Bible Study Nov 13

Meeting# 11 | This Week’s Leader: David Goodno

Introduction: This is the eleventh and final week of the Fall Semester; this is our last meeting of the semester. Reminder that there is no formal membership or special requirements to attend the group; everyone is welcome to join, and you do not have to have been to a previous meeting to attend this week.

Please monitor FV.church/events for more information when we’ll be starting Men’s group back up next year.

Friendly reminder that we all come from various backgrounds and points of view and are at different points in our individual faith journey. The goal for tonight is to have a friendly discussion and if there are differing points of view, we should not feel attacked or be hostile to one another. We came together tonight as friends and brothers in Christ; we should also leave the same (friends and brothers in Christ); sometimes there is no right or wrong answer, often there is only interpretation of scripture from various points of view– Ultimately JESUS IS THE ANSWER.

Tonight, we’re going to watch a series of videos about how we got the Bible and various English translations. Which is the best translation? - The one we read regularly and understand. For some that might be the KJV, others NLT or The Message. Our preferences may change over time or as we grow in our faith; regardless we should aim to stay in God’s word as much as possible. (Agree/Disagree?)

Each translation serves a unique purpose, and when studying the Bible, it is important to use multiple translations to aid in our understanding and comprehension.

This Week’s Prayer: Father God, we thank you for allowing us to come together and study how we got the Bible. Lord, we recognize your power and authority. We thank you for giving us your written word. Lord our attitudes and opinions may change, but your Word remains true throughout all of time. Help us commit to reading Your word and lean into you for understanding. – Amen

Watch Videos/Reference the following:

Watch Videos: (total watch time approximately 50 minutes)

1. What is the Bible? (The Bible Project, 5:48)

2. Choosing a Bible Translation, (The Bible Project, 0:58)

3. History of Bible Translation, (The Bible Project, 1:01)

4. The Fascinating Story behind RED LETTER BIBLES, (Tim Wildsmith, 7:04)

5. English Bible Translation Family Tree, (UsefulCharts, 19:14)

6. WHICH BIBLE TRANSLATION SHOULD I READ? (The Beat by Allen Parr, 4:58)

7. Why Are There So Many Versions of the Bible? (Matt Whitman/Ten Minute Bible Hour, 12:43)

***

Compare verses using different translations:

- Genesis 4 - Psalm 8:5 - Matthew 6:32 - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

- Deuteronomy 6 - Isaiah 9:6 - Matthew 27:16-17 - Revelation 1:3

- 1 Samuel 17:4 - Jeremiah 11:1 - John 1:1 - Revelation 12:7-9

- 2 Samuel 20:35 - Micah 2:11 - 1 Corinthians 6:6 - Revelation 20:7-10

The Bible | Video Talking Points

 One of the most influential books in history and has inspired people to do many things.
The Bible is not just a single book, but actually a library of books.
The Bible originated from the written history of the people of ancient Israel.
The Bible explores complicated questions like the meaning of death, life and the human struggle.
Apostles, followers of Jesus, composed writings called “the good news”, also known as the gospel, and wrote letters to different churches throughout the ancient world.
There are many English translations of the Bible; no one English translation does everything, because they are designed for different purposes. Using many translations for Bible study will help with better understanding.
Every translation is balancing two goals: faithfulness to the original text/wording of the original language, and readability in normal/modern English.
Put those two goals on a spectrum and you get: (Faithfulness) Word-for-Word and (Readability) Thought-for thought, translations.
Word-for-word translations try to imitate the original language but require the reader to do more interpretation. Thought-for-thought translations do more interpretive work for the reader by paraphrasing what the text means. Most English translations are somewhere in the middle. – Keep in mind that no English translation can fully perfectly represent what is in the original language, because no two languages are identical. So, pay attention when translations differ, and try to read as many translations as you can.
The Hebrew Bible is the collection of scrolls written and assembled over a 1,000-year period by the Israelites written in Hebrew. The first significant translation was written Greek, and called the Septuagint, and this translation was widely used among follows or Jesus. Jesus claimed that the story of the Hebrew Bible was fulfilled through Him. And his followers wrote about this claim in what is now known as the “New Testament” and was written in Greek. These two collections, “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament” became the Bible.
Three major translations: Latin Vulgate, Wycliffe Bible, King James Bible.
 The Bible is the most translated work in human history.
The idea for a red-letter Bible was first thought of in 1899, and the New Testament was printed with red letters/text for the words of Jesus. Later in 1901, the entire Bible was printed with red text for the words of Jesus.
The average person could not afford a copy of the Bible, until the Geneva Bible (1560) which was the first translation of the Bible to use the chapter and verse numbering system that appears in most modern-day Bibles.
The Geneva Bible was so popular that the Scottish parliament passed a law in 1579 requiring every household with adequate means to buy a copy.
The Geneva Bible remained the most popular Bible for personal use even after the publication of the King James Version in 1611, and in 1616 King James outlawed the Geneva Bible. However, illegal copies circulated widely.
Serious Bible study should not rely on one single translation. It is always best to compare several translations or use an interlinear Bible.
There is no perfect English translation, because the original Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramac and Greek. The translators had to translate the original words, into an English word or phrase that would reflect the original meaning. Why is this a problem? There are 5 million Greek words, whereas there are only 1 million. English words, making it difficult to find an exact English word or phrase to show the meaning of the original Biblical text.
 Word-for-word translations: KJV, NKJV, Amplified Bible, NASB, ESV; Thought-for-thought: HCSB (now CSB), NIV, NRSV, NLT; Paraphrase: GNT/GNB (Good News Translation/Bible), The Message, The Passion Translation
Why are there so many different types of cars? The reason why there are lots of different types of cars is because there are lots of different needs of people, and preferences. The same is true for Bible translations – why are there so many translations? The world is diverse, people have different reading levels, people have different needs (Scholarly research vs every-day-understanding). Therefore, this results in multiple translations.
Bible Translators translate the original Biblical text trying to address the following question: “What is the best way to relay the original Biblical text into English for modern readers to read and understand?”
Another issue is that the English language and culture is always changing and evolving. Example, think of the word “exciting” - a modern equivalent of the word “exciting” evolved over time: “solid”, “groovy”, “rad”, “cool”, “awesome”, “wicked”, “dope”, “crunk/krunk”, “all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips”, “pop’in’”, “off-the-chain”, “sic/sick”, “lit”, “fire”, “Bussin’”, “Dank”, “Slaps”… etc.

