Bible – Page 6 – My Thought Spot

Review: The History of the Reina-Valera 1960 Spanish Bible

This is a second book by Calvin George that I have read. His first book, The Battle for the Spanish Bible, I felt was a bit emotionally charged. Therefore, though I agreed with his position and final points, I did not like how he arrived at them. To be fair, it was a rebuttal to another book and therefore it took the same tone as the original work.

This book however is much more factual. I know many of my readers would not be familiar as to why there is even a need for books like this. If you are not familiar with the issues it is probably because it does not affect you.

In The History of the Reina-Valera 1960 Spanish Bible Calvin George really does not cover a set of bullet points trying to refute an opposing position. He simply tries to cover one issue well. Many people call into question the accuracy of the 1960 revision of the Spanish Reina-Valera Bible based on the men who made up the revision committee. Particularly as it pertains to Eugene Nida. George details what Nida’s responsibility was in the revision work (practically none) and what his translation principles were. I am as much opposed to many of the things that Nida taught, as most fundamental men would be. But as George points out in the book, those teachings came later in Nida’s life. While I have to agree that the seeds of wrong translation principles were probably present in his thinking during the time of the 1960 revision, it did not come out in his writings or recorded teachings until later. Or, at least according to George’s research.

I was shocked and humbled by some of the back stories of the men who did make up the revision committee. There were some true scholars who worked on that project. I have met a few Biblical scholars in my day, but it would have been an honor to sit and talk with some of these men who had to fight long and hard to just be able to obtain the education they had. I have the means whereby to obtain any type of education I choose if I truly wanted it. These men are testaments to God giving a remarkable education even in unlikely circumstances.

It is not a book for everyone, but if you are studying the continuing debate on this issue, it is worth your time.

The History of the Reina-Valera 1960 Spanish Bible Calvin George, Morris Publishing, 2004, 134 pages.

Philosophy dictates rules; Rules define philosophy

When I was taking the class that Larry Franklin taught, I noticed something that I have seen often, but wonder if some people “get.” Their presentation was very much based on a philosophy instead of a bunch of rules. If you could capture the philosophy, you can figure out your own rules. Many people don’t understand that though. I noticed some in the class who were very careful to write down the rules, but when they went to practice teaching a class they had no concept of the philosophy. You could see them mentally stepping through a list of rules and correcting their actions. If they could grasp the underlying philosophy then the rules would take care of themselves.

Another example of philosophy dictating rules, is living godly. Many people look at the Bible or church and only see the “do and don’t,” or the “can and can’t.” When you can capture the concept that living godly means that you live in such a way as to please God with every action and decision, you no longer need to have a big list of rules. This is because every action gets filtered through the philosophy.

Of course, rules are necessary. They are what help define the philosophy. You have to start with a set of rules or you won’t know what defines “pleasing God,” or “living godly.” But once you can capture that set of rules and philosophy, you will be able to make decisions that aren’t dictated, or spelled out in black and white, in the Bible. You often find people wanting a “chapter and verse” reference for everything that we say defines godliness. Those are people who have not matured enough to look past the rules and live by philosophy.

In the Bible Paul deals with this “chapter and verse” thinking. He says that while things may be technically legal and permissible, they are not always helpful to others (1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23). Paul uses the example of eating meat offered to idols. He asks if the the meat was offered to an idol does it change the fact that it is still meat? The obvious answer is, no. If it is still just meat and nothing inherently wrong with it, then it should be edible. But, he says, though technically it is still just meat and it won’t do any harm in any way to eat it, does it look wrong to others? If so, then don’t eat it. If by eating the meat offered to idols it appears that you are living less godly, then don’t eat the meat. You don’t need chapter and verse for that, you only need to use your brain.

Philosophy will help you build your own set of rules. But rules are a start to helping you define your philosophy. If you focus on the rules, you start to see all the things you can’t do. If you focus on the philosophy you see all the things you are free to do.

