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Spread the Word
Posted in Current Events, One Year Bible by ministerandy on September 1st, 2006
I just ran across this offer from crossway at Justin Taylors blog:
Our bookshop should be getting these in mid-September and I am sure you can find them at other bookshops as well. If any churches need to place an order please let me know. This is a limited time offer (now through March) and is a great way to share God’s word with others.
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September 2nd, 2006 at 9:56 am
It is good to have the Word of God easily available for outreach. But is the ESV a suitable version for such a wide audience of non-believers? See my post on this at the Better Bibles Blog.
September 5th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Peter,
Thanks for the comment. I would like to reply briefly to your question, even though I believe your comment was more to promote your website than ask a genuine question of me.
Is the ESV a suitable version for a wide audience of non-believers?
This questions presumes several things. 1. There are easier translations to understand. 2. The ESV is hard to understand. 3. Non-believers are not smart enough to understand the ESV. 4. The truth of God’s Word will be understood by anyone if dumbed down enough.
Lets start with 1. If you know of the NIV or NLT selling NT for 50 cents each please let me know, I am more than happy to hand those out.
Now to the assumption 2, You tell me how difficult these verses are to understand:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Do all things without grumbling or questioning.
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.
You shall not murder.
You shall not steal.
Although some translations do read a little easier, the ESV is still written on about an 8th grade comprehension level and is clear.
This brings me to assumption 4. I do not consider the unchurched to be dumb or un-intelligent. In fact I consider many of them to be better read and more intelligent than I. My unsaved neighbors can easily read on an 8th grade level. I assume the incoming freshmen at the local state university can comprehend on that level. In fact, even the homeless couple I helped the other day loved to read and were plenty intelligent enough to read the ESV.
Which brings me to assumption 4, the wisdom of God is foolishness to man. The difficulty most of the unsaved have with scripture stems from their hearts, not their minds.
I am not against other translations. However, I do believe that what you propose, saying that the ESV is too hard for non-believers to understand, is more of an insult than what we as a church may realize. We did not believe in the grace of God because we knew a different language, and certainly not because we were more intelligent, but because of the Holy Spirit and God’s grace.