Apologetics: witnessing to atheists

[GWH]

moral free will your moral free will or the lords moral free will. ?

Does the lords will tell you a person is not saved without his light, well yes
Does an unsaved persons will tell you he can save himself, well yes.
Limited atonement Does the lords tell you I give you repentance, well yes
Does an unsaved persons will justify his actions when repentance is given, well yes
Irresistible grace by the lords will,
Does the believer who's been made to believe find his grace irresistible, well yes
Does the person who was made to believe but didn't, find his grace irresistible, well yes to that to
Preserves in faith by the lords will, does the believer know his faith is the lord, well yes.
Does the fake believe hold his own faith higher than anyone else puting his will first well yes.
Now I could go into to include the u here and t but the same rule applies, and I doubt you'll take any notice, as your bad ideas are to deeply ingrained, for whatever reason they are,.you have to help yourself,

I note that you, like every other tulipist I have encountered on CC, avoids studying the Scriptures diligently regarding this issue.

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

Per the OP, yes, but in #500 on p. 25 I recalibrated this thread on Apologetics as applicable also to heresy beginning with tulipism
as well as to atheism, saying:

"Although my original calling was to witness mainly to atheists (for which my Baptist upbringing had made me ill-prepared),
after participating on CC for a year, I now feel a calling to witness also to tulipists (which is what several of us MFWers have been doing on various threads), and at this point I have enough content on that topic so that I am considering whether to add another lesson on our website for consolidating the information as a resource and perhaps also beginning a corresponding thread for the same purpose."

The thread I added for systematically exposing the tulipist heresy is "Resolving Problematic Interpretations of Scripture", but we can also discuss other problematic topics (such as idolizing the KJV or Judaizing the Gospel) here and there.

Over Bro...

Select Modern Bibles subtly teach Calvinism. (1) Psalms 139:16 in Modern bibles say that all the days were ordained for me (See NIV, BSB, NASB, AMP, NET) (2) In Revelation 22:17 with the ESV, NASB, LSB, AMP, NET, it removes the word “freely”. ESV and LSB are Calvinist favorites. (3) In the ESV, 1 Peter 2:8 talks about Calvinism in the fact that the wicked stumble at the word as they were destined to do. (4) In Acts 26:14 with the NLT, the Lord tells Paul that it is useless for him to fight against His will. (5) Luke 2:14 in the NIV says, “and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Instead of “and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (KJV).

I have more startling discoveries like this in my write up and it demonstrates to the atheist that if the serpent back in the Garden of Eden is able to question God's word as one of his tactics back then, to see this same attack happen by the devil today on a massive scale is just one link in the chain of many other evidences that should lead him to Jesus Christ.



....

 

[Jordon]

I note that you, like every other tulipist I have encountered on CC, avoids studying the Scriptures diligently regarding this issue.

strawman alert

 

[NightTwister]

strawman alert

Actually, I would say this instance is bearing false witness. It happens a lot with this one.

 

[Jordon]

Actually, I would say this instance is bearing false witness. It happens a lot with this one.

I know it's just incredible how many understandings I've posted, to him just turn around to say we don't.

 

[Jordon]

I note that you, like every other tulipist I have encountered on CC, avoids studying the Scriptures diligently regarding this issue.

I fail to how you didn't recognise at least 6 good scriptures in that post, it's even more incredible that you have a lifetime of knowledge and still not seen them.

 

[Jordon]

moral free will your moral free will or the lords moral free will. ?

Does the lords will tell you a person is not saved without his light, well yes

Does an unsaved persons will tell you he can save himself, well yes.

Limited atonement Does the lords tell you I give you repentance, well yes

Does an unsaved persons will justify his actions when repentance is given, well yes

Irresistible grace by the lords will,

Does the believer who's been made to believe find his grace irresistible, well yes

Does the person who was made to believe but didn't, find his grace irresistible, well yes to that to

Preserves in faith by the lords will, does the believer know his faith is the lord, well yes.

Does the fake believe hold his own faith higher than anyone else puting his will first well yes.

Now I could go into to include the u here and t but the same rule applies, and I doubt you'll take any notice, as your bad ideas are to deeply ingrained, for whatever reason they are,.you have to help yourself,

Ok would you like to quote on this seeing as I've now posted the scriptures to go with it @GWH

Scriptures

Matthew 7:21 only the lords light saves

Ephesians 2:8-9 a believer can not save themselves

2 Peter 3:9 and 2 Corinthians 7:10 the lord gives repentance

Romans 3:23-24 states nobody should justify there actions by there own deeds but through grace.

