ShareAgapeJuly14b

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God for everything?

Justice, mercy, and faith come from a heart that loves (agape) God completely. Yes, we all fail to be perfect in the areas mentioned above, but do we recognize our failure and go to God for forgiveness, asking to be improved? That's the clincher.

Jesus says while we should still do outward things like tithing, the most important thing for us to do is get our hearts right with God. Once our hearts are right, our cups and dishes will be clean on the inside, and the outside actions (like helping the needy, etc.) will come naturally. Otherwise, we're like beautifully constructed garbage cans. We may look attractive, but ultimately, we're still stinky and dirty.

For this week's recommendation, how about a little humor? Just visit http://jokes.christiansunite.com/Hypocrites/Thou_Shalt_Not_Lie.shtml for a joke that I hope will give you a chuckle--and perhaps allow you some reflection.

Q: "Why are there so many versions of the Bible?"
A: Any time someone tries to take something written in one language and translate it into another language, difficulties arise. Perhaps the most common problem in translating is that the English language sometimes doesn't have a word that means the exact same thing as the original text.

For example, in Greek, there are multiple words for love, each having a different and important shade of meaning. There's agape, meaning giving yourself completely over to someone. Then there's storge, meaning what someone feels for their family. There's also philia, which is what you feel for close friends. And then there's eros, which is sexual or passionate love. But in English, we have just one word for all of these: Love.

Another reason translations of the Bible vary is that most languages are structured differently than English. Therefore, if you did a word-by-word translation, it wouldn't make that much sense. For example, John 8:58 is literally: "Said to them Jesus Amen amen I am saying to you Before Abraham to become I Am." You can see that this isn't exactly easy to comprehend. But here's how NIV puts it on paper: "'I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!'"

The differences in original language, grammar, and sentence structure also explain why one translation (NAS) reads: "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.'" And another (NKJV) reads: "Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.'"

Then the issue of reading levels comes up. Some Bibles are designed to be read by people with modest reading skills. In such versions, you'll find shorter sentences and more commonly used words.

Then there are Bibles that are paraphrased (or interpreted). As you can imagine, when you paraphrase something, shades of meaning may differ. How you understand the original sentence will greatly effect how you end up paraphrasing it.

Here are some popular Bible versions with notes about how they were translated:

* The King James Version (or KJV) dates to 1611, so much of the language is out-of-date. There are words in the KJV that we no longer use, in addition to words that now have different meanings. This can lead to confusion. There are also some scholars who say that our understanding of the languages used in the Bible is far more complete now than it was in the 17th century. Even so, some Christians cling to KJV as "the most accurate translation." Other Christians hotly debate that assertion.
* The New International Version or (NIV) is the most widely distributed translation used today. This is largely because it uses modern wording, yet is a fairly accurate translation. The newest printings, however, use politically correct words for gender, which some firmly believe cast doubt on the accuracy of the translation.

* The New American Standard (or NAS) translation is also widely used because it's written in modern language. It's considered by many to be the most accurate English translation available.

* New Living Translation (or NLT) is gaining acceptance because it uses modern words, yet is considered accurate by most. Again, use of politically correct gender words may cast doubt on it's accuracy.

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