Jack’s Winning Words 2/13/14
“Don’t take yourself too seriously—Take God seriously!”  (Micah 6:8  The Message Translation)  Pr Eugene Peterson thought that some people were missing the meaning of the Bible, because they were misunderstanding words.  So, he translated the words in a way that related to modern thinking.  I have 13 different translations of the Bible in my library.  But “the only Gospel some folks read is the Gospel according to you.”    ;-)  Jack

 FROM BILLY THE KID: Amen!====JACK:  When God "speaks," he's not kidding around.

FROM TARMART REV:  As the old preacher shouted from behind his pulpit, "The King James Version was good enough for the Apostle Paul!! So, it's good enough for me!! Praise, God!!"====JACK:  I remember when the Revised Standard Version was published as a new translation of the King James Bible.  A Bible-Belt pastor stood in his pulpit with a blowtorch and actually burned a copy of the RSV as a protest. ====REV:  I'd bet Southern Baptist or Pentecostal/Holiness (sure could have been A/G in "them there" days!).====JACK:  I'm sure it wasn't a Lutheran, because Lutheran scholars were involved in the translating process.====REV:  I recall that fact . . . we had a contributing scholar with the NIV . . . a professor of mine at Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri by the name of Stanly Horton . . . rated high on the list of those quite knowledgeable of the Hebrew language.

 FROM DC IN KANSAS:  How?  Isn't Peterson missing something?====JACK:  As I understand it, he was trying to get the thought across, rather than giving a "word by word" translation.  Maybe that's what we try to do in our sermons.  I like what he's done with Micah...."Take God seriously!"

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I LOVE "THE MESSAGE" PARAPHRASE WHICH IS SO UNDERSTANDABLE. I HAVE IT SIDE BY SIDE WITH "THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE"  WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST ACCURATE WORD FOR WORD LITERAL TRANSLATION, EVER. MAKES FOR AN INTERESTING CONTRAST! AND WHO COULD ARGUE WITH THESE WORDS FROM MICAH?. WHO WAS IT SAID, "HE MUST INCREASE, AND I MUST DECREASE...?"  I LOVE THE COTTON PATCH GOSPELS, TOO!  AND OFTEN USE MY "EVERYMAN'S BIBLE" FOR S.S. PREP. IT HAS A LOT OF "OUTSIDE" INFORMATION AND CHRACTER SKETCHS WHICH ARE EXCELLENT!====JACK:  For dependable reference, I like my Oxford Annotated RSV.  The cover binding of it is coming apart.  J.B. Phillips is my favorite N.T. translation.