John 6:44 grace is a irresistible and a powerful call

Philippians 1:6 the faith inside a believer is the lords

James 2:24-26 genuine faith on one hand but also demonstrates a fake believer who puts his own faith first is fake.



Tulip at its finest

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

Calvinism has actually helped lead some atheists to become even more offended by faith in the fact that they can point to Calvinism's immoral nature. This is important to understand because one can easily make a real world example or parable to refute Calvinism. I say this because even the Canaanite woman was able to make an extended parable or real world example of her own and Jesus accepted it. So Calvinism does not help this thread discussion. Its not going to lead any atheists to the faith but simply push them more away.

However, demonstrating that there is an attack on God's Word can help the atheist because it shows one link in a chan of evidences that the Bible is true.

Take for example, the garden of Eden incident:

God originally told Adam that he would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16 (KJV):

16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,​

Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:​

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,​

thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest ​

thereof thou shalt surely die."​

Yet, when Eve was confronted with the serpent, she told it that she could not eat of this particular tree, otherwise they would die.

Genesis 3:2-3 (KJV):

2 "And the woman said unto the serpent,​

We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:​

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,​

God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."​

​

Now, listen very carefully to what the serpent or the devil says in reply to her statement:

Genesis 3:4 (KJV):

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"​

Did you catch it? The serpent said the EXACT OPPOSITE of what she said in relaying God's warning or command given initially to Adam.

So if you think this was an isolated incident limited to Scripture alone, where the devil seeks to corrupt God's Word by saying the EXACT OPPOSITE, you would be mistaken. The devil is still working to corrupt God's words today through the Modern Bibles! That same old serpent has corrupted them to say the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the established English standard translation of God's Word says.

Proof?

While I do not agree with every change listed by Brandon Peterson at his website showing the differences between the KJV vs. Modern Versions, nevertheless, the section called the "EXACT OPPOSITE" (in the category section) will help you to see that the devil is still at work in attacking God's word through the corruptions in modern versions.

Simply go to www.KJVCompare.com



Keep in mind that the Textus Receptus tradition and its eventual pinnacle in the form of the King James Bible existed long before the Westcott and Hort Modern Bible Movement came into existence in 1881. Also, the Modern Bible Movement only became popular in the 1980s with the financial success of the NIV. Keep in mind that even James White, who is one of the popular men behind Modern Textual Criticism says that the NIV is a liberal translation.



....

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

Calvinism has actually helped lead some atheists to become even more offended by faith in the fact that they can point to Calvinism's immoral nature. This is important to understand because one can easily make a real world example or parable to refute Calvinism. I say this because even the Canaanite woman was able to make an extended parable or real world example of her own and Jesus accepted it. So Calvinism does not help this thread discussion. Its not going to lead any atheists to the faith but simply push them more away.

However, demonstrating that there is an attack on God's Word can help the atheist because it shows one link in a chan of evidences that the Bible is true.

Take for example, the garden of Eden incident:

God originally told Adam that he would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16 (KJV):

16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,​

Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:​

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,​

thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest ​

thereof thou shalt surely die."​

Yet, when Eve was confronted with the serpent, she told it that she could not eat of this particular tree, otherwise they would die.

Genesis 3:2-3 (KJV):

2 "And the woman said unto the serpent,​

We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:​

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,​

God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."​

​

Now, listen very carefully to what the serpent or the devil says in reply to her statement:

Genesis 3:4 (KJV):

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"​

Did you catch it? The serpent said the EXACT OPPOSITE of what she said in relaying God's warning or command given initially to Adam.

So if you think this was an isolated incident limited to Scripture alone, where the devil seeks to corrupt God's Word by saying the EXACT OPPOSITE, you would be mistaken. The devil is still working to corrupt God's words today through the Modern Bibles! That same old serpent has corrupted them to say the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the established English standard translation of God's Word says.

Proof?

While I do not agree with every change listed by Brandon Peterson at his website showing the differences between the KJV vs. Modern Versions, nevertheless, the section called the "EXACT OPPOSITE" (in the category section) will help you to see that the devil is still at work in attacking God's word through the corruptions in modern versions.

Simply go to www.KJVCompare.com

View attachment 284126

Keep in mind that the Textus Receptus tradition and its eventual pinnacle in the form of the King James Bible existed long before the Westcott and Hort Modern Bible Movement came into existence in 1881. Also, the Modern Bible Movement only became popular in the 1980s with the financial success of the NIV. Keep in mind that even James White, who is one of the popular men behind Modern Textual Criticism says that the NIV is a liberal translation.



