Before Apologetics

Well, it's 6:15 and nobody's arrived just yet. I had a great day today. I worked hard and got to talk with the new guy all about the differences between Catholosism and Christianity. He disagrees a great deal with a lot of the things the Catholic church believes. I tried to give him clarification on the things he wasn't sure about and he seemed to see the Christian point of view.

I just bought him a Bible to study. He said he has a Bible, but he has no idea where it is and doesn't like the fact that it's in Spanish. He speaks Spanish and his family is Spanish, but he comprehends written English better. I told him I'd buy him a Bible, so I just ordered an NIV. That's an excellent version in my personal opinion. He's not going all scholarly yet ( in which case I'd go for NASB), so the NIV is a better translation. The reason I think that is because it translates in such a way that the sentence structure and wordage is more aligned with the way we speak it and read it today, whereas the NASB is word for word with the Greek, which sometimes leads to a little confusion when not made aware of its method of translation. An example is as follows:

Luke 21:25-28 (NIV)
25"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:25-28 (NASB)
25 "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 "(22) Then they will see (23) THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. 28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because (24) your redemption is drawing near."

Not a huge problem, but it could create a little confusion without the sentence breaks and so forth. I studied the Greek in this small exerpt and presented it to my Greek class. In my findings, the NIV translated it very well, whereas the NASB translated it very well, but the order of the words was left intact. This creates a little bit of a challenge. Anyway, I need to go pick up Mike now. Talk to you all later.