Has God Blessed ...

You mean we finally get to the truth that God blesses His Word,and not just words expressed by someone, but the context of that particular text.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Hi Rippon

It’s interesting that you ask a question, then answer it yourself.
(Almost like your not interested in receiving an answer.)
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Your question was.......

Well, to start off with, how do “you” measure God’s blessing upon a Bible translation?
It would not be an objective test, for any of us to measure God’s blessing, based solely upon our own experience with a particular Bible.

Thus, God’s blessing upon a Bible version, must be based upon how a Bible version effects the lives of those Christians exposed to it.
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Now, with that measuring apparatus in place, it can quickly be determined that the KJB, has been blessed by the LORD, much more than any of the MV’s.

We know this because, from the time that the MV’s started to take hold with God’s people(c.1900), Christendom has gone down the tubes.

In fact, the more intrenched the MV’s become within the Church, the weaker and more unstable the Church becomes.
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We have seen more “gimmicks” used over the last 100 years or so, than in all the preceding 1900 years of it’s existence, in an attempt to simply keep God’s people in the pews.
(Yet they have all failed.)

When I first came here, I posted a thread that spoke of this exact problem, but it didn’t go over very well..........
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=50602

 

"Christendom" is a very poor and inaccurate measure to use. "Christendom" has never been of God.

I have known many who used only the KJV, who were pastors and missionaries, whose lives fell into wreck and ruin.

It is not the Bible version you "use" that is important- it is the one you understand and live by.

God blesses translations IN SPITE OF their imperfections- just as He blesses us IN SPITE OF our imperfections.

 

Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.

I disagree. Subjectivity is killing the church. Truth is truth. God's blessing on a translation rests in its fidelity to the original mss.

Using yours, the NAB (catholic Bible), the book of Mormon, the Quran, et.al., could be determined that they have been blessed of the Lord.

 

I would say the opposite. As someone who goes to a church that primarily uses the KJV, I have noticed (especially in teens) that those that use the KJV tend to have less comprehension of the Bible. Also, many have trouble applying the scriptures to their lives because the more English departs from the English of the KJV, the more "unreal" the Bible seems. I know personally that since I have started using modern translations my comprehension has increased exponentially.

 

For what it is worth, I would venture to say God has blessed to some extent any translation, that through the reading of that translation someone was saved.

 

What if we consider that the fastest growing (by conversion and baptism) congregations in the world all use a version apart from the KJV these days?

Conversely, the congregations locked into KJVO appear to be dying on the vine...

Painting historical text use as "God's blessing" is rather silly and contrived, as other decent English translations are mostly all relatively new in scope. The KJV was about the only game in town for many a decade, but even it was new once...

 

Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable using popularity as the barometer for making the decision about what bible to read.

 

I share the same experience!

 

As have I.

 

I read through the Bible in a different version annually. I find it eye-opening and a blessing spiritually.

 

As do I... Even the Message makes for great devotional reading. Nothing like reading through Proverbs and seeing:

7-14 So, my friend, listen closely;
don't treat my words casually.
Keep your distance from such a woman;
absolutely stay out of her neighborhood.
You don't want to squander your wonderful life,
to waste your precious life among the hardhearted.
Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you?
Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you?
You don't want to end your life full of regrets,
nothing but sin and bones,
Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me?
Why did I reject a disciplined life?
Why didn't I listen to my mentors,
or take my teachers seriously?
My life is ruined!
I haven't one blessed thing to show for my life!"
Never Take Love for Granted
15-16 Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel,
draw water from your own spring-fed well"?
It's true. Otherwise, you may one day come home
and find your barrel empty and your well polluted.

17-20 Your spring water is for you and you only,
not to be passed around among strangers.
Bless your fresh-flowing fountain!
Enjoy the wife you married as a young man!
Lovely as an angel, beautiful as a rose—
don't ever quit taking delight in her body.
Never take her love for granted!
Why would you trade enduring intimacies for cheap thrills with a whore?
for dalliance with a promiscuous stranger?

 

My point exactly.
Sure, we might “feel like”, we are getting more from the Bible, when it is changed(added to or taken away from).
But God’s Word is Supernatural; It reaches into us and challenges us, in ways that we can’t even understand.

When the Bible is changed, to be made more “palatable”, it loses it’s power to really change us.

 

Has that always been the case? Were early 17th century English translations an attempt to make the early English translations more palatable and therefore make the Bible less powerful?


I have a high view of God. I contend that He has the power to preserve His word and bless it in more than one English translation. My God is big enough that He can't be limited to blessing only out of one version!

Who would put such a limit on God to say that He can only bless one translation?

 

Does not compute... Here is what you are asking for!


17 יִֽהְיוּ־לְךָ֥ לְבַדֶּ֑ךָ וְאֵ֖ין לְזָרִ֣ים אִתָּֽךְ׃

18 יְהִֽי־מְקֹורְךָ֥ בָר֑וּךְ וּ֝שְׂמַ֗ח מֵאֵ֥שֶׁת נְעוּרֶֽךָ׃

19 אַיֶּ֥לֶת אֲהָבִ֗ים וְֽיַעֲלַ֫ת־חֵ֥ן דַּ֭דֶּיהָ יְרַוֻּ֣ךָ בְכָל־עֵ֑ת בְּ֝אַהֲבָתָ֗הּ תִּשְׁגֶּ֥ה תָמִֽיד׃

20 וְלָ֤מָּה תִשְׁגֶּ֣ה בְנִ֣י בְזָרָ֑ה וּ֝תְחַבֵּ֗ק חֵ֣ק נָכְרִיָּֽה׃

21 כִּ֤י נֹ֨כַח ׀ עֵינֵ֣י יְ֭הוָה דַּרְכֵי־אִ֑ישׁ וְֽכָל־מַעְגְּלֹתָ֥יו מְפַלֵּֽס׃

22 עַֽוֹונֹותָ֗יו יִלְכְּדֻנֹ֥ו אֶת־הָרָשָׁ֑ע וּבְחַבְלֵ֥י חַ֝טָּאתֹ֗ו יִתָּמֵֽךְ׃

23 ה֗וּא יָ֭מוּת בְּאֵ֣ין מוּסָ֑ר וּבְרֹ֖ב אִוַּלְתֹּ֣ו יִשְׁגֶּֽה׃


I do agree, however, that changes in the text of the Bible make it slightly less powerful. I've found that THE greatest power and impact comes from the original languages, which have nuances that English can never capture. The English language texts are still powerful and God's Word -- and effective for all God's purposes. But, that being said, the average man or woman cannot access the Scriptures in their native languages, and so are dependent on translations into their own language. Praise God, He has seen fit to give us just that, and over the centuries many a man has had to give his life in exchange for that freedom and move of God. the enemy -- sadly, sometimes ensconced in the church, has worked hard to keep the Word of God out of the hands of the people God would use most greatly with and through it to accomplish His purpose for His glory!