....

Please keep in mind that the KJVCompare.com website does not work in two browsers on a Mac desktop like Chrome, and DuckDuckGo. However, Safari, and Firefox for the Mac does work. It also works in the PC browsers such as Microsoft Edge, and Chrome.

Update: Seems like the site just went on the fritz for all these browsers just now. Please be patient. I am sure the site will be back up and running at some point.

May God bless you all, in Jesus name.



.....

 

[GWH]

Select Modern Bibles subtly teach Calvinism. (1) Psalms 139:16 in Modern bibles say that all the days were ordained for me (See NIV, BSB, NASB, AMP, NET) (2) In Revelation 22:17 with the ESV, NASB, LSB, AMP, NET, it removes the word “freely”. ESV and LSB are Calvinist favorites. (3) In the ESV, 1 Peter 2:8 talks about Calvinism in the fact that the wicked stumble at the word as they were destined to do. (4) In Acts 26:14 with the NLT, the Lord tells Paul that it is useless for him to fight against His will. (5) Luke 2:14 in the NIV says, “and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Instead of “and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (KJV).

I have more startling discoveries like this in my write up and it demonstrates to the atheist that if the serpent back in the Garden of Eden is able to question God's word as one of his tactics back then, to see this same attack happen by the devil today on a massive scale is just one link in the chain of many other evidences that should lead him to Jesus Christ.
....

I have been using mainly the 1984 NIV in my systematic study of Calvinism on CC,
but if you are saying the KJV consistently affirms MFW, that is an argument in its favor over the MEBs you cited.
I had noticed and not preferred the wording of the NIV in Luke 2:14.
Thanks for the info.

 

[GWH]

strawman alert

No strawman, merely noting that it is problematic for anyone to believe tulip
when a systematic study of the proof-texts cited by tulipists teaches those with open minds
that belief in an all-loving and just God is the better belief per comparison shopping.

 

[Jordon]

No strawman, merely noting that it is problematic for anyone to believe tulip
when a systematic study of the proof-texts cited by tulipists teaches those with open minds
that belief in an all-loving and just God is the better belief per comparison shopping.

no answer to post 907 then.

Is that because you don't have an answer ?

 

[GWH]

Ok would you like to quote on this seeing as I've now posted the scriptures to go with it @GWH

Scriptures

1. Matthew 7:21. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." This verse implies that everyone is free to do God's will.

2. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." This verse implies than anyone is able to have saving faith.

3. 2 Peter 3:9, " The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." This verse teaches that everyone has the opportunity to repent.

4. 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." This verse teaches that sinners who share God's grief regarding sin will repent and be saved.

5. Romans 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." This verse teaches that all have sinned and therefore do not merit heaven unless they accept God's gift of salvation because of the atonement of Messiah Jesus.

6. John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." This verse means that without the Father drawing sinners to Jesus they would not come to him and be saved.

7. Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." This verse teaches that God will not only save sinners at conversion but also at the resurrection.

8. James 2:24-26, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith by itself is dead." This verse means that someone who has genuine saving faith will manifest it by doing godly/loving works.

Tulip at its finest? Hardly!
But I enjoyed the exercise/doing systematic study, and I hope you did too.

So now the question is: What did we learn?
Tulip was nowhere to be found, but verses 1, 2, 3 & 5 imply mfw.

 

[GWH]

Calvinism has actually helped lead some atheists to become even more offended by faith in the fact that they can point to Calvinism's immoral nature. This is important to understand because one can easily make a real world example or parable to refute Calvinism. I say this because even the Canaanite woman was able to make an extended parable or real world example of her own and Jesus accepted it. So Calvinism does not help this thread discussion. Its not going to lead any atheists to the faith but simply push them more away.

However, demonstrating that there is an attack on God's Word can help the atheist because it shows one link in a chan of evidences that the Bible is true.

Take for example, the garden of Eden incident:

God originally told Adam that he would die if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16 (KJV):

16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,​

Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:​

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,​

thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest ​

thereof thou shalt surely die."​

Yet, when Eve was confronted with the serpent, she told it that she could not eat of this particular tree, otherwise they would die.

Genesis 3:2-3 (KJV):

2 "And the woman said unto the serpent,​

We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:​

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,​

God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."​

​

Now, listen very carefully to what the serpent or the devil says in reply to her statement:

Genesis 3:4 (KJV):

"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:"​

Did you catch it? The serpent said the EXACT OPPOSITE of what she said in relaying God's warning or command given initially to Adam.

