GreekTim, I do not believe that you consider yourself to be superior due to your knowledge of the Greek, but let me ask you this. Do you believe that a person can have complete understanding of the NT without knowing Biblical Greek? If your answer is "no", then one who does know Greek would have to be considered superior (in Biblical understanding). If your answer is "yes", then you have a conflict with your own statements in the other thread.

First of all I don't believe anyone can have a complete understanding of the NT. No one can fully fathom the mind of God. I think the most understanding one can have of the NT depends on the depth of their study. The deeper they dig (that means past the translation and into the original language) then the more they will know. And the more questions they will have. And the more issues they will have to deal with. So to answer your question, there is a limitation to knowledge when the original languages cannot be tapped as a resource. But that is mainly b/c English could never comminicate all the nuances of the original languages in a translation. You either avoid them altogether or you trust someone elses knowledge of the language for your study. But if the second is true, then it is admitted that original languages give you more depth.

Therefore, I would say superior yes in Bible knowledge depth (to the extent that I am correct of course) but not in spirituality. I am assuming I am the youngest in here and probably do not have the same amount of Scripture memorized as my older brethren. Therefore in that way you are superior to me in BIble knowledge. Some people know Greek and use it incorrectly. Some know enough Greek to be dangerous. That would not be superior. But that fact of superiority in BIble knowledge is apparent. Pastors are superior to their congregation in that they have more BIble knowledge. Sunday School teachers are superior to their students (hopefully) in their BIble knowledge. Obviously some know more than others. Even the BIble speaks of milk and meat in reference to the Bible. I think the word superior connotes something negative when applied to a person.

This is one of those discussions that I feel like the more I say, the more I am disliked.

First and foremost, I do not dislike you. In fact, I think that this is a very worthy discussion. You are not only polite and respectful of others who are fiercely challenging you, but you do have sincerity in your intentions. Now if we can just convince you to join us, everything will be great.

Next, "superior" does often have a negative connotation, and would be best left out of the conversation, but the thought is still perceived sometimes. Such is the weakness of English. Perhaps conversing in Greek would be clearer. I'M JOKING!

I did make a poor choice of wording when I said "complete understanding". I agree that this is as impossible as sinless perfection for a Christian. We should strive for it, all the time knowing that the goal is not completely attainable.

The general idea is still the same, and I think that you may have answered my intended question. Correct me if I am still mistaken, but it does appear that you believe that one is restricting himself from knowing as much as he could if he lacks a sufficient level of skill in the original languages.

Please note your statement underlined below. I have included the larger segment for context.

Based on your explanation of your username, I am assuming that you are not a native Greek or that you have not been transported from the NT era to here. Therefore, you must be relying on "someone else's knowledge of the language for your study". By the way, so am I. I am relying on the skills that the KJB translators had of the ancient languages, not just Hebrew and Greek, but many others as well. If we were to stop at this point, I think that evidence abounds that these men far outshined any scholars or reference material of today. However, my reliance goes beyond their human skills to believe that God supernaturally directed the use of those skills to preserve in English the exact meaning that best portrays the intent of the original word(s).

As far as the being-more-disliked part goes, you might want to keep a little space between you and "Mongol". He does bite. There was a copyist error and his name is really "Mongrel", so watch out.

I ' M - J O K I N G - A G A I N ! ! ! Just a little preservationist humor.

I do love you, James and Tim. My fleshly satire jumped out onto the keyboard, and I couldn't stop it in time.

Brother Kenny I apologize for taking so long to respond to this question. Let me list them for you:

Wycliffe Bible (NT 1380, entire Bible 1382)
Tyndale Bible (NT 1526, OT portions 1534)
Coverdale Bible (1535)
Great Bible (1539)
Geneva Bible (1560)
Bishop's Bible (1568)
King James Bible (1611)

There is another work that has not been included as a "major" translation. That is the so-called Matthew Bible of 1537. However it is not included as a major translation due to the fact it was a continuation of Tyndale's Bible and only included portions of the OT.

There is a book available titled, "Purified Seven Times," written by Bill Bradley. It is a marvelous expose' of the journey of the English Bible. I am not certain where you can purchase it but I am certain that if you did a google search using the title as the search criteria you can find a copy of it. I highly recommend it.

In Christ,
George

This is not unnatural. I don't know of anyone that does not feel disliked when people greatly disagree with each other. It is just not true. We love you, we're just trying to show you why we believe what we believe.