Questions (Identify/Discuss Among the Group):

Do you understand what is meant by word-for-word and thought-for-thought? Do you have any questions about that subject?
Did you know that the Bible was the most translated literary work in history?
Do you own different Bible translations? What are they?
Do you have a favorite Bible translation? Do you have more than one favorite translation (Explain – What is your favorite translation/what are your favorite translations?)
Do you have a go-to Bible translation/translations? Why that translation/why those translations?
Do you prefer or like Red-Letter Bibles? Explain why or why not.
Do you use the Bible app? Have you ever looked at all the translations available on the app? (or have you used Biblegateway.com? and looked at all the translations available on the website?)
Was there anything that stood out to you in any of the videos?
Was there any information presented in the videos that you didn’t already know?
Or anything that you were not aware of? – Explain.
Biggest takeaway?

Watch video: What’s a study Bible & is it Better Than a Normal Bible? (Matt Whitman, Ten Minute Bible Hour) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGM0W4LsYDs&t=901s
Watch video: Which Study Bible is Best? (2023 Reviews of Newer Popular Study Bibles). (Matt Whitman, Ten Minute Bible Hour) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9FlEcavK_U
Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfyMN4_lcUs (Tim Wildsmith, NET Full Notes Edition)
NET Bible: https://netbible.com/preface/ Our ministry, bible.org, was created to be a source of trustworthy Bible study resources for the world, so that everyone is guaranteed free access to these high quality materials. … The NET Bible project was commissioned to create a faithful Bible translation that could be placed on the Internet, downloaded for free, and used around the world for ministry.
Using the Bible app, try reading in various translations. (Like: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 9 & 20; Luke 8; John 10; Acts 8:26-40)
Read: Acts 14:1-28 and Acts 15:1-35 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+14%3A1-28+&version=NLT and https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15%3A1-35&version=NLT
Please monitor FV.church/events for more information when we’ll be starting the Men’s group next year.

References/Acknowledgements:

Elements of today’s Bible study were copied from:

1. NLT Courage for Life Men’s Bible, New Living Translation (NLT); copyright 2023 Tyndale House Ministries Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation https://www.tyndale.com/sites/courageforlifebible/

Schedule:

Month, Meeting Number, Date, Book/Chapters/Verse/ (Total Verses)

September 2024:

_x_ 001, 09/04 Philippians 1:1-30. (30 Verses)

_x_ 002, 09/11 Philippians 2:1-30. (30 Verses)

_x_ 003, 09/18 Philippians 3:1-21. (21 Verses)

_x_ 004, 09/25 Philippians 4:1-23. (23 Verses)

October 2024:

_x_ 005, 10/02 Colossians 1:1-29 (29 Verses)

_x_ 006, 10/09 Colossians 2:1-23 (23 Verses)

_x_ 007, 10/16 Colossians 3:1-25 (25 Verses)

_x_ 008, 10/23 **UPDATED** Back to Basics: Discussion about tithing and salvation.

_x_ 009, 10/30 Colossians 4:1-18 (18 Verses)

November 2024:

_x_ 010, 11/06 **UPDATED** Back to Basics: Discussion about Jesus - The ultimate sacrifice.

_x_ 011, 11/13 **UPDATED** Bible Translations (Video/Discussion) - Final meeting of the semester.

Please monitor FV.church/events for more information about the next semester.

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