So if you think this was an isolated incident limited to Scripture alone, where the devil seeks to corrupt God's Word by saying the EXACT OPPOSITE, you would be mistaken. The devil is still working to corrupt God's words today through the Modern Bibles! That same old serpent has corrupted them to say the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the established English standard translation of God's Word says.

Proof?

While I do not agree with every change listed by Brandon Peterson at his website showing the differences between the KJV vs. Modern Versions, nevertheless, the section called the "EXACT OPPOSITE" (in the category section) will help you to see that the devil is still at work in attacking God's word through the corruptions in modern versions.

Simply go to www.KJVCompare.com

View attachment 284126

Keep in mind that the Textus Receptus tradition and its eventual pinnacle in the form of the King James Bible existed long before the Westcott and Hort Modern Bible Movement came into existence in 1881. Also, the Modern Bible Movement only became popular in the 1980s with the financial success of the NIV. Keep in mind that even James White, who is one of the popular men behind Modern Textual Criticism says that the NIV is a liberal translation.
....

Re "Calvinism has actually helped lead some atheists to become even more offended by faith in the fact that they can point to Calvinism's immoral nature.": Yes, tulip teaches that God has an immoral/unjust/unloving nature, which is why it is heretical.

 

[Jordon]

Scriptures

1. Matthew 7:21. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." This verse implies that everyone is free to do God's will.

2. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." This verse implies than anyone is able to have saving faith.

3. 2 Peter 3:9, " The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." This verse teaches that everyone has the opportunity to repent.

4. 2 Corinthians 7:10, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." This verse teaches that sinners who share God's grief regarding sin will repent and be saved.

5. Romans 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." This verse teaches that all have sinned and therefore do not merit heaven unless they accept God's gift of salvation because of the atonement of Messiah Jesus.

6. John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." This verse means that without the Father drawing sinners to Jesus they would not come to him and be saved.

7. Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." This verse teaches that God will not only save sinners at conversion but also at the resurrection.

8. James 2:24-26, "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith by itself is dead." This verse means that someone who has genuine saving faith will manifest it by doing godly/loving works.

Tulip at its finest? Hardly!
But I enjoyed the exercise/doing systematic study, and I hope you did too.

So now the question is: What did we learn?
Tulip was nowhere to be found, but verses 1, 2, 3 & 5 imply mfw.

awe I feel sorry for you there's a little flower in all those scriptures,

You disregard all them scripture for a doctrine called tulip. Sad buddy

 

[GWH]

awe I feel sorry for you there's a little flower in all those scriptures,

You disregard all them scripture for a doctrine called tulip. Sad buddy

I disregarded none and stated what I learned,
but you are blatantly ignoring #1,2,3 &5 teaching mfw,
indicating that you learned zilch. Sad indeed.
"You can't teach a horse to drink even his own water!"

 

[Jordon]

I disregarded none and stated what I learned,
but you are blatantly ignoring #1,2,3 &5 teaching mfw,
indicating that you learned zilch. Sad indeed.
"You can't teach a horse to drink even his own water!"

whose moral free will am ignoring ? Must be yours can't see that I would ignore Gods will sorry,

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

I have been using mainly the 1984 NIV in my systematic study of Calvinism on CC,
but if you are saying the KJV consistently affirms MFW, that is an argument in its favor over the MEBs you cited.
I had noticed and not preferred the wording of the NIV in Luke 2:14.
Thanks for the info.

You are most welcome. I am sure there may be more verses if I dug into it more.
I believe Unitarians are heretical. So when I hear that a movement that openly accepted unitarians into their ranks early on in the formation of that movement in the creation of their biblical texts on a Greek level, to me that is a red flag, as well.
As I stated before, a Unitarian named George Vance Smith worked on the committee of the Revised Version. After the RV came out, George Vance Smith published a book called, "Texts and Margins of the Revised New Testament Affecting Theological Doctrine Briefly Reviewed." (You can read this book free at Google books or Archive.org). Smith was a Unitarian minister and one of the revisers on the English Revised Version committee, and in this work he explained how various readings in the Revised Version (RV) and the Greek text underlying it differed from the older text and favored Unitarian theology. He even had Holy communion on the Revised Version committee with Westcott and Hort. These are all facts you can verify for yourself.

Johannes Greber was a former Roman Catholic priest turned "spiritist," best known today for producing a spiritually guided Bible translation based on the Westcott and Hort Critical text. In his spiritualist book on communicating with the spirit world, he talked about how the spirits told him to never use the Textus Receptus (Which is the underlying Greek of the KJV). I don't know about you but I am pretty sure he was not talking to human spirits but demonic ones.

