Two tools to have (part I)

I believe that the Christian's toolbox should be well stocked with a number of resources to help him more completely understand God's revelation to man. I'd like to discuss two that I believe are essential, two that I would like to see all of my parishioners have and use.

Now I know that not all will agree, that many will rank others as more essential and that a big row could ensue, so let me say this: I'll give a little ground on my second choice here, but as for the first I'm digging my heals in. I believe that strongly, and I believe it is that important!

The first essential tool: the best translation of Holy Scriptures available in your native tongue. For us that would be English and the best English Bible available to us would be the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Updated version (a.k.a. NASB, NAS, NASB-U, NAS95).

Why the NASB? It uses the "word-for-word" translation philosophy. This translation style attempts to take each word in the original languages and translate them directly into English. This is as opposed to the "thought-for-thought" philosophy which attempts to translate longer sentence blocks into English. Now it must be noted that no translation can be completely/exactly word-for-word for the obvious reason that Hebrew & Greek are not English! Not even close. Therefore even a word-for-word will have to use a little thought for thought to get the job done. Another benefit to the NASB is the wealth of ancient manuscripts that the translators had at their disposal as well as the advancements in scholarship re: the ancient languages.
Now these two reasons are very technical and I'm not even coming close to doing them justice. The truth is I've read the arguments and become convinced, but I'm just not sharp enough to reiterate them fully.

What I can attest to though is a few personal experiences that have convinced me that the NASB is best for us. One thing I've run into many times in sermons and books is that the preacher/author will be using another translation (usually KJV), and he will pause to explain a word or phrase and say something along the lines of "This is not a good translation. A better way to say this... or a better choice of word would be..." and then he goes on to give his choice of translation. This choice, more times then not, is identical to the choice made by the NASB translators! Another plus for the NASB95 is readability. The original version of the NASB was often criticized as being "woodenly literal" and hard to read. It's true that the NASB does not flow like others, it doesn't have the smooth rise and fall of poetic literature; and it is not written at the Junior High school level. With the Update the translators put more effort into the flow, the sound of their work while keeping it as literal as possible. What we now have is a Bible translation that can be read and understood while at the same time trusted! It is still written at a High School level, but is that so bad? We are so lazy and desirous of having all of our information spoon-fed to us, that we recoil in fear at the idea of working to understand what we are reading. The NASB is understandable, but one might have to work a little too; and this is a good thing! This is the most accurate English translation of the Bible. Do we wish to trade accuracy for ease? No!! No! No. So if you're not familiar with the NASB follow the link to the left and get yourself one. It can only help.

The second essential tool: an electronic Bible study program. And my choice for this would be the E-sword software available for free (mostly) and linked on the left. In my next post I'll elaborate on why I love and recommend E-sword.