Danny ChaiFor our accountability groups at church, we read 25-30 chapters of Scripture a week (well, we’re supposed to, but honestly, my group’s assignment is more typically between 20 and 25 chapters). For a short book (or series of books), we read it multiple times during that week. If one or more group members don’t finish the week’s reading, we do it again the next week. So there ends up being a lot of repetitive reading.
I’d go crazy if I read the same translation over and over again, so I went ahead and bought an ESV bible and The Message 2.0 Remix (I kid you not, that is the name of the bible I have. 2.0 Remix. Absurd).
I’ll be honest, I was kind of against the ESV hype, just because the people that were most enthused about it seemed to be the same ones who previously championed the NASB, and for the same reason: faithfulness to the original source. KCPC was big on the NASB in college because of that. What they don’t tell you about the NASB is that it’s wholly unreadable. That’s my opinion at least. It may be faithful, but it’s awkward, stilted, and boring, and it makes Scripture reading feel like study and work, not a joy, which seems to kind of miss the point. I’d rather have a translation that’s less accurate but that I want to read, than a super accurate one that feels like work whenever I read it.
So I held out against the ESV because when everyone praised its accuracy, I had bad flashbacks of NASB. But it’s actually OK, much more readable, I think.
The Message I don’t get at all, why it’s so popular. His bio says he’s a poet, but I don’t know, almost all the colloquialisms he uses sound cheesy to me, like how a 60 year old would think the hip young cats talk nowadays. It frequently makes me roll my eyes.
That said, we’re currently reading Romans, and The Message’s translation of it is awesome. It totally deviates from the strict text, just goes completely buck wild, but it’s incredibly thought-provoking and inspiring. Which is a pretty amazing feat; Romans is dry, almost legal stuff. But the Message’s translation inspires me, makes me want to write songs, and have faith that God is working in me even when I’m most discouraged about who I am, which happens a lot. Good stuff.
Just wanted to share that since no one cares.