This is why I don't trust the Modern Bibles.
Bad origins, bad associations, and corrupt doctrines.
There are so many red flags, it would make one think they were in a Russian airport.



.....

 

[Bible_Highlighter]

Please keep in mind that the KJVCompare.com website does not work in two browsers on a Mac desktop like Chrome, and DuckDuckGo. However, Safari, and Firefox for the Mac does work. It also works in the PC browsers such as Microsoft Edge, and Chrome.

Update: Seems like the site just went on the fritz for all these browsers just now. Please be patient. I am sure the site will be back up and running at some point.

May God bless you all, in Jesus name.



.....

New update: Just checked www.KJVCompare.com with Google Chrome for the PC and the website is working in this browser.

So use Google Chrome on your PC or (use Parallels with Google chrome browser for your Mac).




.....

 

[GWH]

You are most welcome. I am sure there may be more verses if I dug into it more.
I believe Unitarians are heretical. So when I hear that a movement that openly accepted unitarians into their ranks early on in the formation of that movement in the creation of their biblical texts on a Greek level, to me that is a red flag, as well.
As I stated before, a Unitarian named George Vance Smith worked on the committee of the Revised Version. After the RV came out, George Vance Smith published a book called, "Texts and Margins of the Revised New Testament Affecting Theological Doctrine Briefly Reviewed." (You can read this book free at Google books or Archive.org). Smith was a Unitarian minister and one of the revisers on the English Revised Version committee, and in this work he explained how various readings in the Revised Version (RV) and the Greek text underlying it differed from the older text and favored Unitarian theology. He even had Holy communion on the Revised Version committee with Westcott and Hort. These are all facts you can verify for yourself.

Johannes Greber was a former Roman Catholic priest turned "spiritist," best known today for producing a spiritually guided Bible translation based on the Westcott and Hort Critical text. In his spiritualist book on communicating with the spirit world, he talked about how the spirits told him to never use the Textus Receptus (Which is the underlying Greek of the KJV). I don't know about you but I am pretty sure he was not talking to human spirits but demonic ones.

This is why I don't trust the Modern Bibles.
Bad origins, bad associations, and corrupt doctrines.
There are so many red flags, it would make one think they were in a Russian airport.
.....

What is your opinion of this from Google/AI?:

"Accuracy" in Bible translations is generally judged by how closely the version sticks to a literal, word-for-word translation philosophy (formal equivalence) versus a meaning-for-meaning approach (dynamic equivalence).
The English translations considered most accurate (literal) by scholars and for in-depth study are the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV/NRSVue).

Top Accurate Translations for Study

• New American Standard Bible (NASB): Widely regarded as the most rigorously word-for-word translation in modern English, aiming for unparalleled literal precision to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. This makes it excellent for detailed study, though its readability can be slightly less smooth for casual reading.
• English Standard Version (ESV): Described as an "essentially literal" translation, the ESV strikes a strong balance between word-for-word accuracy and readability. It is a popular choice for personal study and church use among evangelical scholars and pastors.
• New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition (NRSVue): The "gold standard" for academic and seminary study, the NRSVue is highly respected for its scholarly rigor and use of the most up-to-date manuscript evidence. It uses inclusive language where appropriate to the original text's intent.

Other Notable Translations

• King James Version (KJV) / New King James Version (NKJV): The KJV is a historic and literary masterpiece, but its 17th-century language can be difficult for modern readers and it was based on less complete ancient manuscripts than those available today. The NKJV updates the archaic language while retaining a similar translation philosophy.
• New International Version (NIV): The NIV is the most popular modern translation for everyday reading and church use, focusing on a balance of accuracy and clarity (a "thought-for-thought" approach). It is a highly reliable, scholarly translation, though less literal than the NASB or ESV.

Key Considerations

• Translation Philosophy: "Accuracy" can mean two different things:
  • Formal Equivalence (Word-for-Word): Stays as close as possible to the original language's structure and wording (e.g., NASB, ESV, KJV).
  • Dynamic/Functional Equivalence (Thought-for-Thought): Focuses on conveying the meaning and intent of the original text in natural modern English, which can sometimes involve more interpretation by the translators (e.g., NIV, NLT).
• Manuscripts: Modern translations benefit from the discovery of older and more numerous manuscripts (like the Dead Sea Scrolls), which were not available to the KJV translators in 1611.

Ultimately, many experts recommend using a combination of translations for a holistic understanding. For comparison purposes, online tools like Bible Gateway or Bible Hub are excellent resources to view the same passage in multiple versions side-by-side.

Over...