Speak to Him directly and bypass the bullshit middle men and pedarists at the church? No need to pay for your $salvation in the offering$ tray. You do not needs words in a book written by men to Worship Him. And also how can anyone even begin to trust these words? We know Jesus was killed by the new found "cabal". Then they use His teachings against us. To keep us slaves and trapped. I am not against Christians, or Religions. I am however fucking sick of Religious institutions being tax, and human trafficking hubs and laundering stations. This is EXACTLY what Jesus came down to fight against. Religion being too over reaching too powerful. And too controlling. And if you say "It's not" why the fuck does our ca$h have anything to do with God???
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
I am not going to try and dog Christianity and it's teachings. I do however look at what Jesus taught, and more importantly how he lived. I use His life as an example of how I should shape my own spiritual path. I accept and love God, the words written by Men, whom had His son murdered tho? I cannot put hardly any "faith" in. Especially when it comes to His-Story and its dates in the Bible.
Many Christians believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. As do i.
It has maintained its base message and text for over 3000+ years, because it is His word and he won't allow it to be besmirched, so to speak.
He IS God so it's not improbable that the Bible has been preserved per his sovereign will.
Paul didn't, or maybe he did via revaltion, know that his letters would be included when he wrote them.
All the prophets, apostles, etc, believed the Old Testament to be infallible, as well.
Even Jesus quoted from it many times, as He is the Word.
John 1:1, for example.:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1-5
Thanks for the discussion,fren!
We're all on this big piece of dirt together.
Speaking of dirt>>>>garden!
I would say, regardless of translation, that when one accepts Christ, he is imbued with the Holy Spirit who gives us discernment and wisdom.
He will make known to you the Truth.
He will cause untrue words uttered to bypass and for the Truth to be heard, realized and internalized.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit will give one what to say when asked the reason for one's faith.
Good words:
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. "
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Romans 12:12, 16-21
Wow...huge storm hitting now! 97°...supposed to be 80° tomorrow...hmmm.
Tighten up, fren!
A very good pastor friend recommended the English Standard Version, first published in 2001. All translations have some shortcomings because of how the different original documents are translated. The ESV most likely could be argued by scholars on some points at some level, but I leave that to the scholars. I also attend bible studies with my pastor who is trained in the hebrew & greek. He can clarify if there is a better understanding to be had from going back to either. I also often pray that God open my heart and mind to a greater understanding of his Word.
I always come back to the King James. Hate being called religious: I have faith and a relationship with God, I do not observe rituals of any kind. Most religious people I know go through the motions but are not saved.
What an inspiring post indeed !
Myself personally, I try not to use the phrase or term, religion. What you want and obviously sounds like you already have is personal relationship with our Lord Jesus ! With that said, yearning to have a deeper relationship or atleast get to know Him better is music to Gods ears ! Trust me , with the most benign request to Him , He will guide you to a greater knowledge and understanding of His word . There are so many translations, most reword to simply understand better! Example, some find the King James tough to read due to the Old English! There is a New King James that is nicely done . You can research all the different translations of any single scripture on the net , and feel which translation resonates with you ! Type in your favorite scripture and than read how all the different translations word it ! Some like the NIV, new international version .. there are so many, but I believe the Holy Spirit will guide you to the perfect translation . Especially now with what is going on in our world we need to seek His guidance! As we stock up on food etc we should also add a few more bibles to our arsenal!
Thank you so much for your post, it's not only great to hear about your desire to seek a stronger relationship with the Lord it was also thought provoking! God Bless you and your family my Fren !
The New King James just Curbs the old English words , but not the actual meaning , as in changing . sayeth to says !
It's exciting to hear when someone desires to know the living word better ! You will hear from God in so many ways and in such a deeper way .. happy for you ! We get to be on an unending journey of JOY !
Were you thinking?? Or was God bringing it back to your remembrance so you would read the one that He wants you to .. ,, lol .. enjoy and Hope to meet you someday ,, for sure we will meet in Heaven . What a wonderful day that will be ;)
It really is about a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes there are some distinct differences between versions. It is so easy to get wrapped up in academics. At the core, we are to put our trust in Jesus and do as He told us to do. And He wrapped that up in three commands. 1. Love the Lord with all that you are above all else, 2. Love others as you would want to be loved if you were in their place, and 3. Go into the world and tell people about Jesus.
