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Best General Purpose Bible?

Author	Comment
Decalogue	R.S.V. is still around.	#161	[-]
Posts: 53 (09/29/2009 23:37:24) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	77 --- Although this goes against my very inner fibers... { I don't like the RSV, and I've said why a few months ago } I read your posts about the RSV and I just checked the Oxford online catalog. Yikes! Why do they have/ print/stock sooo many RSV-Catholic editions ?!? In my experience... [ and no folks,,, I have not met every Roman Catholic in the world.] ... R.C.s don't read Bibles. From '97- '04 most R.C.s which came into our stores (they had large signs visible from Freeway and major roadways) came into the store to buy Rosary beads ( which we did not stock) or crucifix neckless jewelry ( which we did not stock)... Each time they would come into the store { this was so funny---the pattern happened e v e r y time } they would make a full circle of the place and wind up near the front counter. ..." May I help you find something today ? "... Yeah, where's the rosary beads/crucifixs/candles...? I would kindly-gently reply that: ..."We don't carry those items, but we do have a Roman Catholic Bible...{ It was the N.A.V.} Never, ever did they buy a Bible. They almost all were nice folks, ( nicer than the J.W.'s and the extreme Health & Wealth types who came in. ) BUT- buying/reading a Bible was not a priority. So why Oxford Univ. Press has sooo many in print is a mystery to me. OK... Have you looked at amazon ? I just did and there are 6 of them right now listed : RSV-1952 hardbacks for about a five spot. Just type in Revised Standard Version, and viola! I'm 90% certain that you can find some cheap RSV ( former pew editions) at a used book shop/Thrift shop in your town. Try some of the local churches ... look in their basement or attics... Try your local library. Sometimes Libraries and their "Friends" sell things for maybe .50 cents or a Buck. Give Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Michigan a call and ask them. Now ... since I have given you some free tips,,, thus showing you I'm a cool and groovy guy... (and almost always correct...!) your fee wil be to toss those Bruce Metzger jammies and get yerself some William Tyndale or Cranmer pajamas. { boy I sure wish the little smilies thingys were working...} Please visit www.prayerbookbaptist.com "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever!" Isaiah 40:8
77		#162	[-]
Posts: 911 (09/30/2009 03:02:06) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Deca: "OK... Have you looked at amazon ? I just did and there are 6 of them right now listed" 77: That's not the point.... The one true, legitimate Bible in English - the RSV - should be in print. People that hunger for the Word shouldn't have to hunt on Amazon, or E-Bay for used copies. "Truly, good Christian reader, we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one of a good one ... but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principle good one, not justly to be expected against; that hath been our endeavor, that our mark."
SAWBONES		#163	[-]
Posts: 334 (09/30/2009 17:03:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Decalogue said: "From '97- '04 most R.C.s which came into our stores (they had large signs visible from Freeway and major roadways) came into the store to buy Rosary beads ( which we did not stock) or crucifix neckless jewelry ( which we did not stock)... Each time they would come into the store { this was so funny---the pattern happened e v e r y time } they would make a full circle of the place and wind up near the front counter. ..." May I help you find something today ? "... Yeah, where's the rosary beads/crucifixs/candles...? I would kindly-gently reply that: ..."We don't carry those items, but we do have a Roman Catholic Bible...{ It was the N.A.V.} Never, ever did they buy a Bible. They almost all were nice folks..." That mirrors my experience and brings back memories, except the store where I worked back in the '70s did sell jewelry, including necklaces, even including a few small crucifix-style necklaces. The RCs would come in and look all around and up and down, then finally come to the counter to ask where the rosaries, "holy cards" or votive candles were. Though we carried the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible, both with the RC imprimatur, these folks never bought them, and in fact we rarely sold them to anyone except to the Protestants who wanted to own all the different available Bible translations!
Ben44		#164	[-]
Posts: 33 (10/29/2009 23:31:10) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to posts. Yuku decided it would no longer let me sign in, or rather let me stay signed in, so I had to tinker with my firewall to get back on again. Anyway, I think someone on here asked why I did not mention the NASB. I actually like the NASB, but I do not think it is a good general purpose Bible. To my thinking, a good General Purpose Bible must be one that can be read and understood by your average reader. None of the literal versions fill in that need. You simply must reconstruct, restate, and re-frame many sentences in English to make them comprehensible. Literal Bibles generally stick to awkward word order, bad sentence structure, and archaic wording. This is the problem with both the NASB and the ESV. I can understand those Bibles because I grew up reading the KJV. But those not familiar with the strange word order and archaic phrasing are going to struggle with them. I think the NIV/TNIV are about where a general purpose Bible needs to be in straddling being somewhat literal, but also clear and readable. The NLTse is also pretty good. The CEV is very good for those who really struggle with reading and comprehension. But I still think we have yet to find that perfect, or nearly perfect, General Purpose Bible. Ben

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