Getting the Message

The other day one of my youth came in for a Bible Study here at the church as I was setting out Bibles for the study.  I wanted to make sure we all were using the same version so as to avoid the confusion we had the previous week.  Anyway, the teen that came in told me that she used the Good News Bible because it was easy to understand and had some cool pictures.  For the next minute or two we discussed her preference and I tried to convince her that she probably needed to find another version.  I wish I had never said what I was thinking.

I have always hated the good news Bible.  I have always thought it was too sterile.  Everything that was messy and confusing and interesting was cleaned up and edited into nice neat phrases in which everything made sense.  It concerns me when I see so many youth  reading "The Message" and "the New Living Translation" and "The Good News Bible." And so, as a dutifully constituted minister to youth I tried to persuade her to read something else.  But, as I thought about our conversation just a few hours later I felt terrible.  If reading the Good News Bible gets her to crack the Scriptures each night, then why would I discourage that?  Shouldn't I be jumping up and down in joy that she even cares enough to crack the Bible?  Then again, I want my kids to realize that the Bible doesn't always present easy answers to easy questions.  It is not a storehouse of facts or proofs for life.  Rarely, if ever, should we be wrenching "10 easy steps" out of its pages.  Sometimes, the Bible presents more questions than it does answers.  I just want my teens to understand how to study and read the Bible intelligently.  I don't want them all to be great little scholars, just informed and intelligent followers of Christ.  So there I was, straddling my desire to challenge my teens intelectually while wanting to applaud any step in the right direction.  Here are some questions.

When do we spur our teens onto greater things?

When do we just applaud baby steps they are taking?

What is a good intelectual standard for our teens, and what it just arrogance?

We should be both educators and exhorters, but which ought to be the greater emphasis?

-Matt

Comments

[R. Mansfield]

I believe your second thoughts were the better ones. To me the important thing is that a person--especially a young person--develops regular Bible reading and study habits. Version wars, especially among high school students, seem especially foolish. Who of us will be reading the same translation in 20 or 30 years that we're reading now? To me the best Bible version is the one that someone is willing to read.

Our of curiosity, I'd be interested to know what you recommended to this young girl instead of her Good News Bible. And after having second thoughts, have you called her to say that the GNB is just fine?

Augustine, as quoted in the preface to the KJV, recommended studying the Bible with versions in parallel. If I as a teacher have a good grasp on the message of the original text as found in the Hebrew or Greek, I can only welcome a variety of translations in our study.

Now you and I might agree that the Messsage (as a paraphrase) is not the best choice as a primary BIble for reading and study. Personally, though, I do find immense value in it as a tool alongside other translations and even as an aid in devotions.

Where you and I might disagree, and you'll have to tell me for sure, is in regard to the other translations you mentioned. You state that you've always hated the Good News Bible. That seems like pretty strong words for a Christian to say about any translation of God's Word.

Can you cite a specific example in which you think the GNB took something that was "messy and confusing and interesting" and transformed it into something "cleaned up and edited into nice neat phrases in which everything made sense"? And is there something wrong with the idea of making something less messy and confusing?

And regarding your last statements, do you think that using the GNB or the NLT will keep your students from delving into "greater things," and going beyond "baby steps"? Can a good intellectual standard not be found with the GNB and the NLT? Have you researched the actual scholarship behind these translations?

Just some food for thought, brother.

[Al Johnson]

Matt, I think you may be confusing conceptual content of the Bible with linguistic content that communicates it to us.

Yes, the conceptual content is often messy and confusing. But the original biblical language texts were not written in messy language. They were written in language whose syntax and semantics were intended to be understood. The matter of conceptual messiness is one for Bible teachers to deal with, to help young people and others better understand the ideas that are difficult.

The most difficult ideas in the world can be expressed in ordinary good quality grammatical language. Bibles do not need to be written in messy, obscure, unnatural English in order to let people know that the ideas that are translated are complex, sometimes messy.

I applaud the Good News Bible for its use of good quality, grammatical English. I decry the poor quality English in most other English versions.

