Which Bible should one believe in?

Question

earlier i asked a question ab the authenticity of the bible and received some responses that the bible is without error, in this case i ask nicely, if the bible is infallibe why are there so many versions, and which one is the true word

Answer 1

E. None of the above.

Answer 2

You want to get a good translation that is not missing any of the original books. After the last scriptural writing (John's Apocalypse) was finished in around 90~100A.D., it took about 300 years for the Church to decide which writings were scriptural and which weren't. By the end of the fourth century the Bible as we have it today was decided upon. These scriptures were unchallenged for over a millennium before Martin Luther decided that he didn't like some of the books. He proceeded to remove several books from the Old and New Testaments until the German princes who protected him insisted that the New Testament writings be put back. What was left was what Protestants today call the Bible. If you want a Bible with all 46 books of the Old Testament included, try the New American Bible. If you want to compare it to the Protestant version, try the NIV. But, please avoid the King James Version. It is chocked full of errors and mistranslations.

If you have trouble understanding something in the Bible, check out my website at http://www.geocities.com/orthodox_doctrine/. Click on "Early Fathers" at the top, then in the left pane under the heading "Scripture" click the link that you have questions about. There are excerpts from the Bible as interpreted by the followers of the apostles and the first few generations of Christians in this portion of the site.

Answer 3

Was that the one I answered? I gave a really good answer.

I'll repeat. If you really want to know the Word of God - then you have to go back to the source. Learn Hebrew and Aramaic then head off to London, Jerusalam, Egypt and other places that hold original scrolls.

The Syriac Bible - called Peshitta - is as close to the original as you can get. www.peshitta.org.

The pope is infallible. The bible is the inspired word of God. It always makes me laugh that Protestants are so dead set against the idea that the pope is infallible then claim the bible is infallible. Which would mean the men who wrote it were infallible and the men and women who translate each version are also infallible.

Like you, I think that idea makes no sense.

The bible is inspired by God. But it's not perfect. Unless you go back to the original scrolls. Then it's pretty darn cool!

King James IS SO NOT close to the original. King James is close to the Douay Rheims - from which it was copied. Douay Rheims was pulled from the Latin version.

The Jerusalem Bible - not the New Jerusalem but the original of which Tolkein (The Lord of the Rings guy...) was a translator - is a work of art. The translators of the Echol Bliblique (french) took the oldest scrolls from the Dead Sea findings and updated scripture. Cool stuff.

Answer 4

My choice is the NWT

Old Testament:
In fact, the New World Translation is a scholarly work. In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said:
"In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translation, I often refer to the English edition as what is known as the New World Translation. In doing so, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this kind of work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew....Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."

New Testament:

While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

“Here at last is a comprehensive comparison of nine major translations of the Bible:
King James Version,
New American Standard Bible,
New International Version,
New Revised Standard Version,
New American Bible,
Amplified Bible,
Today's English Version (Good News Bible),
Living Bible,
and the New World Translation.

The book provides a general introduction to the history and methods of Bible translation, and gives background on each of these versions. Then it compares them on key passages of the New Testament to determine their accuracy and identify their bias. Passages looked at include:

John 1:1; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1

Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University

Answer 5

the subjects within the Bible are often difficult to put into words, and then when an author gets the inspiration from a divine source it gets written in the laguage of that person and time. Translating the written word about an often indescribable subject which maintains one foot in this reality and one foot in another reality, is not a precise form of expression, however none of the truly important directions given with regards to how one should act are in the least bit fuzzy, all very easy to understand and are almost never argued about, it is only the abstract basically unimportant areas of thought that become big issues to people with small brains, and are clearly not inspired by much of anything, they just do not wish to use that which is clear, cuz if they did then there would not be time to have this type of discussion.

Answer 6

It's not that there are versions, it's translations, from Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, to English or other languages.
The King James us the closest to the original language. Some publishers have come out with a Greek to English, etc. Scofield is one of the best I have found in a study Bible. Wyrie is, and Strong's Concordance is a good Bible study help.

Answer 7

The Bible is not the source of confusion. The false god of man understanding it is (at least presently in the U.S.).
As for there being several versions, that comes from the Bible being truly 'translated' (such as the King James, many years ago), to several paraphrasing etc.
There are other aspects like the Catholic vs. the Protestant books in the Bible. (I was raised in a Protestant group), but as an adult (around early 40's) I did my own research and adopted the 'Catholic' books as part of the Bible.
I also tend to believe there are other additions (many subtle) to the Bible. Currently, I tend to use for general purposes the St. Joseph Edition (Catholic book store) as my foundation, although I keep a Protestant King James Bible handy near the computer. (My step brother gave it to me as a present a few years ago).

Answer 8

And as I answered in your previous question, stay away from the New World Bible, which is the one that the JW's did to put forth their agenda....and don't get a bible translated by the Mormons!

Try the King James, the New King James, or best yet, the NIV...very readable and will suit fine.

Answer 9

Holy Bible

Answer 10

I prefer the King James Version. Some of the newer version have removed some very important elements. When referring to Jesus in the newer versions they no longer refer to Him, in most cases, as Lord. Instead He is referred to as Master. In one verse in the King James Version the people responded to Jesus by worshiping Him. In the same verse in the newer version it says the fell down. So this is why I prefer the King James Version. It just seems as though the newer versions have brought Jesus down a notch in status. Now this is only my opinion.

Answer 11

The oldest and most accurate version of both the new and old testaments of the Bible is the Douay-Rheims version....best wishes.