tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8401890206819909506.post268183760752587118..comments2023-09-01T04:42:16.881-05:00Comments on In Spirit and In Truth: A Personal ResponsibilityHannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11788930568128035386noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8401890206819909506.post-13565871102523480492012-12-09T13:19:30.489-06:002012-12-09T13:19:30.489-06:00Hi Ryan!
Thanks for stopping past and sharing. As...Hi Ryan!<br /><br />Thanks for stopping past and sharing. As you can tell, it's been a while since I've last updated this blog.<br /><br />I thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter.<br /><br />Quite honestly, I tire of the petty debate of translations. When one group defends a particular translation that they are loyal to, against another group. Where's the loyalty to God's unimaginable and unlimited power?<br /><br />The bottom line is clear to me. The LORD God, of Abraham Isaac and Jacob remains the TRUE authority of TRUTH, WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING. <br /><br />I've shared my testimony of why I switched to the NLT to the KJV. It was nothing short of the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Suffice it to say, it was this authority that lead me to the KJV which presented more edification than the NLT...not the credentials of a translator, or motives of a overzealous well-doer. <br /><br />I speak personally. <br /><br />My overall message, which has gotten lost by the defenses translations, was simply this...<br /><br />One must look ALWAYS to the Author of Wisdom for guidance and understanding. If your mind and heart is willingly open to Him, He can lead in amazing ways. Ways that often confound the understanding of men who repeatedly try to put God in a box. God cannot be limited by a translation, therefore defending one translation over another, is to miss the mark by a mile.<br /><br />His ways, are higher than ours, His thoughts than our thoughts.<br /><br />I bid you peace. May you grow in truth and spread the TRUTH of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a seminary student and Pastor under the knowledge the true Church is spiritual and it's members only known to Him who has them written the Lamb's book.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11788930568128035386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8401890206819909506.post-11682946872562421812012-11-28T03:10:55.963-06:002012-11-28T03:10:55.963-06:00Because Peterson was out to create something compl...Because Peterson was out to create something completely fresh, he did not have to worry about things like that, and we as readers in the English can get a perspective entirely knew (not just cosmetically new as many translations can be). This talk of entirely new may cause you to take caution, and that is a good thing - we, or Peterson for that matter, are not out to change the truth of Christ - that would be what we don't want. But I see writers out there attacking the Message or other translations by saying "see, this translation says 'this', and the new one says 'that'!" It's changing the word of God! But what they don't seem to remember is that someone somewhere made a choice to use the word 'this' in the first place. There is a Greek word behind these English words and if you are the type of person that wants a very literal interpretation, my best advice to that person I'm afraid would be to learn Greek/Hebrew, or at least the skills to use the various word study tools out there. If you're the type of person that is ok with leaving it to the professionals, then research a good variety of formal and dynamic equivalents, and yes maybe even some paraphrases, and study all of them while humbly asking the Holy Spirit to be your guide, as I know that God is surely speaking to us via the reading of Scripture. <br /><br />In case you care about credentials or that I'm not just making this up as I go along, I am a seminary student and pastor. Hope it helps in some way, and God bless! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07490631873521203318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8401890206819909506.post-52522754046712138982012-11-28T03:10:16.622-06:002012-11-28T03:10:16.622-06:00Hi Hannah,
I think you might be confusing defini...Hi Hannah, <br /><br />I think you might be confusing definitions here <br /><br />A translation is a work that is transferred from one language to another while a paraphrase is a re-working from within one language. For example the English 'I love you' cane be translated 'Je t'aime' in French, or paraphrased as 'it's you I love' in English. <br /><br />There is a spectrum in translation ranging from formal equivalence to dynamic equivalence. Otherwise stated a word-for-word or thought for thought translation. What most people don't realize though (because they haven't studied translation) is that there is no such thing as a literal word-for-word translation, or very seldom in any case - that's not how language works. <br /><br />For example the Greek phrase beginning Matthew chapter 4 "Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνήχθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου..." if forced into a word for word translation would read roughly "Then the Jesus lead into the wilderness of the spirit tempter of the Devil" <br /><br />In this verse you can still sort of make out what is going on, but as you came to more difficult verses, you would see how the meaning would be totally obscured. Sometimes 5 English words are needed to convey what one Greek means, and sometimes 1 English word is needed to say what takes 5 Greek. <br /><br />But you hit it right when you say that multiple translations are needed for study. Finding where they differ and then looking into the Greek as to why they differ (because they differ for a reason - one of them is NOT trying to change or obscure the Bible, they are translating what seems to their understanding to be the wording that best represents authorial intent - and they do a much better job than you or I would, so thank God for them for providing us with a written gospel we can understand!) <br /><br />The Message for example is often criticized for being a paraphrase while technically being a translation (because Peterson worked from the original languages) albeit a very idiomatic translation. It has its strengths and weaknesses as many translations do. One strength is that it really does offer a fresh perspective on verses we think we've heard a thousand times. One weakness may be that it was translated primarily by one person instead of a team. <br /><br />Traditional translations have weaknesses too though. Unfortunately these people that work very hard on providing God's word for the everyday person has to make a living, as they well deserve, which means they need a publisher or finance-er, which means you need to sell bibles. This often means that translating teams will often get pigeon-holed into a translation they may not necessarily think is best or most clear. But because they may need the Bible translation they produce to be marketable to a conservative and highly traditional Christian community, they must use more familiar language, especially in well known passages. Imagine changing the wording of ten commandments, beatitudes, or John 3.16? traditionalist watchdogs have field days with verses like these. Next thing you know your translation is blacklisted (even though it may be very true to the original language) and you as a business is out the cost of production. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07490631873521203318noreply@blogger.com