My thoughts on the debate as to whether the Mirror Bible is accurate or not: I think the problem here is too much emphasis on a book and not enough emphasis on a living Person that doesnt need a book to communicate His message. Theological quarrels and translation quarrels only happen around our democratically elected 4th person of the trinity (the bible). Sure, the Bible is super important, inspired, and all that other good stuff. But at the end of the day, the message we carry is beyond a book. And at the end of the day, our faith doesnt rest in a book but rather in a Person. Of course the Mirror bible is off and not very accurate in many places. There are some places that Du Toit (whom Ive had the privilege of meeting and highly respect) places greek words into his footnotes that dont even exist in the greek. Of course it cant be taken as solid proof of anything. But neither can any other translation/paraphrase. Thats the very problem with modern Christianity. We are trying to proof text things by pointing to a book written by dudes with various opinions, perspectives, and limited minds, instead of pointing to a Person lived out in our lives. We only revert to proving things from a book when we stop being able to prove things with our life. Yes, we want an accurate translation of the biblical text in order to understand what its original authors were saying, and we do have that: there are many translations that are highly accurate available. We dont need any more of those. We do, however, need more translations/paraphrases that poetically present the message of the gospel in a way that is easily grasped by the heart. We arent trying to spread a book here, we are trying to spread a gospel. The gospel isnt based on a book, its based on a Person. It isnt true because a book tells us its true, its true because our hearts tell us its true. Our solid foundation isnt the Bible, it is Christ in our hearts. And I believe what Francois is doing isnt translating the Bible word for word so much as he is translating the over all message of the Bible in order for it to echo and ring true in mans heart. As long as thats understood then great. And even if that isnt understood then its still great because people are getting the message, which is the point of the book anyway. The point of the book isnt itself, the point of the book is the gospel. I dont discredit Francois wonderful work just because of some errors anymore than I would discredit other paraphrases for their errors. Francois has spent years paraphrasing the text and we should hold it as a treasure even in the midst of some disagreements over his translation process. I understand the next question would be: but if we dont base our beliefs on a book but instead just a Person and a message then how will we be free from error? Thats the problem. Lol. Its not about being right or wrong. Its about knowing Somebody. Yes, theology is hugely important, but having a correct translation hasnt saved anybody from falling into theological error for 2000 years. Just look at the state of Christendom and you can clearly see that despite our many accurate translations there are still 22000 + denominations disagreeing over theology. Sure, we want to stay accurate to the gospel, but the gospel is being understood in far greater ways than even the early church understood it. We are always progressing, always learning, and always finding out more of who God is through the Perfect image of Christ. There are three legs that keep this thing we know as Christianity standing: the bible, tradition, and personal experience. And as long as we are constantly bouncing what we are learning off of the three legs, we will be fine. I know many of us theological types like to have everything provable and backed up with a text or something solid, but unfortunately and fortunately the only solid thing we have to base this thing on isnt a book but rather Christ and Him crucified. Thats foolishness to the greek understanding we currently function out of in the west but its salvation to those who are waking up to who they are in Him. Do I recommend the Mirror Bible? Yes, I recommend both the paraphrase and its author Francois Du Toit. And above that, I highly recommend the message both Francois and the Mirror present. Blessings!
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:47:34 +0000
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