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Why are there so many versions of the Bible?


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Why are there so many versions of the Bible? Catholic version has 73 books and Protestant version has 66 books. Which of these versions is authentic and how?

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Blessings muslimbr

   Welcome to Worthy......there are many "translations" called "versions"......some in the Old English & some modern day English,this is a question that is going to get many replies,many different opinions and some very detailed explanations so get ready to hear them all! In my opinion,the light differences in the translations are not that much of a big deal(many will disagree) I believe the slight variations do not hinder the message of Salvation in the Gospels,which is the very heart of the matter

    The translations are basically from Hebrew & Greek to English......the variations come because many  are trans literations that are translated differently as some have chosen a different word to define the meaning of a phrase,these are not "Salvational " issues......that is my 'simple" answer

  Now the real can of worms is the question concerning the 73 books of the rcc,we here at Worthy are non-denominational......here is our Statement of Faith

Quote

We believe in God, the almighty creator of heaven and earth.

We believe in the triunity of God. We believe that God is eternally One, and also eternally the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — the three being distinct, but not separate. Each Person of the Godhead coexists from everlasting to everlasting.

We believe in the Messiah, Jesus, God’s only begotten son, God come in the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, died and buried. On the third day, He rose again. Soon afterward He ascended into heaven. Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father and He will return to judge both the living and the dead and reign for evermore.

We believe all mankind are sinful and are therefore subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.

We believe that everyone is in need of God’s salvation. Mankind is absolutely unable to fulfill the heavy demands of God’s righteousness, holiness and glory. Therefore, God, in sending His Only Begotten Son, has accomplished redemption for us through the shedding of Jesus’ blood. Because of His Son’s death, God has forgiven us of our sins, reconciled us to Himself, and justified us by making Him our righteousness.

We believe that salvation is a gift received by faith alone, in Messiah alone, and is expressed in the individual’s recognition and repentance of sin, and the acceptance of the risen Messiah as Saviour, Lord and God.

We believe in the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ, before whom every knee in heaven and on earth will bow. And that there is no other name under Heaven by which we can approach the holy throne of God. Jesus Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man.

We believe that immediately upon death, the soul of the believer is absent from the body, and present with the Lord.

We believe in the ongoing work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit after redemption for the purpose of producing life changing fruit — love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control.

We believe that the 66 books of the Canon, from Genesis to Revelation are the exhaustive, inerrant and inspired word of God.

I'll let the others get into that discussion...               Glad you have joined us,nice meeting you                      With love-in Christ,Kwik

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3 hours ago, Muslimbr said:

Why are there so many versions of the Bible? Catholic version has 73 books and Protestant version has 66 books. Which of these versions is authentic and how?

There are nearly as many versions, English transliterations as there are publishers to own exclusion rights to printing them.

Roman Catholic Versions contain parts of the Apocrypha, as very old Kings James versions which had more of it did. Some Latin Vulgate transliterations  to English have the 23rd Psalm listed as the 22 Psalm.

Some versions are transliterations of  Latin some are not, each being brought into play  by there being suspicion of some errant context. None claim to be inerrant in their English a far as I know.

There are handy dandy graphs available that show the trail of the transliteration of most  current English versions, chasing their origins back to the  texts they came from.

Some make no attempt to be exact in their text serving instead to be conversational English instead.

My own preference is to use what is best suited for what I am doing at the time.

 I like  the ESV for sharing text. I enjoy the King James for reading, but find the American Standard 1901 Version to be a  slightly better improvement. I do not much enjoy the New American Standard as it is often unnecessarily laborously cumbersome. All versions are the best efforts of men,  of committees, of scholars  to share the word of God in a manner sufficient to accurately tell the revealing of Jesus to an unsaved world.

All that said for me to lead to a conclusion that I can be happy  discussing in English  our Lord and the entirety of the Bible  using any  version  any other person prefers.

In any case unless one is a Hebrew and or Greek scholar, ( I definitely am not one) it is best to also have a helpful Strong's concordance at hand.

 

 

Edited by Neighbor
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4 hours ago, Muslimbr said:

Why are there so many versions of the Bible? Catholic version has 73 books and Protestant version has 66 books. Which of these versions is authentic and how?

Welcome!

May I suggest you look up two videos on Youtube.

"Christian Apologetics: Where Did the Old Testament Come From? - Doug Powell, MA"

"Christian Apologetics: Where Did the New Testament Come From? - Doug Powell, MA"

Those could be great starting points for understanding what happened and why. God bless!

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5 hours ago, Muslimbr said:

Why are there so many versions of the Bible? Catholic version has 73 books and Protestant version has 66 books. Which of these versions is authentic and how?

Muslimbr, Welcome to Worthy.  For a Non-believer this would be a difficult issue to deal with.  

However, if you wish to know the true Gospel, read the English Bible which has been around for over 400 years and has been universally acknowledge as the Authorized Version. It is also known as the King James Bible (and is generally quoted in movies).  

It is only after you become a believer that you will be able to understand why there are so many versions, and the distinction between Protestant and Catholic Bibles.

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I took it to mean catholic Bibles, protestant Bibles, and the translations from the different part of the world; I.E. KJV, NIV, Vulgate, Septuagint, etc.

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On 12/26/2016 at 10:22 AM, Muslimbr said:

Why are there so many versions

Why not ?

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On 1/5/2017 at 11:36 PM, simplejeff said:

Why not ?

Well this poster never did come back. Since he is a Muslim, what he was implying is that since there is only one version of the Koran but many versions of the Bible, the Koran is superior to the Bible, and Islam is superior to Christianity.  Correct me if I am wrong Muslimbr.

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Actually there were many versions in the beginning...   I'd have to look up when they decided to consolidate and pick  a single one.

 

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37 minutes ago, other one said:

Actually there were many versions in the beginning...   I'd have to look up when they decided to consolidate and pick  a single one.

Well Jerome's Latin Vulgate dominated the scene from about AD 400 to AD 1400. As regards English language Bibles, Wycliffe was the first one to provide an English translation of the Vulgate (c 1400).  

But it was really when the King James Bible was translated ( 1604-1611) that the many English translations were replaced by the Authorized Version (translated directly out of the Hebrew and Greek traditional texts). The Geneva Bible was there alongside the KJV, but eventually the KJV became the only English language Bible until 1881 when the corrupted Revised Version came along.

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