God’s Call to the “Unqualified”

Today I had lunch with a good friend who has been called with his wife to an evangelistic ministry reaching out to third-world students attending college. What a beautiful fruitful ministry. They have seen our Lord use them to bring many to Christ. It is common to find my friend and his wife sitting in …

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The Bible Translator’s Dilemma #1: Pursue or Practice Hospitality?

Since this the first of a series of articles, let me explain. The “Translator’s Dilemma” is that he is constantly faced with dilemmas that seem to have no adequate solution. Now a dilemma is a situation in which a choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally (or almost equally) undesirable …

How to Make the Bible Appealing to Millennials

Millennials were born in the early 1980s through the mid-1990s to early 2000s. The generation is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies. They have been educated in the world of modern formats. They read differently than previous generations, seeking information in short bites. This is due to the pace …

Who Owns the Bible?

A funny question when you put it this way: “Who owns God’s Word?” Kind of reminds me of the question we used to ask people in New York City: “Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb.” The obvious hides itself in strange ways. So who does own God’s word? Hmm. We must ask the boss, the U.S. …

How Many People Does it Take to Translate the Bible? (The Answer May Surprise You!)

This is a question I had to ask myself when I started The Readable Bible project. Is it better, or even necessary, to have many translators? Will Christians accept a one-person translation? Common patterns would seem to indicate that a committee is necessary. But the history of English Bible translation seems to indicate otherwise. There are …

How Do You Create a New Bible Translation?

By Rod Laughlin. When it became clear that I would have to create a new translation in order to produce a Bible in modern formats, I was astounded, shocked, set-back, unhappy and stymied. How dare I even think of such a thing? It was like a poor man saying he was going to build a …

Why We Need a New Bible Version

By Rod Laughlin. When I first began working towards developing a Bible in modern formats, I wondered which translation to use. Easy to ask but difficult to answer. Of course, I wanted to use an accepted translation. So which of the “big five” do I choose? New International Version New Living Translation New King James …