do the various bibical translations lead to divisions in the christian church?

Question

A mormon bible, a catholic bible, a jehovah witness bible, NIV Bilble, etc....

Answer 1

Actually, I think that the divisions in the Church have lead to the different translations. Some, such as the Mormon and Jehovah's Witnesses translations, were clearly made to support non-orthodox beliefs. Among the more mainstream translations, books have been removed from the canon established in the 5th century because those books disprove certain non-orthodox beliefs. If we look back to the original Greek and Hebrew or to the Latin Vulgate, we can get a much better idea of what the original writers intended.

Answer 2

I don't think the problem is so much translations of the Bible as it is different interpretations of the Bible. Most of the Bible translations are pretty much the same, though there are differences (such as in the Jehovah's Witnesses version). The Mormons actually use the King James version of the Bible like a lot of other churches. Their other scripture, The Book of Mormon, is a completely different book. The Catholic Bible is a lot like other Bibles, but it includes the Apocrypha, a set of books that other Christian churches do not believe are revelation and authentic. All in all, however, the texts of the different Bibles aren't different enough to wholly explain the thousands of churches and divisions in Christianity.

There are so many churches not because there are so many Bibles, but because there are so many interpretations of the Bible. The Bible is just one book and without the back up provided by modern day revelation, other scriptures, and true authority, it can pretty much say whatever you want it to say. It's a simple thing to twist the written word to make it say what you think it should say. Don't get me wrong. The Bible is a great book and I know it to be the word of God, but when it is used as the absolute authority or used by itself, it exacerbates the rifts one sees in Christianity today. Personally, I think people need to open up their minds a bit to accept the fact that God has NOT finished talking to His children and has more scripture and revelation to give if we will just accept it. Why would He stop with the Bible? It's just silly to think that is the only thing God can produce. He's God!

Answer 3

At last count, there were somewhere around 34,000 Christian denominations. Despite all of them claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit, none of them can agree on anything! Even the most basic of Christian doctrines--heaven, hell, whether or not Jesus was God, etc.--are open to a variety of interpretations. If this does not qualify as "division," then I don't know what does...and yet, the Bible said that the church would be of one mind, one body, one spirit. I guess the Bible lied--AGAIN.

Answer 4

both biblical translations and interpretations lead to division, not so much with interpretations when you go by newer versions they make sure there is no room to interpret... helpful isn't it? lol
and by the way Mormons go by the King James Version of the Bible not the Oldest but the 3rd oldest bible available I have read all three and the King James seems to flow much better to me but we do have the Book of Mormon it by no means is the bible it's a different thing all together. it's another testament of Jesus. We in no way tamper with the bible but we do only go by the King james version.

Answer 5

No, because any true bible student should be comfortable to use several translations to help mold his faith.

The Jehovah's Witness example is ironic because they did not have a complete "New World Translation" until the 1960's, which was well after they had established themselves as global preachers of God's Word. Any honest translation of the Scriptures indicates that Jesus personally instructed his disciples to go door-to-door. Clearly, Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones working to perform the same type of work in our day.

What did Jesus personally say about any who would disregard that important work?
(Luke 10:1-17) After these things the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. 3 Go forth. Look! I am sending you forth as lambs in among wolves. ...16 “He that listens to you listens to me too. And he that disregards you disregards me too. Moreover, he that disregards me disregards [also] him that sent me forth.”

Answer 6

The divisions started long before the bible was even commonly available.


It isn't translation, it is interpretation. The bible is such contradictory nonsense, it lends itself to thousands of different and opposing interpretations.

As evidenced by the tens of thousands of different Christian cults all claiming to follow the bible.

Answer 7

There is no Christian 'church'. Jesus did away with the need for organized religion at the cross. The Body of Christ is the collective of believers, and as such there is no division.

Organized religions are the creation of men who seek power and control without having to earn it.

This I believe;
http://homelessheart.com/testimony.htm

Answer 8

Yes! It can.

New World Translation -

Definition: A translation of the Holy Scriptures made directly from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into modern-day English by a committee of anointed witnesses of Jehovah. These expressed themselves regarding their work as follows: “The translators of this work, who fear and love the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures, feel toward Him a special responsibility to transmit his thoughts and declarations as accurately as possible. They also feel a responsibility toward the searching readers who depend upon a translation of the inspired Word of the Most High God for their everlasting salvation.” This translation was originally released in sections, from 1950 to 1960. Editions in other languages have been based on the English translation.

On what is the “New World Translation” based?

