So what Bible do you read?

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7 responses to “So what Bible do you read?”

1. 

   Somebody’s Mimi

   December 14, 2008

   Thanks for you help… I’ll keep trying.

   Reply
2. 

   Lizzie

   December 13, 2008

   LOL….Leviticus and Numbers is scary ground for me. I think I’ve stopped reading during one or the other about half a dozen times. I am SO up on the Genesis thing (having restarted so many times!!) but the geneologies just do me in, LOL

   It has always (respectfully) bothered me to read other bloggers’ opinions on bible translations. There’s a very well known blogger who is EXTREMELY pro KJV (believing every other version is corrupt etc) and while I understand and respect her point of view, and totally support personal choice, I do kind of think that God is big enough to sort the wheat from the chaff in regards to Scripture.(He did write it, after all!). It’s a heart thing. If you’re feeling like (for example), The Message is a bit wishy-washy, then you should move on with a clear concience. If the KJV seems beautiful (yes, even to a newbie), then by all means go for it. If it seems archaic, then you should also have the freedom to choose another without worrying about burning in h*ll, LOL. God’s bigger than all the debating over the issue.

   Cheers,
   Lizzie
   http://www.lizzieshome.com

   Reply
3. 

   Somebody’s Mimi

   December 13, 2008

   OH and all those families and all their strange names… I’ll never get those down!

   Mimi-
   The more you read, the more they will make sense. But yes, at first they can be overwhelming and confusing. Just jump in and hang in there!
   –Mom

   Reply
4. 

   Somebody’s Mimi

   December 13, 2008

   Liz… that did help! You actually made sense. My Mom (85) and I were discussing bibles just this morning. We were wondering WHY there were SO many bibles?? When I grew up we read ONE bible, no choices.. so it is no wonder I didn’t understand half the stuff. But today I do wonder what ONE is the RIGHT one and who says so????

   Mimi–
   It isn’t that one version is right and the others are wrong. All say the same thing, but have variations in the words chosen. They are just diferent ways of sharing the same message.

   In all translations I know if, except for one, you can line them up verse by verse and the message is exactly the same. (In The Message version, you would have to line them up chapter by chapter instead.) By doing this, sometimes as a reader, you can gain a deeper understanding of the meaning behind something… or clear up some confusion you may have.

   But all versions come from the original texts. And all are God-breathed. Every single word.
   –Mom

   Reply
5. 

   Lizzie

   December 13, 2008

   I’ve only just begun investigating this ‘faith thing’ in the last 18 or so months. When the time came for me to buy a Bible (talk about scary…don’t laugh, it was! LOL) after two months of reading from BibleGateway.com and sending myself into cluster headaches (you know that ‘newbie’ phase where you HAVE TO READ AS MUCH OF THE WORD AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE SUDDENTLY ITS ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT…LOL) I already knew I wasn’t going to gel well with the KJV, so the first paper bible I bought was a NIV.

   At that point I had already researched a little and since the NIV was the most common and a good ‘middle ground’, it won. Several months later I bought The Daily Message which was the Message (no way! LOL) arranged in a year-long plan which drove me INSANE because along with the altered wording I now had to skip back and forth all over the Bible and my brain just kind of went ‘pop’ trying to make sense of it all. I eventually gave that one away. I also bought, a few months after that, a Women of Faith Message bible where everything was in standard order but there were several extra pages at the beginning and the end with devotions.

   Here are my thoughts on bible reading for newbies. First thing first, you need to *start* reading and then you need to *keep* reading (easier said than done, it all seems like Greek at first, you’re learning all the parables and famous verses brand new). A newbie doesn’t need the KJV, no matter what the ‘lifers’ (Christians since birth or early childhood) say. If I’d started with the KJV I would have given up in a week. *Having said that*, I do believe its an awesome translation – just not for a newbie. Get the grounding first, then work your way up.

   The Message reads like a book, and that’s nice for a newbie, but you miss out on a lot of the original meaning. For memorisation/looking things up I head for the NIV, but I use the Message as a ‘complimentary’ text – what would this passage look like if spoken by a couple of friends having coffee in the local diner? It can illuminate and clarify what you’ve already learned in the NIV, but probably not replace it – as a daily reading bible, I’d stick with the NIV. Many of the church podcasts I listen to use either the NIV or the ESV but occasionally will word things from the Message, which feels like a conversation between two friends. I’ve heard it said that the ESV is a slightly more accurate version than the NIV although my personal thought is, the MOST important thing is that the Word is being read, not what translation to use. I think God’s just happy people are reading the bible full stop, LOL.

   Did that help?

   Cheers,
   Lizzie
   http://www.lizzieshome.com

   Reply
6. 

   Sallie

   December 13, 2008

   My pastor also favors the NLT lately. I think the next one I buy will be that. VERY understandable and readable. (I’m currently a long time NIV girl also).

   Reply
7. 

   Joy @ Five J’s

   December 12, 2008

   I’ve been using NLT, New Living Translation, for a while. It’s not a paraphrase, but a dynamic translation. I think it does a great job in wording things in modern (but not too modern) language. The one I use is footnoted so I can see what different manuscripts say in certain verses.

   Reply