Is it wrong to wear gold?  My grandma said it was in the Bible.

Sincerely, Girly Girl

Dear Girly Girl,

It isn’t a sin to wear gold; it is a sin to dress like a princess and act like an ogre. Make sure you clothe yourself with meekness and a quiet spirit (1 Pet 3:4-5) also. The verses that your grandmother referred to are 1 Pet 3:3 and 1 Tim 2:9. Both of these verses employ a grammatical term called an ‘ellipsis’. An ellipsis is when the writer leaves out a word in order to emphasize his point. In both of these verses, the apostles leave out the word ‘only’.

Both Paul and Peter are emphasizing how a woman shouldn’t wear fancy and expensive clothing, so she looks good on the outside while she is corrupt and ugly on the inside. What they meant is that women should not ‘only’ adorn themselves with braided hair, gold, pearls, and apparel. Otherwise, we would have to understand these verses to mean that women couldn’t braid their hair, wear gold and pearls, or even wear clothes! That certainly isn’t what God intended. What makes women beautiful isn’t the clothes that they wear - but the moral character inside of them.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

I am on a quest for truth... as are so many others. Upon seeking the truth, a question hit me and has continued to taunt me in my mind.

How is it that man differentiates his will apart from God’s? There is my will, and there is God's will.

I hear VERY MANY people say, "God's will for my life is to do this and that... "  Then I think, well, “If God were not part of your life, I think you would choose that same career path and life plan anyway.”

John 6:38 makes me wonder, did Jesus Himself have a will of His own apart from God’s?

Sincerely, Seeking His Will

Dear Seeking His Will,

The only way you can know God’s will is if He tells you. Many people claim to have visions from God or to ‘know in their heart that God’s will is ________’, but that is not how God communicates with us. God communicates with us through His Word (1 Cor 2:9-11). It is through hearing God’s Word that we gain an understanding of how our lives should be lived (Rom 10:17). The apostles wrote down the mystery of God’s will, so that we also can know what they knew (Eph 3:1-4). God wrote down once and for all His will for mankind in the Bible (Jude 3). The Bible contains everything that pertains to how our lives should be lived (2 Pet 1:3). The only way to know God’s will is through God’s Word – everything else is man’s opinion.

Even Jesus recognized the need to submit to God’s Word above His own. In the garden, Jesus made it clear that He did not want to die on the cross, but that He would subject His will to the Father’s (Lk 22:42). When the devil tempted Him, Jesus stated that a godly life is built upon God’s Word (Matt 4:4). Jesus Christ let God’s Word decide His future… not His own personal feelings. We must seek to imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1). In all that we do, we must seek Bible authority. Let us go back to the Bible for our answers to all of life’s questions.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

I know the New International Version Bible is considered undesirable among the churches of Christ. What I'm wondering is... why? Are there verses in that version you believe to be translated incorrectly, altered, or just plain wrong? If so, can you name the verses in question? Thank you.

Sincerely, Textual Critic

Dear Textual Critic,

The New International Version (NIV) is designed for readability and widespread religious acceptance, not for accuracy. If you read the foreword of an NIV Bible, you will find an explanation of how they went about creating the translation. The following is an excerpt from that explanation:

The New International Version (NIV) is a translation made by more than one hundred scholars working from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. It was conceived in 1965 when, after several years of study by committees from the Christian Reformed Church and the National Association of Evangelicals, a trans-denominational (emphasis mine – AYP) and international group of scholars met at Palos Heights, Illinois, and agreed on the need for a new translation in contemporary English. Their conclusion was endorsed by a large number of church leaders who met in Chicago in 1966.

One of the major goals of the NIV version was to create a translation that was acceptable to a great deal of religions- regardless of what the text said. Consequently, there are many verses left out of the NIV version. Matt 17:21, Matt 18:11, Matt 23:14, Mk 9:44, Mk 9:46, Mk 11:26, Mk 15:28, Lk 17:36, Lk 23:17, Jhn 5:4, Acts 8:37, Acts 15:34, Acts 24:7, Acts 28:29, and Rom 16:24 do not exist in the NIV version.

The American Standard, New American Standard, King James, and New King James are considered ‘word for word’ translations… meaning that they translate word for word what is written in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. The NIV version is considered partially a ‘word for word’ translation and partially a ‘thought for thought’ translation. A ‘thought for thought’ translation does not attempt to keep all of what is found in the original text, but it is comfortable paraphrasing what the translators think the writers intended. This is a very dangerous proposition with the Bible. God says that every word of the Bible is divinely inspired (1 Cor 2:13, Matt 5:18). A great example of this paraphrasing is in Matt 5:44.

• AV (word for word) reads: “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”.
• NIV (thought for thought) reads: “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The NIV leaves out numerous important details from that verse because the translators deemed them ‘unnecessary’. There are literally hundreds of examples of this paraphrasing in the NIV.

The NIV also uses ambiguous synonyms for words because they thought the precise words were too archaic. The problem is that by using these synonyms, they make many verses mean very different things. Some examples are:

• ‘Grace’ becomes ‘favor’ (Ex 34:9; Ps 84:11)
• ‘Righteousness’ becomes ‘does what is right’ (1 Jhn 3:7)
• ‘Believe’ becomes ‘trust’ (Jhn 14:1)
• ‘Comforter’ becomes ‘Counselor’ (Jhn 14:16)
• ‘Think’ becomes ‘feel’ (Php 1:7)
• ‘Dead’ becomes ‘useless’ (Jas 2:20)

All of these details add up to a translation that is much easier to read, but no longer the exact words of God. The NIV sacrifices accuracy for popularity.