The more we read the Bible, the more we will understand what the Truth is. I frankly have kept to the KJV, NKJV, NASB, or ESV. Understand that there are two principal texts out there. For accuracy and in-depth study, the KJV translates some things far more accurately than the others, but all versions have some challenges. But all versions contain the same general story and truths. The best Blble translation is the one that you will read.
The body of Christ, the real church is people, not buildings. It is about relationship, not rules, not religion.
Mauro biglino the naked bible..it's not complete but it is factual and all the errors of translation deliberate or not have been fixed.
Mauro was the official translator for the Vatican publishers but they had to part ways as Mauro was telling truths not welcome to religions who seek to control the masses
Religions are for people with a need for authority figures telling them how to interpret what they want you to believe.
Mauro explains that although he looked very hard there is no trace of a transcendental omnipotent omnipresent God in the Bible. The Jews from the tribe of Jacob who wrote the original Bible..did not even have a word for god or eternity . Their account in the Bible has nothing to do with God but a group called the elohim who got called god or lord or arch angels etc but were mortal not divine but cruel beings.
Since that time it has undergone many changes with additions and subtractions to suit the agendas of the pope or priests ..every time a scroll was rewritten it was altered and the cold one not kept.
However there are texts tablets..very old bibles...history books etc Jewish Torah and other books as well as Mahabharata and other Indian holy books written at the same time as well as all creation stories of that era..some older than this account from tribe of Jacob so an accurate summary can be given
As stated nowhere will you find the transcendental omnipotent omnipresent God.
Your choice is really a personal one. I would add that on Bible Gateway you can view each version and see what you connect to best. Audio bible is helpful when you get eye strain. I like to close my eyes and picture the scene described. A movie in my head.
When I study (not just read) the bible I keep a notebook nearby and jot down questions I have. I found the bible answers itself... somewhere in your study you will come across a verse that clicks in your head like 'Hey, I wondered about that back in ......"
I would also recommend you start with the new testament then go back to Genesis and read all the way through to Revelations. When starting my kids on scriptures I made the mistake by starting with Genesis and it bored them stiff and lost interest back then.
There are those who pull out 1 verse and try to trick you for an answer. I always tell them to read the whole chapter so they learn the context of their statement. Then I usually say "I read the whole book. I know how the story ends. Maybe you should try it." (I also used that on Jehovahs Witnesses. They pull out their bible to exactly the only verse they were trained in ....so I said 'give me your bible, I can show you.....oh wait, where's Revelations? No wonder you dont know how the story ends').
ESV per experience and translation is"word for word", rather than "thought-for-thought"
“Formal equivalence” – a word for word rendering of the original language into whatever language the reader needs, i.e. English. Every effort is made to retain both the word order and sentence structure of the original Hebrew or Greek.
“Functional equivalence” – more of a ‘thought for thought’ rendering of the original text. Also referred to as ‘dynamic equivalence’. The goal here is to produce in the reader’s language (i.e. English) the closest equivalent in both meaning and style of the original Hebrew and Greek (and Aramaic).
So all faithful English translations are on a spectrum(gosh I hate using that word now that liberals have ruined it) of readability on one side and precision on the other.
Some more readable versions include the NIV, the NLT, and the HCSB. The more precise ones include the ESV, NASB, NKJV, and NET.
I like the ESV for every day reading and I like the NET for study because the NET has copious translation notes about why the translators made the language choices they did.
Just as a follow-up, this is an excellent journey to take. And you are correct that edits have been made to the text throughout time (the worst is the result of Jerome not being able to read Hebrew - he could only speak it - when he created the Latin Vulgate.)
In same cases, mistakes were made by illiterate monks (PIPI comes to mind.)
There is no un-altered version of the Bible. Don't believe me? Ask a scholar. Mathew, Mark, Luke and John chapters were NOT written by Mathew, Mark, Luke or John. They are in fact ALL comprised of multiple unknown authors. We don't know who wrote any of them. That is a fact. Ask a scholar. It is a well-hidden fact.
