kland,

They had Bibles that came from uncorrupted manuscripts. The Bible you might prefer comes from corrupted manuscripts. This is not an English issue. It's a Hebrew/Greek issue, mostly Greek. You know this, I think.

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me whether the Vaudois had their Bibles in German, Bohemian, French or Latin--we are told they held uncorrupted truth. I believe it, do you? The King James Version comes from the same manuscripts as did their Bibles, and it was translated in opposition to the Catholic church--i.e. the Catholics had no power to influence it. The Catholic wish was to prevent the translation of the King James' Version entirely. They had tried to conquer England and restore Catholic rule there, but God had overruled.

The same purity of translation environment cannot be claimed for any of the modern Bibles. For example, the Thailand Bible Society boasts a 90% Catholic board membership. Would you like to know how many Catholics are on the American Bible Society or other Bible Societies around the world? Perhaps you could research it and find out for us. How many Catholics were involved in translating the NIV, the NASB, or the RV?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

IT DOESN'T MATTER

"It's not important," I hear them say,
If the Bible reads another way,
"It's not important," they like to think,
If the Word is pure, or has some stink,
"It's not important," some folk declare,
If some of the Bible's words aren't there,
"It's not important," they even claim,
If words get added in Jesus' name!
"It doesn't matter," they might protest,
"No translation could be all the best.
"It doesn't matter, whether God's law,
"Is changed a bit, or held in such awe--
"It's not important!"

"It's not important," they say anew,
When the modern Bibles line every pew,
"It doesn't matter," their message goes,
"If God's law's abolished by our foes."
They do not see how "small things" matter,
Not discerning how such can shatter
The grandest truths of Sacred Scripture--
It only takes a little mixture.
Satan loves to blend in his errors
With noble truths to hide their terrors.
Yet many people, unprotestant,
Repeat again "it's not important--
"IT DOESN'T MATTER."

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Often a corrupted mind needs to find corruption elsewhere to divert the attention in a different direction.

While you are at it, try also to find out how many Seventh-day Adventist have had some influence on Bible translations.

What kind of sophistication does it take to distinguish between the disapproval of Ellen G White of Westcott and Hort through the Waldensian and the use of Ellen G White of a Bible where Westcott and Hort were prominent members of the editorial committee?

I don't have any problem with who translated the new Bibles. I only ask what have they translated them from?

I do. But you speak about the English words, often.

I do. But you seem to mean it to be something totally different than what Ellen White said.

Did the Catholics have those manuscripts?

What some people forget is that the translators of the KJB were under the order of the young king James to make sure their new translation would not be in opposition the the teachings of the Church of England, which was then still rather Catholic.

Does that ensure that the KJV is superior to anything else?

Yes, it was the best Bible available at that time, and it has bee used as a great instrument for the advancement of the kingdom for centuries. But in other parts of the world with different languages, different translation have been used for the same purpose.

Harold, the "Received Text" was the work of the Catholic Church. Does that guarantee it is "superior"?

Judge for yourself.

But what part of the "Catholic church" and what era?

The Christian church began as one unit, headquartered in Jerusalem. We just studied in our Sabbath School lesson today, that first "General Conference" of Acts 15 was held in Jerusalem.

Paul wrote: "For you brethren, become followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews." 1 Thess. 2:14

Churches sprung up in Syria, and Asia Minor as well as Rome. Each had their "bishop". The Roman bishop was no greater than any other bishop.

It is the Jews that preserved the Old Testament, while the eastern churches carefully guarded and hand copied the letters of Paul and the gospels. These were very precious to them.

Gnosticism was a real problem for the church, corrupted manuscripts and pseudo letters and gospels become quite prevalent.

By the time Constantine became Emperor there were already three main versions!

1. There were the manuscripts carefully guarded by the eastern churches who earnestly sought to follow the apostolic faith.

2. There were the Gnostic altered manuscripts intermingling God's truth with Greek philosophy. Masterminded by Origen and edited by Eusebius.

3. There were Egyptian altered manuscripts.

Constantine wanted a "standard" bible. He preferred the edited version (#2 above). Constantine ordered fifty Greek Bibles from Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea.

The now popular Sinaitic MS was most likely one of these "corrected" manuscripts, as there is a note at the end of Ezra stating: "This Codex was compared with a very ancient exemplar which had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr Pamphilus which exemplar contained at the end, the subscription in his own hand: 'Taken and corrected according to the Hexapla of Origen."
(Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol, IV, p. 86)

The Vaticanus and Sinaticus Manuscripts are remarkably similar. Both seem to come from Constantine's fifty.

So Constantine gave the Papacy the indorsed Eusebius-Origan Bible. The Roman Catholic Church translated it into Latin (Vulgate) which became the official "KEPT" bible of the Roman Catholic Church.

This Bible was different from the received text.
The received text contain more than 99% of all Greek MSS and 100% of the Hebrew manuscripts.

The Textus Receptus was the Bible of the early eastern churches -- the Syrian churches -- Later it was adopted as the official text of the Greek Catholic Church. It was the bible of the Waldensians. (It was NOT the work of the Roman Catholic Church)