Question: Is it possible to have different
yet equally trustworthy versions of the truth?
Answer: No.
It is regrettable that so many different translations and "versions" of the Bible have been published in the English language. The Bible has been translated into more than 400 different languages, with portions into more than 2,000 languages; and in the vast majority of those languages there is only one translation or "version" of the Bible. The simple, indisputable fact is . . . that there can never be such a thing as different versions of the truth in any given language; and therefore, there should be only one translation of the Bible in the English language as well. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for there being more than one translation of the Bible in the English language. Contemporary-language paraphrases of the Bible may be helpful to some immature readers; however, such readers should always be cautioned to carefully test and compare any interpretive paraphrase that they may use with a more trustworthy, word-for-word-accurate translation. The fact that so many different interpretive paraphrases and versions of the Bible have been published, promoted, and claimed to be translations of the Bible has, in many instances, seriously undermined the truth of the Bible. There is only one trustworthy original Greek language source text for the New Testament; and only one trustworthy original Hebrew language source text for the Old Testament. For most of 2,000 years, the authenticity and veracity of those original language source texts has been repeatedly reaffirmed in uncountable thousands of ways. No foundational truth revealed in those trustworthy sources has ever been disproved, dulled, or diminished by those who have, by their speculations, tried to undermine the veracity of the Bible. |