Monday, January 17, 2011

Shade Tree Wisdom 1/17/11


We had rain yesterday that fell intermittently and stopped during the night. Moisture needed indeed. So the walking this morning was just short of being drizzly. The air was just pleasantly cool and moist, not quite foggy. So all in all, quite nice.

I keep remembering this is the 400th anniversary of the translation we call the King James Version of the Bible, a Bible so familiar to many of us for many years. So filled with passages that mean something to us, or that are so familiar simply because we read or have heard them read and recited often. Even memorized sections that remain in the heart to comfort and give strength in times of stress, trouble, and sorrow.

Many of us remember standing at a graveside and hearing “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that HE shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
and that though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God, and mine eyes shall behold and not another.” Job 19, 25 – 27.

Or this promise of our Lord.” Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” John 10, 25.26.

Or this word,
“Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, you may be also.” John 14, 1-3

The King James Version translation was begun by 49 scholars commissioned by King James. It was begun in 1604 and ended in 1611. They worked from original Greek and Hebrew, and checked the work of Tyndale who had also translated the Bible into English “so that any plowboy could read it.”

That was also Luther’s intention when he translated the Bible into German. He wanted The Book to be available and understood by any person. By the way, Luther’s work is still the Bible used today.

Through the years, we have seen other translations, usually with the intent of making the Bible clear to the modern reader. So we have the RSV, the NIV, the ESV, the Living Bible, An American Translation, The Message, now just coming out The Jesus Book.

But the main thing is that we use the Bible, because it is the story of salvation. How the Lord prepared the One Way to heaven for this sinful humanity.

Any Pastor rejoices when he sees the seed of the Word take root and flourish in a life under his care. That is why God gave the Book, so we could learn, grow, and draw closer to our Lord daily, and finally, join our Lord and Savior to be “where I am, ye may be also.” May God grant this.

And DO read this Book daily “that ye may grow thereby.”

GPD 1/17/11

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