I'm a Protestant that has no memory of every being in church, although my mother says she used to take me what I was small.
I've always been agnostic. The secular narrative of the nature of the world never made sense, though, and that always bugged me which is why I'm not an atheist.
IE.
The universe exploded from a single point. At that exact moment, there was no space or time.
The big bang exploded and suddenly there was space and time flowed as the particles and energy expanded in all directions.
Particles coalesced into stars that burned bright for billions of years and then ran out of fuel and then went supernova, creating heavier elements which coalesced again to create new stars and now planets and moons.
And galaxies formed.
And then on the planet earth, organic components 'primordial ooze' formed because of conditions on the planet's surface.
And then one day they kind of came together in a way where the proteins and stuff actually formed a structure that reproduced.
Over the millions and millions of years, it kept getting more complex until finally, we evolved.
So this seems pretty unlikely, but I always had a big problem with step 1.
There was no space or time? Then how could the big bang appear out of nothingness?
It has always seemed to me that that accepting that, is similar to believing in God because you just have to accept it without proof.
But now, as the world falls into chaos, it seems like a Star Trek holodeck episode where something has gone wrong in the virtual world and crazy things are happening.
Before the Podesta emails were leaked in March 2016, I was pretty much a normie Republican. I thought the fight was between Liberals and Conservatives.
Back then there was all this really sick stuff going on at Comet Pizza. Their instagram was live. All the content from JimmyComet's social media could be viewed. And all these politicians were clearly loving this stuff. The shop owner was named one of the 100 most influential people in Washington DC. A pizza shop owner. Of the 535 members in the Senate and House, this pizza shop owner was more influential than most of them.
It was like we are living in a simulation and suddenly the mods started messing reality to see how we would react. Ever since then things just keep getting more and more crazy.
And so is it a battle between the Big Government Liberals and the Small Government Conservatives? No. Clearly not. The RINOs are on the same team as the Democrats.
And so is it a battle between the elites and the populists. Clearly yes. But the elites really seem to be worshiping Satan. And the Populists do not.
And so is this really a battle between good and evil? If the elites are worshiping Satan that means that they believe in powers from another realm. And if they are worshiping evil and believe in Satan, and they have all this power and money, how do we fight them?
They believe Satan exists. And they have all the power and money.
I don't know if I am sure I believe in God, but I sure would rather be on His side than their side. I've tried to pray a few times but it is so unfamiliar to me to me that I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.
But one thing is for sure. This fight is between good and evil and I want to be on the side of good. And I'm also sure that the frens side is the good side.
Your pineal gland is your third eye. This is your route to a direct contact with the divine...let's not use the word God.. god means different things to different people. Our body is the temple..we do not need a church to go to.
If you are at a stage where your heart and mind agree..that there is no inner conflict going on...then you are at peace..jihad ..the mental inner fight has been won. . Have quiet times alone..need not be long..so you can hear the inner guidance ...
I found krishnamurti who despises all religions useful in helping you to explore your Self. You will find him online
There is no best version. People interperate the originals into English with the best words they can use, there is often a doctrinal bias in interpretation. There is no way around doctrinal bias when people are giving their interpretations, that is why the word of God is what the Spirit teaches you personally, it is alive and in your relationship to God.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Try witnessing to someone in a cult with a Good News or the NIV - I came badly unstuck as the relevant passages I relied on were so altered as to me of no use.
I grew up on KJV, so I understand better with it, I also used NIV for a time, and I had a version with four versions all parallel. So it's really about knowing the word of God as the spirit has taught it to you. When speaking the word to others, it is always the Version that the Spirit taught me.........the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. When the Spirit of truth teaches, it's not the Bible or version, it's the Word of God. BTW our faith is in the Word of God as it is spoken to us by God, that is a faith that quenches all the firey darts of the enemy, gets us to step off the boat, enables us to always have the victory, because it is the Word of God.......it always accomplishes its goal, when we in faith walk with it.
