but they gave in. They had their pride, so they went and bought their daughter a Bible. They decided that if their daughter was going to go to church, then she WOULD have a Bible.
That little girl got all dressed up and went to church proud as can be with her new Bible. Until she got to Sunday school and the teacher put her down in front of all the other kids---telling her that the translation that she brought isn't even a real translation so that Bible was worthless.
The upset little girl left and never came back.
This is a true story and it breaks my heart.
Like I said, there will be discussion until Christ comes over these issues...but we can agree that the ORIGINAL was inspired, and God can use ANY that He chooses for His perfect purpose.
Hope this helps!
I never thought about it that way and can agree with you. So I guess my question is... considering there are bad translations, why can we believe any Bible we have now at all? How can the unsaved trust it enough to come to salvation? Is it simply listening to the Holy Spirit?
ReplyDeleteGod is sovereign and calls his children to salvation. He will use whatever means he chooses to draw or discourage, and that includes the Bible.
ReplyDeleteHowever, most translations are not bad enough to send someone away from the Gospel. But that is why we can’t be shallow Christians. We have to study and reason together so we know what is accurate in a translation and what is not. Not everyone can be a Greek or Hebrew scholar, but we can study and read from those that are called to language study/ministry.
In the past I just trusted my teachers/pastor. I knew which translations had problems such as not referring to the Virgin birth, or did the whole gender neutral thing.
Now I am blessed to have a husband that reads Greek and Hebrew and actually is very very much 'into' studying from the original. He actually study's translations as they come out...so we are a bit picky around our house but we allow room for other translations when need be. We don't pick on others for using something that we don't use.
I so agree with all you have said, Tonya. And I wish that I had the skill and experience to read/understand the Greek and Hebrew...I guess at my age I will have to leave that to my commentaries that translate it for me! God says in Isa 55:11 "So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it." So I guess our all-powerful and wise God can take care of these things!
ReplyDeleteI'll try not to point us down a rabbit trail again!
Great discussion! I'm learning so much here. And strangely enough, it seems to be "sticking" with me.
ReplyDelete