Once upon a time we only had one Bible to read – translated by many learned men, many of whom disagreed on certain theological things, but whom were forced (by a stroke of genius) by the King to translate in sight of all and come to agreement in sight of all – lest these scholars be seen to be manipulating the text and dishonest in front of their peers and the King himself.
The Bible itself recommends that any matter in question be addressed by many advisors. That’s why personally I trust the King James version more than others – regardless of The King’s own motives for the translation. God can use anyone – any situation, any good or bad deed for his own purposes. It simply doesn’t matter how men wish to subvert truth when God is in something – all works to His purpose and glory!
According to The Bible, it is God himself that sows truth and also deception – to ensnare any of us that do love truth! Does that sound harsh? Well it’s right there in the Bible – that God himself sends ‘strong delusion’ to all those that did not love truth and this should be a stern warning to us all not to try to seek loopholes in The Bible to suit our lifestyles but seek the plain unvarnished truth!
It is up to us to seek out the real treasure – the real truth and then he promises to lead us into all truth. Sounds perfectly fair to me. So then we can see that at the same time as His purposes are worked out – He allows thorns and tares to grow up around the wheat. I see these as most of the other translators and re-interpretations done by small groups or even worse as with Bibles like The Message – individuals.
All Bibles are not equal
So whilst once upon a time all families had more or less one Bible – not so now. Bible translations are coming out every week in order to make a buck. And what most Christians don’t realise is that in order to get a license to print a new Bible (the best selling book in the world – which should tell you why most men are eager to print and sell it, with a completely different spirit to the Christian martyrs who died to get it into the hands of us common folk) one has to change the text significantly enough to obtain a copyright to make that buck.
God promised He would preserve his word – but promised tares and wolves too!
Satan has done his best to hit Christians at the root, to slightly alter the thing that underpins Christianity itself – and Im not talking about corrupting the old texts that have been handed down – these have remained almost perfectly the same and in tact through the ages as the scribes made sure of this with their lives.
I am talking about modern re-interpreting the meanings of certain words and doctrines in new versions, and even leaving out or changing words altogether, a little jot changed here or tittle there in many of the ‘new’ ‘improved’ ‘more readable’ versions. It never seems to occur to Christians that the Bible would be the Devil’s No.1 target! Not to alter it in major ways lest we notice – but alter it oh so subtly. I have given examples of how men alter The Bible to suit their own lifestyles and agendas in other articles. It’s up to you to find out which if any is best by studying Bible history and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth!
The message of salvation cannot be altered!
So thank goodness that the message of salvation itself is the one thing that is really really hard to obscure for any translators(s) or re-writers who wish to re-interpret the actual Bible text in their own image (something we are expressly forbidden to do) or those who have others agendas of which Jesus promised there would be many in the last days.
I love God, Christ, The Bible. art, painting, playing music, improvising music, guitar (first instrument), drumming (not very good at it:), and anything musical or art related. Quick note – my articles are usually spun off in minutes so forgive any errors – hopefully you get the essence of the article and I’ll pick up mistakes later. If you want to write of 101ChristianMagazine and inspire and edify Christians with articles on faith, general news, hobbies or anything that interests you email me at: epgb101@gmail.com:)
