It has been on my heart here lately seeing different posts on social media speaking of different Bible versions; one even said, "It doesn't matter." I realize that man wrote the Bible, but God divinely inspired what was written. This is His divinely inspired word. John 1:1 (KJV) says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God used His words to speak man into existence. I don't believe we need to be changing it up.
I think we can all agree that sometimes the bible doesn't make a whole lot of sense and it is hard to understand. This is where we learn to just put it in God's hands. We simply trust in Him and believe with all our heart that He will give us something from what we are reading. Having trust is so easy said, but it is what we should do. Something so simple, it almost sounds childish, but it is all He asks of us. God's word is how we stay close to Him, how we know what to do, how we grow. It is Him speaking to us.
There are so many different versions of the Bible out there, one would ask how do I know what the right one is for me? God expects His word to grow and be copied. Acts 12:24 (KJV) states, "But the word of God grew and multiplied." Copies are not going to be perfect, because we humans that are in charge of that are unfortunately not perfect. But, what we should look at is which are the true copies of God's word. The King James Bible is the closest translation we have of the original word's of God that were written in stone and on parchments. It is full of the old English language being translated from Greek and Hebrew , but its words stay close to what God divinely inspired. Just like the game of telephone, when the phrase of words start, it is pretty close to what the first person spoke. The further we get from what was right turns into what we think we heard and ends up not being truth.
I have heard of a lot of people reading of The Message Bible. Acts 8: 36-39 of the Messaage says, "As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, “Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn’t mind. He had what he’d come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be." So, this version of the Bible leads people to believe that we can get to Heaven by baptism. Anyone can just go and get dunked or sprinkled with water and everything is going to be okay! WRONG. We go to heaven by salvation. We become children of God through realizing that we have sinned and He has sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sins. We are redeemed by the blood. We are saved by believing, not water. (Read more of this in John chapter 3 (KJV).)
Acts 8:36 -39 (KJV), "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."
The entire verse 37 is left out of The Message Bible. What hinders you to be baptized is believing!
This is not just happening with this particular version. Many others are leaving out important details, such as 'the blood.' If someone does not want to read about blood, they need to pick a different book to read. The Bible is all about the blood. It is all about God sending His Son to die at Calvary for our sins. I can honestly say I am afraid to look at different Bible versions because of the little things that are being left out. The little things that are leading people astray and we do not even realize it.
I leave you with a couple verses from Revelations 22:18-19, King James Version:
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
That was pretty well stated and understandable. I think I can handle the old English words and phrases and just ask God to help with understanding it. It may help your walk with God to increase, by talking to Him that much more while reading His word. The King James Version Bible is the way to go when searching for your next Bible.
Click on the link to check out a table comparing the KJV Bible with other versions:
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