This is nice. More personal sarcasm.
If anyone would like to break down this example in a constructive, positive way, I'd be interested. Taking a look back at Luke 18:16,
Mike said:
The KJV says in Luke 18:16...
"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God."
While the NIV says:
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Should a translation committee translate each word of a sentence independent of the whole sentence? This is an interest of mine, not a statement. Should that committee look at this verse and say "This word means 'suffer'. We'll put that here. Here's a word that means 'little'. We'll put that here." It seems to me, if you translate each word independent of the others, a sentence becomes discombobulated and difficult to understand. If they didn't go word-by-word, and they took the whole sentence, then they did the same thing the NIV committee did and formulated what the writer was saying in the language of the KJV day. NIV is saying it in the language of its day.
I'm not saying the NIV Translation Committee draw conclusions on what the bible was inferring. I'm suggesting that they (as a very large 100+ interdenominational committee) look at the sentence as a whole. They say certain words and phrases are going to give English speaking readers difficulty. So this huge body of translators agrees that they should say, "This can't be worded as 'suffer little children to come...' This needs to say to (2000 English speaking) readers what it said in the original text, 'Let these little children come...'"
I'm not a NIV-only (don't think we have those
) , nor am I saying any particular version is the best for everyone. I tried to say the NIV is best for me.
If anyone disagrees I'd appreciate it if my thoughts were criticized and not me personally. I'm hoping this opens up dialogue, not personal insults.