Translation Wars

January 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A snapshot of the history of Bible translation from Latin to English:

There were surface reasons and deeper reasons why the church opposed an English Bible. The surface reasons were that the English language is rude and unworthy of the exalted language of God’s word; and when one translates, errors can creep in, so it is safer not to translate; moreover, if the Bible is in English, then each man will become his own interpreter, and many will go astray into heresy and be condemned; and it was church tradition that only priests are given the divine grace to understand the Scriptures; and what’s more, there is a special sacramental value to the Latin service in which people cannot understand, but grace is given. Such were the kinds of things being said on the surface.

But there were deeper reasons why the church opposed the English Bible: one doctrinal and one ecclesiastical. The church realized that they would not be able to sustain certain doctrines biblically because the people would see that they are not in the Bible. And the church realized that their power and control over the people, and even over the state, would be lost if certain doctrines were exposed as unbiblical—especially the priesthood and purgatory and penance. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church History

Read the Gospels

January 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Christ wishes his mysteries to be published as widely as possible. I would wish even all women to read the gospel and the epistles of St. Paul, and I wish that they were translated into all languages of all Christian people, that they might be read and known, not merely by the Scotch and the Irish, but even by the Turks and the Saracens. I wish that the husbandman may sing parts of them at his plow, that the weaver may warble them at his shuttle, that the traveler may with their narratives beguile the weariness of the way.

Erasmus, Preface to the Greek New Testament

Filed Under: Reading

Courage and Hope

January 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

JRR Tolkien on courage and hope:

FRODO: I can’t do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened.

But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Posts

Where Is Our Delight in Praying?

January 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Don A. Carson tells of this story about prayer in his book Call to Spiritual Reformation:

Two years ago at a major North American seminary, fifty students who were offering themselves for overseas ministry during the summer holidays were carefully interviewed so that their suitability could be assessed. Only three of these fifty- 6 percent!- could testify to regular quiet times, times of reading the Scriptures, of devoting themselves to prayer. It would be painful and embarrassing to uncover the prayer life of many thousands of evangelical pastors.

But we may probe more deeply. Where is our delight in praying? Where is our sense that we are meeting with the living God, that we are doing business with God, that we are interceding with genuine unction before the throne of grace? When was the last time we came away froma period on intercession feeling that, like Jacob or Moses, we had prevailed with God? How much of our praying is largely formulaic, liberally larded with cliches that remind us, uncomfortably, of the hypocrites Jesus excoriated? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Prayer

Fasting Without Jesus

January 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

There is one pitfall of prayer and fasting that we all need to guard ourselves against: too much focus on ourselves and our long prayer lists, storming the heavens for things we want and things we desire, giving God a continuous barrage of prayer “requests,” all the while forgetting to really commune with Jesus.

We do not fast to get God to do things for us. He already did much on the cross. That iPhone or house or car are probably necessary. That relationship is probably as important. So is that promotion. But God is not an ATM terminal or our rich uncle who buys stuff for us. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Prayer Tagged With: