2023 - Loui and me

The LORD has been good to me!  I will be 72 in April and Loui will be 1 year and 4 months old.  We make a good team.  When I pray and shout Hallelujah.... Loui walks on his hind feet and jumps up with his front paws in the air barking his own hallelujah!  Loui was a birthday gift last year from one of my sons and his family.  What a surprise he was!  

Love and blessings from my house to yours!

Karen

Which Bible Version???

 Hello Friends!  

It's been quite the ride for the past several years!  I hope you are all blessed in every way!  We have all gone through trials and tribulations as the world around us has dramatically changed in a very short amount of time!  Many of us have lost family members and friends in this season of COVID and other illnesses. 

As we search for answers in this brave new world of technology.... we find that facts change as knowledge increases.  We also find that absolute truth does not change!  For example; if you toss a rubber ball in the air, it will come down...somewhere... because gravity pulls it down. That is truth.  There are books classified as fiction and nonfiction plus various other sub-classifications.  The division of books is made by what the written material applies to... does it apply to the imagination, to the application of a principle or project and so on.

A friend and I were talking the other day about Bible versions.  My friend had the Bible which the LORD brought to her attention.  It wasn't the same version I had, so I was wondering how many others are wondering which Bible version is the right Bible?  

The first Bible God led me to was "The Way". Then a friend bought me a KJV, like hers.... which I had trouble understanding, but I finally got it! I just kept reading until it finally made sense to me! It was quite a process, as I had to unlearn “religious” ideas in order to understand what I was reading!

Then, I became a KJV only for many years. I started using other versions, mostly online... mainly the Amplified because I was digging deep into Genesis, and I had a lot of questions! All of that deep digging led me to the other history books that did not make into the Bible.

 A very dear friend wanted me to get “The Passion Bible” for a couple of years before I actually bought a copy. Then, as I began to read it, I started to understand why. Much of it is translated from the Aramaic, which was the street language of the area in which Jesus lived and taught. It would probably have been the language he spoke in the most. The whole Bible is not taken from one language, but several. Some words have no English translation and many Hebrew idioms have more than one meaning! It takes time to do early language studies, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and probably the best version we have today is the KJV. A lot of men paid with their lives to have it assembled and printed!

 It has been my experience that God brings us to the Bible version we need at exactly the right time! When we are ready to expand our mind to different concepts, it seems He brings us to the versions we need to understand what He is showing us. It’s important to remember, we look at the Words of the Bibles we are reading through the filter of the knowledge we have at the time.

 The WORD says when you ask for wisdom & knowledge... ask for understanding. So, there are times, when one version just doesn't help get the point across. Sometimes we need to do research... using a concordance and other reference books, history books, other Bible versions to get the context of the portion we are reading in relation to the time it was written and the time we are living. God speaks to us in many ways, but we can only know Him through our relationship with His only begotten Son, Jesus the Messiah. God gave us Jesus and Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit. It is written that the Holy Spirit will give us understanding of the Holy Bible and... without the guidance of Holy Spirit, the Word of God does not make sense. If we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him! HE is Jesus, who actually is The Way, The Truth and The LIFE.

 As we get a better understanding of God's intentions, we ask different questions, just as a child asks simple questions, but more complicated as they grow up in understanding.

I think, there is enough information in most Bible versions... even in the NIV, to give people the basic concepts of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit. This is probably enough to lead them to the point of salvation. But there is so much more! In the book of Proverbs, it is written:

(King James Bible)

Proverbs of Solomon:

Proverbs 25:1,2

 1. These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

2. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

 God really does hide things in His Word to be revealed to those who love Him enough to search it out!

 When I was KJV only... I didn't realize that I had made it "the Law"... I would not listen to or read any other version because I had been deceived by the religious rules of different churches. I thought I now had the only truth with the words written in the King James Version. Sadly, may of the rules of the religious churches I had belonged to did not line up with the written word of the KJV. I wanted to know the TRUTH! 

 I wanted to know the truth because I was tired of being lied to or led astray by a wrong interpretation. I thought the KJV would be that TRUTH. But I was making it a "letter of the law" to live by and putting it above the real TRUTH, WAY & LIFE... who is JESUS! I was not baptized in the Holy Spirit early on in my life. I guess that is why I thought I needed to live by the law of the word! Without realizing it, I had become as religious as the religious rulers I was trying to get away from!

The BIBLE says the letter of the law kills, but the SPIRIT gives life.

Where the Spirit is there is freedom! We have the freedom to love and with the help of our GOD, to live our lives in peace, joy and grace... no matter what is going in the world during our time here on this present earth! What an amazing gift we have been given... the freedom to choose eternal life with our Father GOD through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus!

If you do not know about Jesus and what He did. You can read about Him in the book of John. The book of Hebrews is another excellent portray of what Jesus did.  The Passion Bible is a good easy to read way to start learning about Jesus. The numerous footnotes are especially helpful. There are other versions that are easy to read... even the King James Version isn’t too difficult, once you get over the old-style English! We don’t talk in the words of “Thee & Thou, thy and thine”... our English language has changed and so have the meaning of many words. There is no Bible version translated perfectly by man because not all of the original transcripts have survived intact. However, in recent years, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there is absolute confirmation of some of the books of the Bible. There are hundreds of Bible Versions today.  It is sad that many have taken away and/or added to the Bible in order to copyright that particular version.  

When GOD speaks, stuff happens!  We are instructed by GOD not to add to or to take away from His WORD!  (There is a most severe penalty for doing so). GOD has promised that Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth.  Holy Spirit will show us the way to go. We must trust Him.  It is impossible for GOD to lie. 

We must have the guidance of Holy Spirit to choose which Bible we should begin to read.  It is Holy Spirit that gives the understanding. Every WORD in the Bible was absolutely inspired by GOD and given to His prophets and Apostles to record! Every WORD of GOD is a LIVING WORD.  I sometimes think of my Bible as having layers.... each time I read the WORD; my understanding is enlightened a little more.  Many times, Holy Spirit will tell me to "look up or search out" a single word or even a passage to get a better understanding of what I am reading. 

I will leave you with this:  If you are not sure about GOD, JESUS and HOLY SPIRIT, GOD says to ask Him.  He is more ready to answer your questions than you are to ask.  Sometimes, we don't even know the questions to ask.  In this case... one word will suffice.  HELP!  GOD hears you because HE loves you with an everlasting love... there is no place where HE cannot find you or help you.  

Love and Blessings to All,

Karen