I got a new toy a few months back. It’s a “Smart Phone”–a Motorola Droid. Really, it should be called a “Personal-Digital-Assistant-That-Just-Happens-To-Also-Make-Phone-Calls.” But that’s a discussion for another day; and perhaps that name is a little too long to catch on. I say it’s a toy because I’m such a geek that anything that takes advantage of the latest technology totally fascinates me. Sorry to those of you who hate technology. I guess we all have our faults.
But this “phone” is functional. It does everything. I plan my daily tasks on it. I keep my business and personal calendars on; I can even check Sandra’s calendar. I monitor my exercise by miles walked, minutes per mile, and calories burned. While I’m walking, I can even see where I am on a map in real time (for you non-geeks, that means as I’m walking). Sandra and I track our budget in “virtual” envelopes using our phones. I get turn by turn directions to wherever it is I need to go. I store notes and shopping lists, passwords, bank account numbers, and documents. I text, receive and send email, check Facebook, and browse the web, all on my phone. I store pictures, addresses and phone numbers of friends and business associates, listen to music and sermons, and play all kinds of games. I even have a “reality” browser to enhance reality. (That’s a whole blog in itself, so be watching for it.) And, I read the Bible.
The Bible on my phone has 44 different translations in 21 languages (even one that I’m pretty sure is Chinese). It has daily devotions and Bible reading plans. I can search for specific words, phrases, or verses and bookmark the ones I want to come back to. There’s only one thing I can’t do with the Bible on my phone: I can’t use it in church. Oh, functionally, it works fine in church; it’s just that I get looks if I use it in church. To some people, it’s not a Bible if it’s not made out of paper and ink.
I remember a Bible study I was in years ago in Pasadena, Maryland. I remember the look I got from an elderly woman when she saw I was using the Good News Bible in paperback. She kept watching me in her peripheral vision throughout the evening but she didn’t say anything until the Bible study was over. Then she got up her nerve and came over to give me some of her “I-earned-it-by-living-longer-than-you” wisdom. She said, “If you want me to, I can buy you a real Bible.” She then explained to me that I should be using the “original” Bible; of course, that would be the King James Version. She actually acted quite incensed that the church would even allow a Bible such as mine in a Bible study. (I’m not sure which bothered her more: the fact that it wasn’t King James or that it was paperback.) I don’t know if she used the word blasphemy, but I could almost feel it hanging in the air after she had finished chastising me.
I wonder if people had a problem when they moved away from scrolls to separate sheets of paper or pages for the Bible. Or when Gutenberg invented the printing press and they transitioned from handwritten script to machine printed block letters. I know that even now there are people who look down their noses at translations different from the one they believe is the only valid translation. Of course, that would be the one they use.
I bet God thinks it’s all pretty funny. I know I do. When people ask me what I think is the best translation, I always say, “The best translation is the one that gets you to read it.” Okay, I’m not big on “interpretations,” but if someone will at least read an interpretation, I think God will bless him for making the effort. And, I think God will give him the understanding he needs based on his level of spiritual maturity.
In the same way the Ten Commandments are just words God gave us to point us to His moral law or His character, the text printed in Bibles is only there to point us to His Word. The text itself is not God’s words. God inspired some 40 men to write down what He wanted us to know. They wrote it; others copied it; still others translated it; and now we read it. It all points back to His Word, but it is not His words. When we read it (or, yes, even listen to it on CD), God interprets for us. He provides the meaning. He gives each one of us the level of understanding we need based on our spiritual journey. Each time I read the Bible, I learn new things. Not because the words are different, but because God takes me beyond the mere words to His Word based on where I am in my walk with Him.
So then, what Bible should we use? Well, since you asked, let me answer by saying this: If God is truly sovereign (and He is) and we make the effort to study His Word, He can use whatever Bible in whatever format we have available to us. Because even that Bible you’re holding in your hand is temporary (2 Cor 4:18). It, too, will pass away. Now, maybe that’s not what you think. But it doesn’t matter what you think. And it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what He thinks. And rest assured, He’s got it all figured out.
Thom Fishow
April 25, 2010