Speak to Him directly and bypass the bullshit middle men and pedarists at the church? No need to pay for your $salvation in the offering$ tray. You do not needs words in a book written by men to Worship Him. And also how can anyone even begin to trust these words? We know Jesus was killed by the new found "cabal". Then they use His teachings against us. To keep us slaves and trapped. I am not against Christians, or Religions. I am however fucking sick of Religious institutions being tax, and human trafficking hubs and laundering stations. This is EXACTLY what Jesus came down to fight against. Religion being too over reaching too powerful. And too controlling. And if you say "It's not" why the fuck does our ca$h have anything to do with God???
And why is every religion registered as a bank?
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.3.16-17.ESV
It's ok to disagree. But this is what I've found to be true. It IS a supernatural book.
I am not going to try and dog Christianity and it's teachings. I do however look at what Jesus taught, and more importantly how he lived. I use His life as an example of how I should shape my own spiritual path. I accept and love God, the words written by Men, whom had His son murdered tho? I cannot put hardly any "faith" in. Especially when it comes to His-Story and its dates in the Bible.
Many Christians believe the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. As do i.
It has maintained its base message and text for over 3000+ years, because it is His word and he won't allow it to be besmirched, so to speak.
He IS God so it's not improbable that the Bible has been preserved per his sovereign will.
Paul didn't, or maybe he did via revaltion, know that his letters would be included when he wrote them.
All the prophets, apostles, etc, believed the Old Testament to be infallible, as well.
Even Jesus quoted from it many times, as He is the Word.
John 1:1, for example.:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1-5
Thanks for the discussion,fren!
We're all on this big piece of dirt together. Speaking of dirt>>>>garden!
I would say, regardless of translation, that when one accepts Christ, he is imbued with the Holy Spirit who gives us discernment and wisdom.
He will make known to you the Truth.
He will cause untrue words uttered to bypass and for the Truth to be heard, realized and internalized.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit will give one what to say when asked the reason for one's faith.
Good words:
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. "
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:12, 16-21
Wow...huge storm hitting now! 97°...supposed to be 80° tomorrow...hmmm. Tighten up, fren!
A very good pastor friend recommended the English Standard Version, first published in 2001. All translations have some shortcomings because of how the different original documents are translated. The ESV most likely could be argued by scholars on some points at some level, but I leave that to the scholars. I also attend bible studies with my pastor who is trained in the hebrew & greek. He can clarify if there is a better understanding to be had from going back to either. I also often pray that God open my heart and mind to a greater understanding of his Word.
More on how it came to be from Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Standard_Version
I always come back to the King James. Hate being called religious: I have faith and a relationship with God, I do not observe rituals of any kind. Most religious people I know go through the motions but are not saved.
Jesus is our high priest, we don't need intermediaries.
What an inspiring post indeed ! Myself personally, I try not to use the phrase or term, religion. What you want and obviously sounds like you already have is personal relationship with our Lord Jesus ! With that said, yearning to have a deeper relationship or atleast get to know Him better is music to Gods ears ! Trust me , with the most benign request to Him , He will guide you to a greater knowledge and understanding of His word . There are so many translations, most reword to simply understand better! Example, some find the King James tough to read due to the Old English! There is a New King James that is nicely done . You can research all the different translations of any single scripture on the net , and feel which translation resonates with you ! Type in your favorite scripture and than read how all the different translations word it ! Some like the NIV, new international version .. there are so many, but I believe the Holy Spirit will guide you to the perfect translation . Especially now with what is going on in our world we need to seek His guidance! As we stock up on food etc we should also add a few more bibles to our arsenal! Thank you so much for your post, it's not only great to hear about your desire to seek a stronger relationship with the Lord it was also thought provoking! God Bless you and your family my Fren !
The New King James just Curbs the old English words , but not the actual meaning , as in changing . sayeth to says ! It's exciting to hear when someone desires to know the living word better ! You will hear from God in so many ways and in such a deeper way .. happy for you ! We get to be on an unending journey of JOY !
Were you thinking?? Or was God bringing it back to your remembrance so you would read the one that He wants you to .. ,, lol .. enjoy and Hope to meet you someday ,, for sure we will meet in Heaven . What a wonderful day that will be ;)
It really is about a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes there are some distinct differences between versions. It is so easy to get wrapped up in academics. At the core, we are to put our trust in Jesus and do as He told us to do. And He wrapped that up in three commands. 1. Love the Lord with all that you are above all else, 2. Love others as you would want to be loved if you were in their place, and 3. Go into the world and tell people about Jesus.