I worked for many years at a camp. We had a huge set of rules for the workers. Huge! One thing they required though was that the workers turn in their rule books at the end of the summer. They did not want the rules being taken by others and used at another camp. Seems selfish on the surface of it. But the deal was that they had a philosophy that dictated those rules. Without the proper philosophy, they were just rules. You could implement the rules, but you would only have rules for the sake of having rules. You had to have the philosophy or the rules were cold and harsh. Did we hate working under all the rules? No, because we understood the philosophy and therefore the rules were only there to help polish and define the philosophy.

Does that make sense? Don’t just see rules as rules. Try to find out what the philosophy is that dictates the rules. That may mean that from time to time the rules change, but the direction and thinking do not. One example of that is we were not allowed to wear FAMU t-shirts at camp. Is there anything wrong with Florida A&M University that makes it wicked? No, but the philosophy is whatever you wear needs to have a clear meaning and people should not have to wonder what you are promoting. If FAMU won the national championship in football and everyone in the world became aware that FAMU was a university in Florida, then the rule would change and you would be able to wear the shirts without any problems.

Rules can change based on circumstances, underlying philosophy stays the same.

Philosophy dictates rules; Rules define philosophy.

Are you willing to change?

My friend Nolan said on his blog yesterday that “Prayer without willingness to change my life is pointless.” I thought about that a lot this morning before heading out the door on my run. I have been running with a friend the last couple of weeks and we have been ending our running with a time of prayer with one another.

One of the themes of this week’s prayer time has been that there needs to be a change in certain areas of my life and areas of his. Two totally different areas, but we both see a personal need.

I was struck by what Nolan said. The willingness for change needs to be present, or the prayers are worthless.

His mom said he was an ugly baby

Betty Lukens picture Several months ago we were given the opportunity to buy a Betty Lukens flannel graph set for a great price. There was a missionary family that was going to be coming to town and they are a retailer for the wonderful picture set. We were buying a small set from them and another missionary family was buying a large set. The family that was selling them would bring them in for us so that we would not have to pay unreasonable amounts for shipping. Their trip got postponed and we had to wait for our flannel graph sets.

However, they did come this week to teach a class in a local church on how to teach children’s classes. It was a great 8 hours worth of classes. I am really glad I was able to attend. The couple who taught the classes have over 40 years of experience in children’s ministry. Not only did they teach “how,” but more importantly they taught “why.” I have always been impressed by people who have a philosophy for what they do. It is not just a set of rules, but guiding principles, that if you keep them in perspective, will help you build your own set of dos and don’ts.

The husband was illustrating how to teach a Bible story and he chose the first part of the life of Moses. The Bible says that Moses “was a goodly child.” My Spanish Bible says he was a beautiful child. The whole idea is that he was a good looking baby.

The missionary telling the story stopped and asked the audience if they had ever seen an ugly baby. Of course, everyone obligingly said “no.” Then he said, “I have seen an ugly baby.” All the men laughed and the women were shocked that he would even say that. Then he continued by saying that his second son was an ugly baby. The women were even more shocked.

I happened to be sitting by the speaker’s wife. I leaned over and made a comment about my sister being the ugliest baby in the world (before you blast me, I don’t have a sister). The wife then laughed and said, “Our son really was an ugly baby!”

He must have really been a sight if even his mother admits that he was ugly. They claim he has grown up to be a handsome man though. Sure, like I believe that.

Baptismal service

Today we had our first baptismal service for our deaf church. Though we have had one of our members baptized, he was baptized in the church from which he came. We were just getting organized as a ministry and he had grown up under the other pastor (a good church of like faith). They already had the baptism planned and therefore we gave the other pastor and church the honor.

Today we had a deaf man of 28 years of age get baptized. Eduardo has been coming to our church since the end of August or the first of September. He accepted the Lord as his Savior in September. The other missionary with whom we work spent the month of November explaining baptism to our church and its significance. Eduardo indicated that he wanted to be baptized.

The second person baptized today was our son. It was my privilege, a few years ago, to lead him to a saving knowledge of the Lord. Today I was honored in being able to baptize him as well.

It was a special day at church for all of us. These are steps on the road to spiritual maturity in our ministry.