As one of my Bible translation training mentors said, "Let's not blame the Holy Spirit for the mistakes we make in translation." Similarly, let's not blame translations of the Bible for messiness of ideas in the Bible. Let's give people good quality, standard English in translations. Then when they come upon difficult concepts, such as election, eschatology, divine sovereignty vs. free will, etc., we can work with them. We can do so using good quality contemporary English, the kind of English you and I use every day, the kind of English you used in your post.

[Nate]

Matt, as a person working in the field, I share your concern over which translation to use. This is a practical matter, besides the fact that we often make the decision about what to buy for our sunday school classes and pews, parents often times pick our brains about where to head.
My initial reaction is that the NRSV is preferable. Why? Because it was what was assigned to me in seminary and I trust those people a great deal. Now, does that make the Message, NLT, or GNB trash? Heck no. Use them all the time - devotionally and in worship.
However, I would posit that these versions might be better used as a supplement to one's study of a NRSV or NIV translation where, seemingly, the priority was - "let's stay as true as we can to the Biblical text"...rather than "let's get the gist of this". In the end, it would be a tragedy to dampen the riches of the text and the nuance of the languages because we care only for 'the gist'.

[Jason]

OK...
Matt, I feel your pain and I agree with you 100%. If I saw one of my youth eating a burger from McDonalds and I could offer them a burger with better quality (like that's hard) and a closer resemblance to actual beef... I would definitely want them to make the switch. The fact of the matter is this, there are below-par versions of the Bible and not everything that our consumer-saturated, Christian-marketing culture produces is worth the paper its printed on. We don't need yet another devotional bible with crappy commentary or an updated version with the most recent slang. Others might find these useful, or easier to read, but I feel that they are distracting. (BTW, the NIV has an eighth grade reading level). The truth is, nevertheless, you probably shouldn't have got into it with her, even though I would have and have have done the same! ;) Perhaps down the road, you could give her another version that's a bit more accurate as a gift. The NIV would accomplish what Johnson was talking about, without sacrificing the content... but I know you know that already, so I won't belabor my point. (And just so the rest of you know, Matt can read both Hebrew and Greek… he’s not just picking and choosing randomly... I thought that I would clarify that, because I knew you wouldn't Matt) ;)

And Mansfield, just for the record, the tone of your comment has a twinge of condescension, particularly since you don't have any conception of Matt's education, experience, or training in theology, Biblical studies, or ministry. You took a great example from a theologically minded youth minister and bastardized it from the clear intent of the post. He was admitting that he thought he could have handled something better, and you took that as permission to take a bit of a dig at him. Not so cool.
J

[R. Mansfield]

Jason, blog comments on the internet can be a tricky thing because tone and voice can be misunderstood, and frankly, I feel you've misread me.

If I came across as condescending, it was not my intention, but I ask his and your forgiveness for any miscommunication on my part, nonetheless.

I was merely responding to his post. However, I am willing to lay my cards out on the table. I believe there is a great amount of significant scholarship behind both the GNB and the NLT. And I admit that it bothered me that they would be dismissed so easily. But rather than attack that directly, I felt it would be better to probe Matt's statements and see if he could add clarity to what he had already written. If that came across as offensive or condescending, again my apologies, but I didn't mean it that way. I was not trying to take a dig at him.

You are right though--I don't know Matt's education, training, etc. as this blog is fairly anonymous in nature.

Peace to you all.

Rick

[Matt]

I am not even going to respond to the first two comments. Enough had been said. Suffice it to say that my intention was not to get into a discussion of biblical translations with would be scholars. Rather, I wanted to talk about youth. Thanks for adding something pertinent Nate. Let me say, that I was indeed wrong to have commented the way I did toward the teenager regarding her Bible. But, from a scholarly perspective, I believe I am on solid ground in saying that the Good News Bible is drivel.
I think supplementel devotional reading of the Message is probably the best route, while teaching kids to study their Bibles properly in another version such as the NIV,TNIV, or NRSV. I think my post was mainly a word of caution to us all to be careful not to put out some fires too quickly. They may just be the work of the Spirit in an area we would not have expected or approved of. I think that is what I have gathered from this experience.--Matt