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01-22-2007, 11:15 PM | #1 |
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A Bible. a Bible, we have a KJV Bible
As I've mentioned in passing, I have real problems with the KJV. Textus Receptus, the manuscript translated by Erasmus that the KJV is almost exclusively based on (it was incomplete so Erasmus had to borrow a Latin manuscript from a friend for the last portion of Revelations, translate it into Greek and then into English), has lots of errors and corrupted passages in it. We know this because in recent centuries we've found a treasure trove of manuscripts, have been able to trace which ones decended from which, and can literally see when the problems in Textus Receptus crept in. The best translations today make extensive use of the earliest and most complete manuscripts, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus, as well as important discoveries from the Dead Sea Scrolls and other early and reliable sources. Even the recent Catholic bibles, long dependent on Jerome's Latin Vulgate, have gone with the clearly superior, but more recently discovered sources.
And then there's the Elizabethan English that children and new converts can really stumble over (and the further we get from the times of KJ, the more difficult this will become.) And then there's the fact that, despite the sometimes elegant and highly-respectful language, none of the people in the NT or OT talked that way. Oh yea, did I mention that the more accurate translations reflect more positively on LDS thinking in some crucial passages? Don't get me wrong, the KJV has a rich heritage and was the right English bible for a long time (the other pervasive English Translation, the Geneva Bible, was eventually eclipsed by the KJV), but I think that if you're interested in accuracy and readability there are much better choices today. I'd love to see LDS editions of the NRSV and ESV. For scholarly types, I'd add an LDS edition of the TEV for it's attention to dynamic equivalence in idiom. So: What bibles do you use? If you are literate in a language other than English, do you have a bible from that language? If so, what is it? Do you like it? Yesterday during Sacrament service the speaker mentioned a verse in Hebrews and I pulled out my NRSV. The nice young couple behind me was sufficiently suprised that they asked me about it in the foyer. I said something very close to what I wrote above, and no doubt bored them right out of there minds.
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"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. Last edited by Sleeping in EQ; 01-22-2007 at 11:32 PM. |
01-22-2007, 11:30 PM | #2 |
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we stick to the KJV because there is something comforting about hearing the scriptures in the same familiar way each time.
It would be interesting if someone, through unofficial means, produced a LDS version of one of these other translations. Is that legal? are is everything copyrighted? |
01-22-2007, 11:34 PM | #3 | |
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Quote:
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"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. |
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01-22-2007, 11:35 PM | #4 |
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are the LDS footnotes copyrighted? I assume they are.
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01-23-2007, 12:12 AM | #5 |
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"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. |
01-23-2007, 12:18 AM | #6 |
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While in Germany, the German Bible underwent a major change. For a long time, Germany had two major bibles, the Vulgate edition and the Luther Bible.
Well, the Lutherans and the Catholics got together and retranslated it, using more recent sources, creating an ecumenical version, which the Church adopted. Brother Emil Luschin retranslated the LDS works using the new terminology. Many of the statists objected but I jumped right in. The Spanish and French Bibles seem tied to the Vulgate with versions tied to the Luther Bible.
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Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα |
01-23-2007, 01:23 AM | #7 | |
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Tobias: You know, Lindsay, as a therapist, I have advised a number of couples to explore an open relationship where the couple remains emotionally committed, but free to explore extra-marital encounters. Lindsay: Well, did it work for those people? Tobias: No, it never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but...but it might work for us. |
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01-23-2007, 02:27 PM | #8 | |
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As a practical matter, I'm doing the supplementing you speak of. It's quite refreshing.
__________________
"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. |
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01-23-2007, 02:49 PM | #9 |
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I think people should just learn the original languages. That will solve all sorts of problems.
To paraphrase Joseph Smith: "I teach them ancient languages, and they translate themselves."
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εν αρχη ην ο λογος |
01-23-2007, 03:06 PM | #10 |
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The Bible is such a hodgepodge collection of writings and so rife with incompetent translation and deliberate omissions/mistranslations to render it largely useless.
Why else did the Book of Mormon contain numerous Isaiah chapters? Why else did the Pearl of Great Price come forth? The New Testament has some value as it contains an account of the ministry and Atonement of Christ, but the bulk of the Bible is a waste of time; given what can be found in the other standard works. Flame away. P.S. God did forbid Nephi to write down his vision that was also recorded by John the Beloved in Revelation, so I'll concede that book has value too. |
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