As a basis for translating the Hebrew Scriptures, the text of Rudolf Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica, editions of 1951-1955, was used. The 1984 revision of the New World Translation benefited from updating in harmony with the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia of 1977. Additionally, the Dead Sea Scrolls and numerous early translations into other languages were consulted. For the Christian Greek Scriptures, the master Greek text of 1881 as prepared by Westcott and Hort was used primarily, but several other master texts were consulted as well as numerous early versions in other languages.

Who were the translators?

When presenting as a gift the publishing rights to their translation, the New World Bible Translation Committee requested that its members remain anonymous. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania has honored their request. The translators were not seeking prominence for themselves but only to honor the Divine Author of the Holy Scriptures.

Over the years other translation committees have taken a similar view. For example, the jacket of the Reference Edition (1971) of the New American Standard Bible states: “We have not used any scholar’s name for reference or recommendations because it is our belief God’s Word should stand on its merits.”

Is it really a scholarly translation?

Since the translators have chosen to remain anonymous, the question cannot here be answered in terms of their educational background. The translation must be appraised on its own merits.

What kind of translation is this? For one thing, it is an accurate, largely literal translation from the original languages. It is not a loose paraphrase, in which the translators leave out details that they consider unimportant and add ideas that they believe will be helpful. As an aid to students, a number of editions provide extensive footnotes showing variant readings where expressions can legitimately be rendered in more than one way, also a listing of the specific ancient manuscripts on which certain renderings are based.

Some verses may not read the same as what a person is accustomed to. Which rendering is right? Readers are invited to examine manuscript support cited in footnotes of the Reference edition of the New World Translation, read explanations given in the appendix, and compare the rendering with a variety of other translations. They will generally find that some other translators have also seen the need to express the matter in a similar manner.

Why is the name Jehovah used in the Christian Greek Scriptures?

It should be noted that the New World Translation is not the only Bible that does this. The divine name appears in translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew, in passages where quotations are made directly from the inspired Hebrew Scriptures. The Emphatic Diaglott (1864) contains the name Jehovah 18 times. Versions of the Christian Greek Scriptures in at least 38 other languages also use a vernacular form of the divine name.

The emphasis that Jesus Christ put on the name of his Father indicates that he personally used it freely. (Matt. 6:9; John 17:6, 26) According to Jerome of the fourth century C.E., the apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew, and that Gospel makes numerous quotations of passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that contain the divine name. Others of the Christian Greek Scripture writers quoted from the Greek Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, begun about 280 B.C.E.), early copies of which contained the divine name in Hebrew characters, as shown by actual fragments that have been preserved.

Professor George Howard of the University of Georgia wrote: “Since the Tetragram [four Hebrew letters for the divine name] was still written in the copies of the Greek Bible which made up the Scriptures of the early church, it is reasonable to believe that the N[ew] T[estament] writers, when quoting from Scripture, preserved the Tetragram within the biblical text.”—Journal of Biblical Literature, March 1977, p. 77.

‘Which translation of the Bible do you have? There are many translations, you know.’ ‘I’m glad to use whatever translation you prefer. But you may be interested in knowing why I especially like the New World Translation. It is because of its modern, understandable language, also because the translators held so closely to what is in the original Bible languages.’

There are many translations of the Bible. Our Society encourages the use of a variety of them in order to make comparisons and to help students to grasp the real sense of the Scriptures. As you may know, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. So we appreciate what translators have done to put it into our language.

‘Evidently you are a person who loves God’s Word. So I am sure you would be interested in knowing what one of the big differences is between the New World Translation and other versions. It involves the name of the most important person spoken of in the Scriptures. Do you know who that is? Did you know that his personal name appears in the Bible in the original Hebrew some 7,000 times—more than any other name?’  ‘What difference does it make whether we use the personal name of God or not? Well, do you have any really close friends whose name you do not know? . . . If we want a personal relationship with God, knowing his name is an important start. Notice what Jesus said at John 17:3, 6. (Ps. 83:18.)’

IF you would like further information or a free home Bible study, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit http://www.watchtower.org
Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian Congregation of worshipers of Jehovah worldwide in the earth. There is no divisions among Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole. As such, Jehovah's Witnesses are not associated with mainstream religion. - which contains numerous divisions & factions.

Answer 9

There are distinct divisions or denominations....it depends on what sect of Christianity you're talking about as to how much the followers are divided on their beliefs. Baptists and Methodists mostly agree.....Mormons and Baptists, not so much....etc.

Answer 10

bet u didn't realize u were going to get off into all that. simply put, the answer is not only "yes", but over the centuries even small mistranslations can twist the meaning of the original text.