Making The Bible Hip
A year or so ago, I was given a book ’The Message‘ from some guy on the street. As I thought it was just a book inviting me to his church, I paid it no mind for some time. When I did decide to read it, I was mildly surprised to see it was actually a modern-day translation of The Bible.
Now being old school, I initially thought it was blasphemous to make The Bible hip. How dare they! As I continue to read, I found myself actually having an easier time being in The Word. The translation made it more readable. More hip so to speak.
You may be thinking, It is blasphemous! The Bible is God’s word and does not need to be hip! Some things could get lost in translation. I do see your point but then I ask, Is there an original Bible out there? I have lost count of how many translations are there so what difference is one more? I am sorry but with the way our youths are going, I can’t see them being excited to sit down and read a book written in old English. If one is not spiritually ready, The Bible can be hard to stay focus on. The ‘Thee, Thou, Art etc can be a turn off. So how refreshing is it to read it with a modern twist? ‘Where art thou? My soul longeth for thee’ just doesn’t capture the reader as ’Where are you? I really need you’. Same meaning just more appealing to the reader.
I am not pushing any denomination here. God and him alone is my denomination. I just think that The Message really does a good job of making The Bible more appealing to younger readers (and not so younger readers) with its use of every day lingo. As long as the real message is not lost or tainted in any way, I’m all for it.
Just my take.
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Good point. I think there is a difference between trying to conform the words to modern sensibilities (ie making it hip) and simply translating it to make it more accessible. Im a big fan of following the evolution of language. Even the King James Bible had certain liberties taken to make it more poetic.
Totally agree! Thanks for the comment.