Which Bible Do You Trust, and Why?

[3rdrockfrmsun]

I think the method used to study difficult passages is important as is not demanding answers on your timetable.  I have posted a small thread on those topics in this subforum called "Prayer and the Most Important Commandment." 

The point was that many ancient traditions held the solar plexus to be the seat of the soul so Matthew 22:36-40 may have been intended to be taken as an instruction on where your attention should be during prayer.  Matthew 6: 7-8 may have been an instruction on not simply thinking with your mind about what you would like God to do for you.

Perhaps prayer should be more like meditation than shouting requests at the sky.

I really like the way you put that — especially about not demanding answers on our timetable. That’s something I’ve had to relearn more than once. It’s easy to treat prayer like a request form instead of a relationship.
Your point about Matthew 22:36–40 being tied to the seat of the soul is fascinating. I’ve never thought of the “heart, soul, and mind” as literal focal points before, but it makes a lot of sense when you consider how much early belief systems connected the physical with the spiritual. That idea of centering the soul in the solar plexus reminds me of how some traditions talk about prayer as aligning your inner being rather than just speaking words.
And I completely agree that Matthew 6:7–8 sounds more like a call to quiet awareness than to repetitive speech. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask” — that line alone almost invites stillness.
It makes me wonder if Jesus was teaching a kind of meditative focus long before we had the modern language for it — tuning your attention inward, where the Spirit dwells, instead of outward toward what you want changed.

[rickymouse]

I recommend reading the whole book because there is some horrific stuff in it, people are horrible 
history is horrible, the bible isn’t meant to be pretty it records failures and faults don’t repeat that horror, it’s easy to fall into

The old testament seems to warn about the way things go wrong if the people ignore common sense and get greedy or try to show off their belongings which attracts thieves and greedy kingdoms to take what they have accumulated.  

I can relate the things in the old testament to what I have personally seen happening today.  People get a good job and then go out and buy things they do not need just to show they are rich...their attitude changes and the people where they work are intimidated by them and they do not help them advance in their jobs anymore.  Keeping up with the Jones's is not a good thing, borrowing money in the bible makes you a slave of the lender...as it still is today, credit cards are making people spend more a lot of times, so are those bank cards tackjed to overdraft loans.  Most people are not in debt because of their needs, their wants usually put them into severe debt like over half of Americans are in.

Slavery still exists today in America, but people don't realize it is just a different version than it used to be.  Declaring bankruptcy in America is a lot less beneficial these days, they have put safeguards in to protect the lenders now, non secured credit can lead to a lean on your property and lawsuits to take money from your employer or bank accounts.  If you get sued for defaulting on a loan, they can go after your inheritance when you inherit something later too.

[FlyersFan]

 Jesus never name-drops Enoch directly, but there’s a ton of overlap in what He says and what’s written in 1 Enoch.

which is a problem.
because Enoch never existed.
The book was written 300 BC.
It's made up.

It's a problem because Jesus is supposed to be God according to the New Testament and if He was influenced by the Book of Enoch, which is fake, then it's a problem for the 'Jesus is God' preaching in the New Testament.   OR ... The Book of Enoch is a total fake but, like most fakes, it manages to get something right and Jesus is really God and He wasn't influenced by the Book of Enoch, but the Book just happened to get a couple of things right.

[3rdrockfrmsun]

which is a problem.
because Enoch never existed.
The book was written 300 BC.
It's made up.

It's a problem because Jesus is supposed to be God according to the New Testament and if He was influenced by the Book of Enoch, which is fake, then it's a problem for the 'Jesus is God' preaching in the New Testament.   OR ... The Book of Enoch is a total fake but, like most fakes, it manages to get something right and Jesus is really God and He wasn't influenced by the Book of Enoch, but the Book just happened to get a couple of things right.

