I see that I finally have been getting some comments on my blog. A question for anybody who knows, how did we get the TR and why is the TR so good? I'm still researching the KJV.
Also, is a side hug with a girl wrong?
Anyway, more on my life. We have a new guy at work now, he said that he's a preacher at a Baptist church outside the city. I've never known a preacher who worked a regular job. Is it wrong for a preacher to work a regular job? Shouldn't he be visiting church members and studying the Bible and that sort of thing?
Shelby and I are going to Chile's tomorrow night. And then there's a church activity. And Saturday there's going to be a car wash for the youth group to go on some sort of missions trip to New Mexico, so Shelby is making me go to that. I was hoping to do some reading on Saturday morning.
4 comments:
Once again, I would suggest reading your Bible carefully and asking the Lord these questions.
The Apostle Paul had a job. He was a tent-maker so he wouldn't have to be a burden to those he ministered to. Many small congregations cannot afford to pay a pastor's salary, but praise the Lord for men who are willing to sacrifice their time to work to provide for their family and to study to feed the flock at their church.
And about a "side hug" with a girl. Well, believe it or not, the Bible doesn't say much about guys touching girls. What it DOES say is that to lust after a girl is to commit adultery. It also says that we shouldn't make someone want something sexual that they can't have. So, for some people, they can hug guys or girls and it's fine. But if it makes you lustful, than it's sinful for you.
Be careful about touching. There's nothing wrong with it, but be careful to guard your HEART and MIND from sin, or it will result in sinful actions. You don't want to regret someday that you went beyond God's boundaries.
As you read the Bible for yourself, you begin to see something: God isn't as concerned with outward behavior as He is concerned with INWARD behavior. You'll see this especially in Matthew 5-7. The 10 commandments say don't commit adultery, but Jesus said don't even lust. The 10 commandments say don't kill, but Jesus said don't even hate.
"Mark,"
For being an adult son (I'm assuming you are a legal adult) of an IFB pastor, I'm actually surprised you've not been exposed to a bit more than you have been. (your comments about a pastor working, for example...you've never heard of that before???...really?)
Many pastors of small churches also work another job. While it is more difficult, it does keep them "feeling for" the constrains of time of the people in their church and they do meet many people that way. Usually their ministry suffers in some ways, but many times the people of the church can share in the ministry of visiting, etc. (at least ideally!)
As to all the other things you've been taught...just check out the Bible. And, for a real shock, try reading the NIV or NASB for a while. (if it feels heretical, buy one with 4 different translations in it, like the one I have which has the NIV, Amplified, NASB and KJV...that way you can always revert back to the comfortable, KJV and compare.)
You may realize that some of the claims about the other translations taking out the deity of Christ, etc. are pretty much exaggerations.
One other thing that might help you is to take up the study of another language. Master it. Then, try translating from English to that language and the other way around. See how hard it is, and see how you really can't do a "word for word" translation from one language to another and have it make complete sense or real nicely. There has to be at least "some" interpretation and smoothing out of the words or they are senseless.
I remember the first time I could translate every word and yet not understand what someone said in the language where I currently live (we're missionaries). It was distressing and gave me great compassion for translators of the Bible.
Keep studying. Don't throw the "baby out with the bathwater" as you study and grow and become a thinker. Your parents may have really good reasons for their standards. Consider them, decide for yourself. Honor your parents even if you disagree with them. You can disagree without being disgreeable.
You don't have to be confrontational with your parents as you change and expose yourself to "other worlds". It is okay to question things. Don't become a skeptic, but become a reader.
Keep learning. It is time to grow up. Read the internet. Try www.sharperiron.org for some good discussions from a fundamental viewpoint, but with many people of various viewpoints.
hey man,
in a nutshell, the answer to your question about how we got the TR is: a priest named Desiderius Erasmus complieda few Greek manuscripts (some say as few as 6 and as much as 12 - either way, a very small number) and created a standard Greek text. (a text is like a one-volume edition of the entire NT canon, something that hadn't truly existed before in Greek) The manuscripts he used were from the Byzantine text type (there are a a few of these, usually named for the region in which they were discovered - byzatine, alexandrian, western, and caesarian). The Byzantine contains the majority amount of Greek manuscripts. Because of this, the Byzatine is sometimes referred to as the Traditional text or the Majority text family. It is this family from which Erasmus compiled his Greek text. Several editions were made, as well as subsequent ones made by others like Theordore Beza, Robert Stephenus, and the Elzivar brothers. The KJV translators used mainly Beza's edition, but not entirely, so that a Greek TR was actually backtranslated from the KJV, by Scriviner, into what the Trinitarian Bible Society now publishes as the "Textus Receptus", the term for this text first given in 1633.
The reason it is viewed as "so good" is that it came from the family of texts which provide the majority of extant manuscripts. Proponents of the KJVO theory say that means 95% plus of the manuscript evidence attest to the Textus Receptus.
Of course, there are other considerations, and this is why we have this debate. The TR contains some minority readings as well. When the TR contains a minority reading, this means only a minority of manuscripts support a particular verse. The support is usually late - meaning it comes from manuscripts in later centuries. Also, the TR contains conjectural emendations - emendments of the text based on conjecture. Look at the history of Rev 16:5 to see what I'm talking about. Finally, the majority is not always right, is it? Besides, the TR differs from the majority text (an actually text from the byzatine that basically includes only majority readings) in 1,800+ places. It also has been propsed that the Byzatine didn't become the majority until the 9th century.
A rather large nutshell...but a nutshell nonetheless. Hope it helps.
Mark, the issues you describe are more common in a branch of the IFB movement called by some "the IFBx movement", with the x standing for extreme. Folks in that movement have certain characteristics that are not present in the rest of the IFB movement. Three of those characteristics are exclusive use of the KJV (known as KJV Onlyism, KJVO or Onlyism), a heavy emphasis on door-to-door confrontational soulwinning and very strict dress codes.
I discovered you blog through a thread on sharperiron, where someone linked to your blog. The thread is at http://www.sharperiron.org/showthread.php?t=7848&page=1&pp=7
I think you'll find that thread touches on a lot of the issues you see in your father's church.
By the way, I see you haven't posted in over a month. Anything more you want to share?
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