Don't add...don't remove...

[Classik]

Revelation 22 NKJV

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life,from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

1 Cor. 4:6 NKJV

6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.


Deuteronomy 4:2 NKJV

2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

My bible has 66 books (OT &NT).
I have seen some with more than 66 books.

I am not talking about heretics here. I'm talking about the Bible itself, not about false preachers (although they are part of this). (I have a thread here which I titled: Which isThe True Bible)

My emphasis now is, how can I prove to myself that my own bible isn't contrary to the verses listed above? Even some that have only 66 books have some of their verses a little bit modified... changing some meaning or adding something new.

I wasn't born when the first bible was made.

 

[CalledToServe]

My bible has 66 books (OT &NT).
I have seen some with more than 66 books.

I am not talking about heretics here. I'm talking about the Bible itself, not about false preachers (although they are part of this). (I have a thread here which I titled: Which isThe True Bible)

My emphasis now is, how can I prove to myself that my own bible isn't contrary to the verses listed above? Even some that have only 66 books have some of their verses a little bit modified... changing some meaning or adding something new.

I wasn't born when the first bible was made.

The only way to be sure if you have a good translation is to compare the different translations to each other and with the original Greek/Hebrew texts. When I look at a translation I look for three things: scholarship that maintains close to the original source material, easy to understand, and does it highlight instances of where stuff was added to or removed from the manuscripts. Based upon these criteria I settled upon a Thompson Chain Reference NIV translation. NIV has an entire team of scholars that work on the translation and it's easy to understand. These scholars can show exactly where and what changed, especially in the Thompson Chain Reference.

I walked away from the KJV because it was never written based off of the closest original copies of the manuscripts and the renderings of verses is wrong. A good example is Thou shalt not kill is how they translated it, but the correct translation is You shall not murder. Murder and killing in self defense are two different balls of wax.

The other translation I have is The Complete Jewish Bible that maintains the original Hebrew names of the books, places, and people. It is a recent translation as well, but what makes even more different is the translator used the Jewish ordering of the Old Testament and that there isn't an Old and New Testament. It is just one continuous manuscript and the page numbers follow it.

 

[Classik]

There are many translations today.

(I think it will be hard for a new convert to know the right translation to you).

 

[CalledToServe]

There are many translations today.

(I think it will be hard for a new convert to know the right translation to you).

Yes, there are and many of them are faulty and filled with translator bias. It's important for us, as old hands, to be elders to the new converts since that is what we are called to do. I'm all for someone in a church to hold discipleship meetings with new converts or those thinking about converting to go over the basics that we learned in Sunday School and Bible Studies. By doing so, we can point them in the right direction when it comes to translations of the Bible and how to apply the Bible to our lives.

If they have a question about why the Gospel of Mary: The Mother of Jesus, or insert book, isn't in the Bible that is commonly accepted it's up to us to explain that they are not canon because these books lack apostolic/divine authority. They are great books to read, for the most part, but one can tell that they are not the divinely inspired Word of God through textual analysis. In the Gospel of Mary: The Mother of Jesus the first verse says something about her being a perpetual virgin, which immediately tells you the text was written well after the 4th century AD. Her virginity wasn't decided until then.

 

[Classik]

True, really.
Thanks.
(One of our pastors told us he read one of the oldest bible, I think. He says the Enlglish is kind of frighteneing. lol

Very few English professsors may understand.

I wish to lay my hand on one.)