I see where you’re coming from, and that’s actually what makes this whole topic so interesting to me. Whether or not Enoch “existed” in the literal sense, the book itself was already circulating in the few centuries leading up to Christ — which means it was part of the worldview of the people around Him. The same way we don’t have to believe in every Greek myth to understand how it shaped the culture, it’s possible Enoch shaped the spiritual vocabulary of His time.
So, if Jesus echoed Enochic themes, that doesn’t necessarily mean He was “influenced” by a fake book — it could mean He was speaking in the language and symbols His audience already understood. Just like He used parables, or Old Testament imagery, He could also be referring to familiar ideas from that wider tradition to reveal a deeper truth.
Also, calling Enoch a “fake” kind of misses that the book wasn’t pretending to be Scripture in the modern sense. It was apocalyptic literature — full of vision and symbolism — and it carried enough weight that Jude quoted it directly. Whether it’s historically literal or not, the message it carries about judgment, righteousness, and divine order fits seamlessly with what Jesus taught.
So maybe instead of seeing it as a problem, it’s just another example of how God can use even imperfect human writings to point toward truth.

[Bootless]

NIV makes "strange choices" at times. Consider Matthew 5:44:

KJV: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

NIV: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

This comes down to the particular Greek source text used.¹ You'll have to decide for yourself which one you trust most. This is why I think it's important to be able to compare different translations, and refer to the source texts (especially the Textus Receptus).


¹ https://biblehub.com/texts/matthew/5-44.htm

Yes, but, my NIV has footnote "d44  Some late manuscripts enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you."

I used to have the 1963 25th edition of Nestle–Aland Novum Testamentum Græce. But I sold it in 1993 once I realized that I wasn't in fact going to learn Greek with any proficiency. But for the longest time I had an interlinear Tischendorf. I don't remember when or where I lost that.

I don't much care for Textus Receptus because Erasmus himself admits to additions based on pressure from other people.

Because World English Bible uses the Byzantine Majority Text (MT) as the primary basis for the New Testament, you may notice the following differences in comparing the WEB to other translations:
...
1 John 5:7-8 contains an addition in some translations, including the KJV. Erasmus admitted adding this text to his published Greek New Testament, even though he could at first find no Greek manuscript support for it, because he was being pressured by men to do so, and because he didn’t see any doctrinal harm in it.

Preface to the World English Bible

[BeTheGoddess]

I recommend reading the whole book because there is some horrific stuff in it, people are horrible 
history is horrible, the bible isn’t meant to be pretty it records failures and faults don’t repeat that horror, it’s easy to fall into

FF is a conservative Christian who already stated in the thread she wasnt into Gnosticism, and the Naj Hamadi, she doesnt need that. I have read the whole book and would recommenced it to someone interested in the gnostic gospels, not someone who had already stated its not their cup of tea.

 Not all books are for all people. Its why we have librarys.

[Solvedit]

It makes me wonder if Jesus was teaching a kind of meditative focus long before we had the modern language for it — tuning your attention inward, where the Spirit dwells, instead of outward toward what you want changed.

In some languages, Abraham's name is pronounced Abra-OM-as.  As in abra Om.  (All the male nouns get an -as or -is or -us.)

[argentus]

I have a Gideon Bible which I 'acquired' 50 or so years ago;  at the time, I thought I pinched it, without realizing it was free.   Which, of course, once I discovered my error, presented a whole, twisted moral conundrum.  

The Gideon Bible is the King James Version with a different label.   Gideons International wanted credit for distributing free Bibles and that credit was well deserved.  

  I also have the KJV of the Holy Bible on my Kindle, and the Kindle ap on my phone.   It comes in handy.

ETA:  To answer the OP question, I trust them all.   When you think of how it was written mostly in Hebrew and Aramaic, then translated in part to Greek, and through various strains to all the other current languages, I have to believe all the little nuances, while important, dont make a lot of differences between the various versions -- at least those printed in English.  

I have had occasion to research various phrases and terms in the original Hebrew and thought that I'd arrived at a different meaning than that of the conventional Bible.

[UltraBudgie]

I have a Gideon Bible which I 'acquired' 50 or so years ago;  at the time, I thought I pinched it, without realizing it was free.   Which, of course, once I discovered my error, presented a whole, twisted moral conundrum.  

Ha! I did that with The Book of Mormon. Grabbed it from a hotel room in Utah.

Now, did I steal it or not?

[argentus]

Ha! I did that with The Book of Mormon. Grabbed it from a hotel room in Utah.

Now, did I steal it or not?

Yes, you stole it.    It was not complimentary.   

I also stole the Gideon Bible, until the point where I discovered that it was free.   Even then, it was stolen. at least in my heart.