The other day my son and I were at the Dollar Store and we passed by the section that had some Bibles. He looked at them and decided he wanted a large print edition. I didn't have the money at the time to buy him one, but I did have a large print NIV at home that I wasn't using. I had bought it several months ago when I was taking Zyrexa, which was causing my eyes to lose focus. I told him he could have it if he wanted it, since I had no trouble reading my regular print Bible now. He thought that was alright, so I gave it to him a couple of days later.
So he's been reading the gospel of Luke, and I think that's great. But just a few moments ago he said something that kinda made my heart sink.
He told me that the NIV version of the Bible had an incorrect translation of a few verses in one of the earlier chapters of Luke. I assume he's contrasting it with the King James (which is the gold standard at the church he and his mother attend) or the New King James Version (which he has read most of his life).
What made my heart sink, and really kind of made me mad, was that someone somewhere (I can only assume it was a Sunday school teacher or the like) has taken it upon themselves to teach kids who aren't even teenagers yet about the "differences" in translations, and likely (if I'm right about who is doing it and it does turn out to be someone from the church they go to) that one is better than the other, that one is "correct" while the other is "incorrect", and of course they are the ones to decide which is which.
It made my heart sink because a 12 year old who has taken the time to actually dig into the Bible needs to be concerned with the overall message, not quibbles concerning the right/wrong version. How can you explain to a youth how the NIV works with manuscripts that were discovered after the KJV translators did their job in the 17th century? Or that manuscript fragments were also used to keep things in check, while the KJV, I believe, was taken directly from the Latin Vulgate? Or that language is fluid, that it changes with time and that, frankly, the KJV is out-of-date where this is concerned (even the NKJV, in my opinion, doesn't clear this hurdle).
All I could say, as I only had a brief period of time before he and his mother left for Wednesday night services, was that each translation has it's strengths and weaknesses. This is something I very much believe. I'm certainly not knocking the KJV. It was good enough for my ancestors and it's good enough for me. It's language (though, as I said, outdated) is beautiful, a pleasure to read once one has an understanding of what's being said in this ornate idiom. But it's like the difference between Shakespeare and John Updike when it comes to the ability of the common individual to grasp and comprehend without much tedious study.
I have a friend who says he prefers the KJV over the NIV because it FORCES him to make sure he understands a verse, in and of itself throughly before preceeding. He, however, is not one of these "King James Only" types, and reads the NIV as well. I think this is an excellent way of reading it and I utilyze the method myself occasionally. But it must be said that such an approach tends to cause the reader to lose the flow of the narrative.
Yes, I see the strenghs and the weaknesse of all translations. Yes, it pisses me off that some people are so shallow as to think that some versions are inferior (speaking here only of the translations that have been sanctioned by the clergy, academia, Bible sholars, etc.), that there is a "right" and "wrong" angle to pursue.
What is the point of discussing all this with (or more likely teaching it to) a young person who hasn't even had the chance to read the Bivle completely in ANY translation?
I have a "hands-off" approach to the church that the wife and son attend. Suffice to say that I have serious issues with some of their doctrine. I have my reasons for this, but trust me, it is the only one that enables a peaceful household (in fact, I've learned to completely avoid discussion of religion, only answering direct questions my son might ask). So I'm not going to make an issue of this. Still, never let it be said that I ignored the situation, even if I didn't feel I could properly explain certain things, things that he's too young to fully understand.
As for my "spirituality"...I suppose I'm in the condition that the Baptist's call "Backslidden". I guess it's a good thing I haven't been attending the Baptist church in a long time, isn't it? :)
Then again, I haven't been attending ANY church. I feel that my faith is strong but I also have bipolar/schizoaffective disorder and I don't like to be among large groups of people (maybe that's a cop-out...we'll see). And I've become sick of the whole "Christian Subculture" thing, which needs no definition to anyone who has come out of it (and no description will be forthcoming on my part...sorry, I really don't have time now...just visit your nearest Mardel or Zondervan Family Bookstore and you should figure it out real quick).
The bottom line is that I believe. In my heart I know that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. As Peter the disciple figured out, there's really nowhere else to turn, because He has the words of eternal life.
One of the things that got me in trouble during the last 3 psychotic episodes I've had is an "obsession with religion". Being so deep in it had not done me good. So I hope that I have God's permission to back off a little bit. :) If that sounds facetious, I'm sorry. It's done me good to live my life without feeling as if I've failed just because I didn't read a certain amount of pages in my Bible, or didn't read through the whole thing in a year. I'm happy knowing that I can listen to whatever kind of music I want to, it doesn't have to be Christian music, because when it's all said and done, none of that matters. Not a few of my thoughts are prayers and most of them echo the cries found so often in the Psalms and throughout the Scriptures, "Lord have mercy". Without His mercy I will not stand on that day that is outside of time, the sunset that breaks upon the end of this life and the beginning of another. If there is no other, I'm fucked. But I believe that there IS another, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Door, that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
If that's not enough, then it's not worth bothering with.
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