Proof of a horrible lack of discernment among Christians and Christian leaders.
Where does it say that God doesn’t talk to us audibly? (A problem with this article is that she does as many do — she applies Rev. 22:18-19 to the whole Bible but it only applies to the book of Revelation!).
28 Things You Didn’t Know About “Christian” Psychology “Christian psychology” is an oxymoron. See my series, The Psychological Method vs Christianity in November 2011.
A “worship” experience at Steven Furtick’s church. If this doesn’t convince you how bad Furtick is, then nothing will; his “church” has all the earmarks of a cult.
I’m sure this happens in many mega churches which have the concerts for “worship.”
A relatively new cultic group of which you should be aware is “Abolish Human Abortion.” their whole schtick is to consider anyone not spending their lives protesting at abortion clinics as not being good Christians. I’ve only read about them recently due to their attacks on a well-known church. To give you an idea about their tactics, I direct you to two posts by Fred Butler. With the first one he reviews the tract they pass out. In the second, he responds to an AHA attack on him for reviewing the tract. These people have no idea about the real Christian faith. Oh, and they claim that they really aren’t an organization, but the proof demonstrates otherwise.
The truth about the Pharisees: They weren’t concerned with sound doctrine.
An interesting incident about false teacher Todd White.
The Holman Christian Standard Bible has been my favorite version since it came out, but now since they’ve revised it, and renamed it just “Christian Standard Bible,” I can no longer recommend it. They just had to compromise. 2017 is the year this version died (if you can get old ones, go for it!). Of course, coming from Lifeway, I'm not surprised.
Modern churches are better?
8 comments:
What I find so amusing (?) about the "pharisee" card, is how it is so egregiously misused. It's usually leveled at committed Christians - those who love sound doctrine and want to pursue Spirit led holiness (not mere externals, but that wrought by God in the heart) and dignified worship - by believers (even leaders) who are very carnal and compromised. I know you have written on this topic, Glenn. But it's a topic that is always worth repeating, to encourage the saints by way of reminder. :)
So the HCSB is being "revised" full of compromise. Sad. It is a decent translation. I know the NIV was also changed for the worse. The 1984 NIV is decent, but the 2011 has a lot of problems. The favorite in our household - NASB.
-Carolyn
Carolyn,
My first Bible was KJV, given to me for Christmas when I was 7, by my Christian grandmother. Back in those days I was being raised in a non-believing family. And I didn't even look at it much until I was in high school and reading "Chariots of the Gods," and learned the author's way of interpreting the Bible, believing it all! Which is what helped me get suckered into Mormonism when I was 18.
In the late fall of 1973 (when I was 21) I began studying with the Navigators and they used the NASB, which, after I became in January 1974, I bought. Then about a year later I bought one for my then girlfriend (who became my wife) so we could study together via mail, since all she had was a KJV and the NASB was much easier.
The NAS was from then on my primary study Bible, but in 1988 I discovered the NIV and that became another one to use, especially when I began teaching Sunday School because all the kids had the NIV. So I used the two versions together a lot, with the NIV becoming more of a commentary for easier reading.
Then I discovered the HCSB, which is more formal than the NIV and the NIV got pretty much relegated to the reference shelf. The first I heard of the HCSB (which shows first copyright in 1999) was in 2008 when I saw an advertisement for the Apologetics Study Bible, which was also reviewed by the Christian Research Institute, and I decided that I had to have one, and have really like it. Which is why it is so disappointing that they've allowed it to be compromised.
Hi Glenn,
All good choices! We have a reference KJV at home, but as I said, we mainly use the NASB. We also have the NIV'84 which we still like, and I think a NKJV. We've read from the HCSB - it's good - but don't personally own one.
We haven't bothered with the ESV. Since it is very popular in the "reformed" circles, the commentaries in the footnotes likely will have that leaning. Yes, we know the footnotes are not the inspired word of God, and while we don't reference them often, when we do, we'd rather not have that slant.
That said, in our NIV'84 and our NASB, we've done a fair bit of "editing" of footnotes. :) So issues with footnotes aren't limited to any one translation.
-Carolyn
The ESV text edition doesn't have a commentary, and footnotes are just like every other translation, just showing other manuscript differences, etc. So no Reformed theology is in the text only version. I use if for reference.
I have many versions for reference for when I'm doing some deep study, with dynamic versions used as commentaries. (I've gotten rid of some liberal dynamic versions). I have one version, 'The Word" which is 26 translations parallel. Not every verse uses 26 parallels -- only those with significant differences. Otherwise, on the shelf I have NIV, KJV, NKJV, NAS, HCSB, ESV, NET, God's Word, REB, NLT, Darby, Jewish Study Bible O.T. (by the Jewish Publication Society), and Jewish N.T. by David Stern.
I also have interlinear Hebrew-English O.T. and Greek-English N.T. (one with the Received Text and one with the current text), and even the Septuagint! So you can see I have a lot of references of studying just the Bible :oD
Good to know about the ESV, thanks.
Your shelf definitely has more Bibles more than ours.
-Carolyn
Glenn,
Are you agreeing or disagreeing that God does not speak audibly to us? I can't tell if you posted this article in agreement or not. Thanks for clarification! My belief is that the canon is closed.
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,
I'm agreeing with the article, which answers the question put forth. God does not speak to us audibly. In fact, there were very few times He did so in the Bible!
My favorite Bible is the NASB.
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