"All Scripture is God breathed and useful for instruction." There are many things in God's word that are difficult to understand. Some are so controversial that they have inspired debate among theologians for centuries. Some mean one thing to a child and another to an adult struggling with a life issue. But, there is no untruth in them. Search the breadth and depth of scripture your whole life long and you will only scratch the surface, but you will be richly rewarded. - Grant

In the world there seems to be no absolute truth. As A Christian, I have an absolute truth that I can depend on. What do people who do not believe the Bible have to depend on? Nothing! - jag

Food for your thought and discussion:
Does the word of God maintain its qualifications and attributes when translated from the original language to other languages? - Iraj

this is a wonderful topic and I need help in this. I of course believe the word of God, not to be updated or changed to fit one's "attempt" at rationalizing their own behavior. However, I have always wondered whether Jonah was really swallowed by a whale or was it a story to get a point across? Can someone help me with this? - jenny

Iraj, even when the Bible was translated to the English language, we lost some words due to the difference of the languages but the translators searched for words in our language that was the nearest word that could be found. This is the same way with other languages, the effort is strenuosly applied and is done the best they can do. In the most part yes it will mean the same. Jenny, yes Jonah was swallowed by a great fish just as the Bible said he was. If he wasn't then the Bible would be promoting a lie and there is no lies in Gods word. There are many different large fish that are capable of doing this and even in that area of the world there were many. You can rest assured that this event actually did happen. God bless every one and I hope we all will be in Church tomorrow. - Jerry

It is a concept that I am also struggling with. As far as I can see, the Bible is highly metaphoric in character. Jesus spoke in many metaphors to get His point across. I believe that the Bible has lost some original meanings through translations, as some expressions just cannot be translated into, for instance, English with losing some of their meaning. I have just started reading the New Testament again without trying to be too analytical about this. I'll see what I really get out of this. - Frits

The amount of effort that goes into each "translation" of God's word from the Hebrew and the Greek to try and give it meaning to us, without changing God's intended meaning, would boggle your imagination. And, even with all of that the meaning that each reader takes from the Word is crafted by the work of The Holy Spirit. It's no wonder that it is the "best seller" of all time. - Grant

JANICE I THINK YOU MISSED WHAT I SAID OR MAYBE I'M NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOUR SAYING I DO KNOW THAT I HAVE NEVER BRAGGED ABOUT WHAT MY HUSBAND HAVE .AN YES MY HUSBAND IS MY ROCK OF HEART...I KNOW WHAT JELOUSE IS .....IT'S VERY EVIL - CARLA

Carla, I am glad you have been blessed by God with a wonderful marriage and children and I am thankful to God everytime I see a healthy family with husband, wife and children. I am glad also to know that you do not brag about these gifts and as Christ Follower said (Sept.21 Devotion Comments) people sometimes just observe what you have without it ever being mentioned by you. I just posted the comment about bragging thinking it could be one possibility as to why some women may have acted poorly even after you had helped them (not specifically because you yourself have bragged but I have known of others who have done that). Yes, jealousy is not a desirable emotion and can be considered to have an evil root and at times leads to people doing evil. I think God calls us to forgive those who treat us badly because they are jealous of what we have. Once when I was young I had someone be jealous of me because I received a pay raise that was a nickel more an hour than they received and I thought their reaction was ridiculous. You never know what people will be jealous of so I guess you just have to accept it as a fact of the fallen world and do your best to ignore and forgive it. May God continue to bless you and your family abundantly. - Janice

THANK YOU JANICE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT I SAID...ACCEPT THE GOOD ONE DAY AT A TIME.I HAVE TRIED AN TRIED TO HELP THIS ONE SO CALLED FRIEND WHILE SHE WAS IN JAIL AN GAVE HER A ROOF OVER HER HEAD I WENT BEYOUND THE MEANS OF BEING A FRIEND BUT SHE CHOOSE TO DO HET CHOOSE OF DRUG'S AN I AS ME I HAVE BEEN CLEAN AN SOBER FOR 17 YEARS THE OTHER FRIEND IS MORE OF THE JELOUSE TYPE I ALSO HELPED HER SHE HAS CAUSED A LOT OF STRESS AN DRAMA IN MY LIFE AN MYSELF NORE MY HUSBAND CAN HAVE AN STRESS OR DRAMA AROUND US SO I TOOK IT ON MY SELF TOO ERASE THESE'S 2 SO CALLED GIRL FRIEND'S FROM MY LIFE..THAT'S MY WAY OF DEALING WITH THING'S .JANICE I DON'T READ THE BIBLE OR SCRIPTURE'S I WAS BROUGHT UP AS A CATHOLIC GOD IS GOD NO MATTER HOW WE CHOOSE HIM I PRAY IN MY OWN WAY THIS SITE JUST HELP'S ME NOW BY TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE WAY'S OF HOW EVIL PEOPLE CAN TRULEY BE...I'M NOT A MEAN PERSON BY NO MEAN'S I JUST DON'T TAKE ANY NEGATIVE FEED BACK
OR ANYTHING FROM ANYONE I'VE TAKEN THE GOOD WITH THE BAD AN I HAVE TRIED TO HELP OTHER'S AN RETURN I HAVE BEEN SLAPPED IN THE FACE SO TO SPEAK. I HOPE I'M MAKEING SINCE TO YOU AN OTHER'S WHO READ THIS..WELL GGOD NIGHT GOD BLESS HAVE A GREAT WEEK
CARLA - CARLA

Thanks, Carla, for making the picture clear of how you tried to help those two women and how it turned out. You were brave and caring to try to help out in such desperate situations. Some people seem beyond help. I am sure you did your best given the circumstances. I do encourage you to obtain an easy to understand translation of the Bible and read it daily. You will find so much encouragement and inspiration for living your life in the best way and also help in knowing how to deal with people and their sins against you. Many people like the NIV translation and another easy to understand Bible is the New Century Version. Some church libraries may have some extra Bibles available for people who do not own one. Please get in the Word and be blessed! - Janice