Genesis 30:27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
I don't know if I have ever been more conflicted than I am now. I just finished out a two week notice for the job I have had for the last 16 and half years. What I am conflicted about is whether not to express the response that I received from those I worked.
I believe that God has blessed what effort I had in servicing the customers and the company. I received several cards expressing my coworkers thoughts and feelings of working with me. One card said "...the place and people were made better because of you working here." Others have asserted much of the same. This is because of God not me. Bob Blair was nothing more than a vessel that God was able to use for His Glory.
The conflict here is how to use this as tool for teaching other workplace believers (especially the young) about how God wants to be brought to the workplace as He does in every other area of a Christian's life. Others in the workplace will be blessed and exposed to the actual presence of Christ in a way that they will in no other place.
I would be more comfortable telling this if it were another person. (I believe there are many others better at this than me are out there.) The last thing I want to be perceived as to be bragging or self serving. For God's Glory please take this for what it really is.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
An Answer
I ask your forgiveness for the tardiness of this response. This is response to those who were gracious enough to comment on the last posting of this blog. It would probably make a better in depth study later to give sufficient answer to what the measurement of a good bible version. However, I best can say it the shortness of this passage to say the answer is not found in comparing version for version for differences in of themselves as to which is best.
First, no one bible translation is or can ever claim inspiration, nor even special preservation. I love and have preached from the KJV for over 28 years, and still do today. However, there is no superiority of the KJV to other more recent bible translations. The biggest mistake in assuming translation comparison is the difference in word or phrase usage between translation to translation.
The real measurement is found in the copied manuscripts from the originals. The translations that are closest to these manuscripts are what determine the relevance. If a word translated in previous generations no longer equal the same definition of original then a new translation is more needful.
Secondly, it needs to mentioned that the use or purpose of a translation is also a factor in choosing. There are more than one way to translate from one language to another. There is a word for word method (called Formal Equivalence). This takes word exactly from one language to the other without any change. This sounds ideal, but it is not without weakness. If you formally translate "your pulling my leg" into most any language the meaning may not be understood right away. So this gives opening to another method of translation that is more thought for thought (called dynamic equivalence). This method is more concern in translation meanings rather than words.
I mention this second point because all bible translations are either one or a mixed of the above methods. Each method has a more useful application than the other. For preaching and serious bible study the Formal Equivalence translations are better applied. These would be: KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, and NRSV. For personal devotional reading the Dynamic Equivalence is more useful. These would be NIV, NLT, NET, and Living Bible.
But again the overall answer is how close to word for word, or thought for thought in today's language use determines the relevance of any particular translation. Not comparing translation with translation.
First, no one bible translation is or can ever claim inspiration, nor even special preservation. I love and have preached from the KJV for over 28 years, and still do today. However, there is no superiority of the KJV to other more recent bible translations. The biggest mistake in assuming translation comparison is the difference in word or phrase usage between translation to translation.
The real measurement is found in the copied manuscripts from the originals. The translations that are closest to these manuscripts are what determine the relevance. If a word translated in previous generations no longer equal the same definition of original then a new translation is more needful.
Secondly, it needs to mentioned that the use or purpose of a translation is also a factor in choosing. There are more than one way to translate from one language to another. There is a word for word method (called Formal Equivalence). This takes word exactly from one language to the other without any change. This sounds ideal, but it is not without weakness. If you formally translate "your pulling my leg" into most any language the meaning may not be understood right away. So this gives opening to another method of translation that is more thought for thought (called dynamic equivalence). This method is more concern in translation meanings rather than words.
I mention this second point because all bible translations are either one or a mixed of the above methods. Each method has a more useful application than the other. For preaching and serious bible study the Formal Equivalence translations are better applied. These would be: KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, and NRSV. For personal devotional reading the Dynamic Equivalence is more useful. These would be NIV, NLT, NET, and Living Bible.
But again the overall answer is how close to word for word, or thought for thought in today's language use determines the relevance of any particular translation. Not comparing translation with translation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)