I should rephrase my statement. I don’t mind a church having one version for use in its ministries, but it seems a tension arises when you invite someone in who uses a different conservative version. I think there should be flexibility for guest speakers to some extent, because we don’t believe in an ‘onlyist’ position.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

Well, we are sort of getting off track overall. I realize that we have mainly been discussing the board policy, but that’s not really what I was wondering about to start this off. Maybe I should have left the board angle out of it entirely.

It does seem to me that if we adopt an ‘onlyist’ position for a modern version, we are committing a similar error to the ‘onlyist’ error for the old version.

On the technology front, I wonder how easy it would be to have notes and Bible open at the same time on an iPad? But that is another discussion, I am sure.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I use only my iPhone as my Bible now, and I have a good deal more than 5 translations available, including a couple in German, cross-references, a complete Strong’s with lexicons that works with the text, several commentaries, note taking and highlighting abilities, etc. Plus, I have the ability to use the history to swap back and forth with multiple texts while the speaker is preaching, etc. I even have a good number of the Bible maps. About the only thing I don’t have on the iPhone is my 1611 reprint. And the good thing is, I always have my phone (and consequently, the scriptures) with me, unlike the print Bible which I now haven’t carried to church in about 2 years.

Now if I were going to speak from it, I’d probably want an iPad for the larger text sizes that would be available — I’m getting old enough to notice the effect of age on my eyes.

Back to the topic at hand, I think mission boards should give the latitude to use any good translation if the church being presented to requires it. The church is the organization with the real NT authority, not the other way around.

Sheesh! A Mac product? Then I would truly be going over to the dark side!

Seriously, though, I have it on my wish list. Hadn’t thought of using it for a Bible, but have thought of putting my notes on it. Save on printing, etc. (And on storing all my printed sermons… can’t throw anything away.)

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

I think you are right, but I have a huge problem preaching from most modern printings because of paragraph format. When I say, “Look at verse X”, if it is in paragraph format, it is hopeless to find it at a glance. And I can’t imagine a missionary carrying around four or five Bibles just to fit in with every church he might come across.

Ok, I really need to beat it. I am heading for the office but have been messing with a computer/phone/syncing issue and have given it all the time I can give it today. So… any further posts will be delayed until later in the day when I get home to approve them.

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

If a church uses a particular translation normally, but they don’t have a policy about it per se, then I would think they would have no problem with the missionary using the version he is most comfortable with. If they do have a policy, then the missionary should submit himself to that when he speaks there or not go there for support.

FWIW, I would think a missionary would normally want to respect the normal practice of the church he is speaking at even if there is not a hard and fast rule. So, if they normally use the ESV, then he should preach from the ESV to better serve that church (after all, isn’t he there to serve the church, not himself?)

Ok, one more question for you. What about the missionary himself? How does the sending church have this kind of authority? I realize they can withhold funds, but if one’s support is from a whole host of churches, what will that matter?

We once had a fellow visit our services and ask about my use of the KJV. I explained that at the moment we use the KJV mostly out of tradition and for uniformity reasons (consistency with Sunday School materials, etc). I said that we might switch to another conservative version at some point, but not now. He asked me who would make that decision. I hadn’t ever really thought about it and said, “I guess I do.” Probably that answer isn’t exactly correct, because I wouldn’t make the decision unilaterally without our mission church being fully on board with the change. But of course, I am the person with the most input in the teaching times, so I would have a huge amount of influence on any decision like this.

In the end, it seems to me that it comes down to a question often asked at ordinations (and was asked at mine): “What will you do if we decide not to ordain you?” My reply was that I would prayerfully consider their rebuke and advice, but that I believed the Lord was putting me in the ministry and I’d find someone else to grant the ordination eventually. I think that is the usually expected answer (although I didn’t expect the question at the time). In any case, they bought it and ordained me. A lot of those men had some differences with me, but they still felt I exhibited the calling, training, desire, etc. required.

So I say all that to say this: surely the preacher himself has some say in what version he would preach from. I wouldn’t want to cause problems for another local church, but if they were an NASB church, I wouldn’t think it problematic for me to preach out of the KJV because that is what I have always used. And I think the vice versa should also be true, but that is where the rub comes in, eh?

Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3

The same would be true for any other translation–if a church dictated that a missionary could only use the NASB when preaching at other churches, they would either be de facto denying the validity of other translations or would not be thinking clearly at all.

It’s one thing for a church to decide that they will only use a particular translation at their church (whether for preference, conviction, consistency, etc.). Once they extend that outside of their own church, they are now communicating something entirely different about their stance on that issue.