The more we read the Bible, the more we will understand what the Truth is. I frankly have kept to the KJV, NKJV, NASB, or ESV. Understand that there are two principal texts out there. For accuracy and in-depth study, the KJV translates some things far more accurately than the others, but all versions have some challenges. But all versions contain the same general story and truths. The best Blble translation is the one that you will read.
The body of Christ, the real church is people, not buildings. It is about relationship, not rules, not religion.
Mauro biglino the naked bible..it's not complete but it is factual and all the errors of translation deliberate or not have been fixed.
Mauro was the official translator for the Vatican publishers but they had to part ways as Mauro was telling truths not welcome to religions who seek to control the masses
Religions are for people with a need for authority figures telling them how to interpret what they want you to believe.
Mauro explains that although he looked very hard there is no trace of a transcendental omnipotent omnipresent God in the Bible. The Jews from the tribe of Jacob who wrote the original Bible..did not even have a word for god or eternity . Their account in the Bible has nothing to do with God but a group called the elohim who got called god or lord or arch angels etc but were mortal not divine but cruel beings.
Since that time it has undergone many changes with additions and subtractions to suit the agendas of the pope or priests ..every time a scroll was rewritten it was altered and the cold one not kept.
However there are texts tablets..very old bibles...history books etc Jewish Torah and other books as well as Mahabharata and other Indian holy books written at the same time as well as all creation stories of that era..some older than this account from tribe of Jacob so an accurate summary can be given
As stated nowhere will you find the transcendental omnipotent omnipresent God.
Your choice is really a personal one. I would add that on Bible Gateway you can view each version and see what you connect to best. Audio bible is helpful when you get eye strain. I like to close my eyes and picture the scene described. A movie in my head.
When I study (not just read) the bible I keep a notebook nearby and jot down questions I have. I found the bible answers itself... somewhere in your study you will come across a verse that clicks in your head like 'Hey, I wondered about that back in ......"
I would also recommend you start with the new testament then go back to Genesis and read all the way through to Revelations. When starting my kids on scriptures I made the mistake by starting with Genesis and it bored them stiff and lost interest back then.
There are those who pull out 1 verse and try to trick you for an answer. I always tell them to read the whole chapter so they learn the context of their statement. Then I usually say "I read the whole book. I know how the story ends. Maybe you should try it." (I also used that on Jehovahs Witnesses. They pull out their bible to exactly the only verse they were trained in ....so I said 'give me your bible, I can show you.....oh wait, where's Revelations? No wonder you dont know how the story ends').
ESV per experience and translation is"word for word", rather than "thought-for-thought"
“Formal equivalence” – a word for word rendering of the original language into whatever language the reader needs, i.e. English. Every effort is made to retain both the word order and sentence structure of the original Hebrew or Greek.
“Functional equivalence” – more of a ‘thought for thought’ rendering of the original text. Also referred to as ‘dynamic equivalence’. The goal here is to produce in the reader’s language (i.e. English) the closest equivalent in both meaning and style of the original Hebrew and Greek (and Aramaic).
So all faithful English translations are on a spectrum(gosh I hate using that word now that liberals have ruined it) of readability on one side and precision on the other.
Some more readable versions include the NIV, the NLT, and the HCSB. The more precise ones include the ESV, NASB, NKJV, and NET.
I like the ESV for every day reading and I like the NET for study because the NET has copious translation notes about why the translators made the language choices they did.
For OT, the New World Translation - as far as I know, it's the only one with all 6,780 uses of the Tetragrammaton translated as an actual name.
For NT, the NRSV is excellent based on my intermediate studies of Koine - the NRSV is extremely faithful to the extant texts.
Research the Nahal Hever fragments - they offer a critical and fascinating look at the early Septuagint.
The closest Bible I can find that meets the first two criteria is an interlinear Bible published by Hendrickson Publishers.
Just as a follow-up, this is an excellent journey to take. And you are correct that edits have been made to the text throughout time (the worst is the result of Jerome not being able to read Hebrew - he could only speak it - when he created the Latin Vulgate.)
In same cases, mistakes were made by illiterate monks (PIPI comes to mind.)
