Using Updated English Translations to Study the Bible

The Full Life Study Bible, edited by Don Stamps and Published by Zonervan Publishing Co. has been a great aid to me in my personal devotions and in studying for messages and Bible lessons. Don was a missionary to Brazil for the Assemblies of God denomination.
In China,it has become known as the Fire Bible, because of the picture of fire on the cover. It has been a great help to native pastors around the world because of the extensive notes and references and subject studies that are very true to the scriptures.

It is a great help to anyone who wants a better or clearer understanding of God's word. And remember, it's not deep that we are seeking. It's clear that we seek. However, if you see clearly, you can see deep, too.

Remember, "to study" is to set the table properly with foods that match the needs of those who are going to eat. Prayerful and worshipful "meditation" of the truths studied, in order to internalize, digest, and begin to practice those truths is the eating of the meal. A good explanation of the word "meditate" is "to chew" or "to stew on." The Full Life Study Bible is a great help in this process, as are many others, I.E. the Life Application Bible.

There is not an English Translation that I believe is THE translation, because I don't believe English is THE language that God favors over all other languages.
A group in our corner of God's great vinyard has received a special revelation that the King James Version is the ONLY true version of the Bible and that anyone who uses any other version is reserving for themselves a special corner of hell."After all, if the King James Version was good enough for the Apostles, it is good enough for me." ( I don't know if they say that, but what they do say is about the equivalent of that.)

This is an embarrassing ignorance and arrogance.
Have you ever seen the movie "Popeye" where Robin Williams plays the cartoon sailor and Shelley Duvall plays Olive Oyl, his sweetheart. It is hilarious when you see the town of New Haven, at the beginning of the show and the townspeople walk around singing,"Sweet New Haven, God must love you..." because they think it the most beautiful town on the planet. Their problem is the same as those above. They have never been anywhere to know there are people all over the world that God loves and that many do not speak English, the King's or anyone else's.

The King James Bible is fine, good, a blessing, and if you want to read from it for whatever reason, I'm sure it's fine with God. I know it is fine with me. I suppose I would use it if I knew I was going to speak in a church that used it all the time. This is not a religious point or my preference that I am addressing. I feel that it will lessen your evangelistic effectiveness and your effectiveness in discipling a new generation of young believers in the Body of Christ. I know that it throws unnecessary roadblocks in the path of seekers of Christ and forces teachers to spend time explaining the hearers OWN language to them when the language that they use every day can carry the same thoughts to the hearers if it is employed. And I hate it when you inconvenience the spiritual babes to accomodate the supposedly "spiritually mature." That is wrong, as a principle. Jesus said, "Children are to be given a priority consideration. If you cause one of my little ones to stumble, it would be better for you if a milstone were to be hung around your neck and you were to be dropped into the deepest part of the sea." Now, I don't know about you, but to me it seems that if that would be BETTER, I don't want any part of what he has in mind for those who cause his little ones to stumble. Do you think that he is only referring to the physically young and not the spiritual babes?

By the way, I still thoroughly enjoy the King James Translation of many passages. My heart finds comfort in many of the Psalms and the translations of the Gospels, because I grew up hearing them from my mother and dad and my many teachers.
But I would no more use the King James for general reading in a meeting than I would try to teach the Bible in English without an interpreter, in China.
Outsiders DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
Young people CANNOT stay with you.
And I want them to understand God's thoughts.
If I feel I must use a passage from the King James, I take time to explain it (if necessary,) but it is a rare thing for me to do these days.

All of that to say, I use (and recommend)the New International Version for public meetings and especially for international teaching and speaking. I recommend the Full Life Study Bible in the New International Version.

I also use Peterson's Translation, known as "the Message."

Most recently, I have used the New Living Translation. The people I teach have enjoyed it, also. It is a very clear translation and it is simple enough for children and as Peterson puts it in 1 Peter 5:5, for "just plain people."

I feed on God's Word to grow myself and I study and meditate in His truths to be strong in the face of pressure:

1. From the world,

2. From my body's desires for comfort and pleasure, and

3. From attacks from the the devil.

From the overflow of my personal relationship with God, I share God's Word, rightly divided and personally practiced, with the people that God sends to me.
Later.