Defining Moments

Grasp the Truth of the Bible

In our pluralistic world, many simply assume that there is a variety of valid “bibles.” They believe that every religion has its bible and one is as legitimate as the other. In the name of tolerance, they say, we should have equal respect for the “scriptures” of all faiths. Some even go so far as to suppose that God is behind all of them; that He simply spoke to different people groups in different ways. There’s a theological term for such thinking: hogwash!


God does not contradict Himself. One proof of that is the Bible, the real Bible, the only Bible. He used 40+ writers on 3 different continents over a period of about 1,400 years to prove that no single human came up with this most amazing of books. No supposed prophet single-handedly interpreted God’s plan for mankind. With the Bible, no sole individual put forth his personal take on God and labeled it “thus saith the Lord.” No power-hungry neurotic (or worse) decided he had finally discovered God’s true will for mankind and then penned our Holy Scriptures. No, instead, God used many people, over a long period of time, from all walks of life and arranged for them to all agree on the most controversial of topics, resulting in our Bible, without contradiction. No other religion can claim that kind of validation for its book. They may have a book, but it’s no Bible, not even close.

By contrast, virtually every other major religion and popular cult today relies on the imaginings of some single individual for their foundational faith and doctrine (Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, to name a few). We know that the resulting books can’t be true or just as valid as the Bible because they disagree with the Bible. So, somebody is right and somebody is wrong. They can’t all be right. Shouldn’t that clue in the “cum-by-yah” pluralists that God did not inspire all of these writings? Do they see Him as some capricious deity playing games with mankind, ordaining one truth one day and another the next?

No, there is only one Bible; only one book through which God has revealed His will to mankind. The single written revelation of God is our own Holy Bible. Though it consists of 66 books combined between two covers, it is the only book that rises to the level of qualifying as the bona fide Word of God. All others are mere pretenders.

But, which translation of our Bible is best? Why do we use the New King James Version (NKJV) at Living Oaks? Many of you have asked me that question, so I’ll take a shot at an answer:
I selected the NKJV because of its accurate, literal translation combined with readability and devotional quality. Plus, there is trust in the tradition of the King James name. The scholars that did the translating sought to produce a literal translation through a method called equivalence. It may make some phrases a little awkward to the reader, but it closely reflects what was written in the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages of the Bible.

Some other popular translations use a method of translation called dynamic equivalence. It may be slightly more readable in some cases, but leaves more to the interpretation of the translator, thus risking a departure from the intent of the writer and the Author (God). But generally, modern English translations are good for personal reading and devotion.
The fact that we have so many variations reminds us that the Word of God is living (Hebrews 4:12). Though the original biblical languages are dead languages and thus the meanings of the words will never change, we can update the English Bibles to speak ever more clearly to us in our own living language.

So, put more Bible, the real Bible; the only Bible in your diet, regardless of what flavor you choose!


“I will not forget Your word.”
─Psalm 119:16 NKJV