There is no un-altered version of the Bible. Don't believe me? Ask a scholar. Mathew, Mark, Luke and John chapters were NOT written by Mathew, Mark, Luke or John. They are in fact ALL comprised of multiple unknown authors. We don't know who wrote any of them. That is a fact. Ask a scholar. It is a well-hidden fact.
Written a very long time after and authors unknown
correct
I'm a Protestant that has no memory of every being in church, although my mother says she used to take me what I was small.
I've always been agnostic. The secular narrative of the nature of the world never made sense, though, and that always bugged me which is why I'm not an atheist.
IE.
So this seems pretty unlikely, but I always had a big problem with step 1.
There was no space or time? Then how could the big bang appear out of nothingness?
It has always seemed to me that that accepting that, is similar to believing in God because you just have to accept it without proof.
But now, as the world falls into chaos, it seems like a Star Trek holodeck episode where something has gone wrong in the virtual world and crazy things are happening.
Before the Podesta emails were leaked in March 2016, I was pretty much a normie Republican. I thought the fight was between Liberals and Conservatives.
Back then there was all this really sick stuff going on at Comet Pizza. Their instagram was live. All the content from JimmyComet's social media could be viewed. And all these politicians were clearly loving this stuff. The shop owner was named one of the 100 most influential people in Washington DC. A pizza shop owner. Of the 535 members in the Senate and House, this pizza shop owner was more influential than most of them.
It was like we are living in a simulation and suddenly the mods started messing reality to see how we would react. Ever since then things just keep getting more and more crazy.
And so is it a battle between the Big Government Liberals and the Small Government Conservatives? No. Clearly not. The RINOs are on the same team as the Democrats.
And so is it a battle between the elites and the populists. Clearly yes. But the elites really seem to be worshiping Satan. And the Populists do not.
And so is this really a battle between good and evil? If the elites are worshiping Satan that means that they believe in powers from another realm. And if they are worshiping evil and believe in Satan, and they have all this power and money, how do we fight them?
They believe Satan exists. And they have all the power and money.
I don't know if I am sure I believe in God, but I sure would rather be on His side than their side. I've tried to pray a few times but it is so unfamiliar to me to me that I feel like I don't know what I'm doing.
But one thing is for sure. This fight is between good and evil and I want to be on the side of good. And I'm also sure that the frens side is the good side.
Your pineal gland is your third eye. This is your route to a direct contact with the divine...let's not use the word God.. god means different things to different people. Our body is the temple..we do not need a church to go to.
If you are at a stage where your heart and mind agree..that there is no inner conflict going on...then you are at peace..jihad ..the mental inner fight has been won. . Have quiet times alone..need not be long..so you can hear the inner guidance ...
I found krishnamurti who despises all religions useful in helping you to explore your Self. You will find him online
Do not worship oneself
Absolutely..but who does ? Most people neither understand the Self or even like themselves..most are fullnof self hate they project on others
There is no best version. People interperate the originals into English with the best words they can use, there is often a doctrinal bias in interpretation. There is no way around doctrinal bias when people are giving their interpretations, that is why the word of God is what the Spirit teaches you personally, it is alive and in your relationship to God.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
https://biblehub.com/john/16-13.htm
That said I really like biblehub.com for individual verses, there is also a lexicon to check each words meaning.
https://biblehub.com/lexicon/john/16-13.htm
So what the Spirit of truth teaches you is the best version.
Try witnessing to someone in a cult with a Good News or the NIV - I came badly unstuck as the relevant passages I relied on were so altered as to me of no use.
I grew up on KJV, so I understand better with it, I also used NIV for a time, and I had a version with four versions all parallel. So it's really about knowing the word of God as the spirit has taught it to you. When speaking the word to others, it is always the Version that the Spirit taught me.........the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. When the Spirit of truth teaches, it's not the Bible or version, it's the Word of God. BTW our faith is in the Word of God as it is spoken to us by God, that is a faith that quenches all the firey darts of the enemy, gets us to step off the boat, enables us to always have the victory, because it is the Word of God.......it always accomplishes its goal, when we in faith walk with it.
I like Bible Hub too for strongs, commentaries and bible versions