4 sets of Criteria for New Testament / Old Testament translation.

On this page, we are going to jump right in to the issue of versions of the New Testament / Old Testament in the Chinese Language.

Our primary audience (for these articles on these topics) is Spiritually mature Christians, those in ministry or Christian who are involved in Peaceful and Positive Missions, and Translators.

Our presumption is that those who have an interest in this page or in Chinese Language Translations of the New Testament, and the details of that process - are themselves Christian believers who have believed and accepted the authenticity of the message of individual salvation that is available to whosoever shall believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins once and forever through his completed meritorious act of His death on the Cross and bodily resurrection.

We volunteer this page as a means by which people can know and understand a bit more about the process, methods and evaluations that we have concerning the differences in versions of the New Testament (and O.T) offered in any language or dialect that uses Chinese Characters or is pronounced in Chinese.

Reading this, working through these issues can be a long or a bit of a challenging process. We encourage you therefore to print this out, and read this through a bit at a time.

We are aware that there are many Modern versions - in Chinese - of the N.T. [currently available] that present themselves as:

1. Complete

2. Adequate

3. Authentic

4. Based on the T.R. (Textus Receptus) or

5. That are adequate to helping members of the general audiences who are NOT familiar with Christianity.

Overwhelmingly, the Majority of those claims and the Majority of those versions are false, inadequate and poor or errant translations.

Any translation of the New Testament that is accomplished, is accomplished by making use of MANUSCRIPTS or Editions of the New Testament, that are written in ancient Koine Greek.

There is no way to translate the New Testament accurately without making use of Koine Greek Manuscript(s), and we would not agree with those who believe that they would be able to use a different Non-Koine-Greek translation in order to translated the New Testament in Chinese.

For example, some might want to translate into Chinese using a Dutch version of the New Testament. With all due respect to the Dutch and their potentially fine editions of the New Testament, it would be inadequate [to the task of translation] to make use of the Dutch New Testament as a substitute for the Koine Greek text of the New Testament.

All translations into any language of the New Testament MUST begin with the Koine Greek New Testament, because that is the primary source of the New Testament.

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Hope of certain others, that we will simply agree with them, or that we would conform ourselves to their own beliefs or their own conclusions, in the absence of proof, conversations, or information.

We receive email from some, who claim to be Christian [and who may be so] and who simply want us to agree with them that a particular version that they use in Chinese is the best and the only one.

They may be right. However even if that were the case, we are not likely to be able to agree without going through the process of discussion, without going through the process of establishing multiple criteria and obtaining many - MANY - answers to MANY questions that we have about translators, translators, etc.

But some people have concerns and are upset because they understand, that what we actually are rejecting is their own presumption of correctness. It is not a presumption if they are willing to explain and demonstrate or substantiate this. But it would remain a presumption if they were not willing to back up and provide documentation for the claims that they make.

In other words, some people, even some involved in mission work or in translation, want us to agree to stop using or promoting certain New Testament versions in Chinese, simply because THEY are the ones who say so, without presenting any proof or information or substantiation - and therefore, on their say-so, we should automatically agree with them.

To that end, with the goal in mind of getting us to actually discontinue using or offering editions in Chinese which we know are either

1) good (and T.R. based), and

2) better than anything else we have seen or read to date in Chinese

these people insist that we should simply agree with them, and then proceed to conform ourselves to their judgement or their evaluations.

To that end, some simply announce themselves, announce their name or their affiliation, or their work or their intention, and then demand our immediate conformity to them.

We are contacted by email out of the blue, and simply presented with a list of demands.

That kind of behavior is inherently un-Christian. We have zero intention of conforming to those requests. We also have not made the list public of those who have made those demands of us, but there may come a point in time where we would have to.

We are simply amazed that there could be people who would be involved in mission work, who would actually conduct themselves in a manner so as to assert and imply that we should simply change the content of what we offer,

NOT because of any conversation with them,

NOT because they have presented evidence,

NOT because they have resolved any issues with us,

but instead simply because THEY have decided - in their imperial sense of self - that since they MUST have all of the expertise, that conversation or discussion is irrelevant and that we should simply conform ourselves and submit ourselves to THEIR will.

As any other Christian ministry would do, we would also have to reject those absurd attempts on the part of others that they should be granted automatic presumptions of operating as deity.

That kind of conduct is amazing. We reject all those attempts and we will continue to move forward with the presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it is rightfully and accurately represented in the T.R. and in the KJV in English.

We are open to conversations and discussions. We are open to discussing the strengths or weakness of certain versions, depending on our schedule in the week or month and the time that we can afford for those discussions. But we are not likely to agree with anyone who believes that we should instantly change versions or content simply because - out of the blue - they decide what it is that they think WE should do and then conduct themselves in a manner which suggests that they believe they have achieved the rank of Pope.

Christians should beware of those who make those kinds of instant demands, who are NOT willing to discuss, who are NOT willing to provide proof, who are NOT willing to provide specific examples, and who are not knowledgeable in what the Bible Says, but rather insist on the expertise of their so-called "linguistic experts" .

In the matter of Translations of the Bible or the New Testament, we are not seeking so-called linguistic "experts". We are seeking Jesus experts. And when Jesus transforms people the first thing that happens is that people (Christians who have been truly tranformed) do not attempt to force other Christians coercively into giving up Bibles and New Testaments that are translated from accurate sources and accurate manuscripts.

The main reason why the Church all over the world is suffering so much foolish and errant theology today, is because it is linguists who have now been decided upon ...to be "Experts".

If they are not experts in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what good will all of their linguistic expertise serve ? Are not the texts and books of the Old and New Testament to be translated by those who have spiritual eyes to understand Spiritual issues ?

Textual experts and Linguistic experts are usually - in the case of Biblical Texts and Biblical Criticism the CAUSE of the problem. Almost never have they been the ANSWER to translation issues, least of all the linguistic ones.

The point is not that one can translate the Bible into a language today without linguistic expertise, since that is obviously NOT the case. The point is that Linguistic Expertise remains irrelevant and un-useable in the matter of spiritual and Christian manuscripts (such as those of the O.T. and N.T), without the personal transformation that comes about through an authentic experience of personal repentance of believing in faith alone through Jesus Christ alone (plus nothing) in his One and forever completed death on the cross and resurrection.

Translations and Translation projects - working to translate the New Testament into foreign languages are almost Guaranteed to go astray - and FAR astray - where the substantive criteria for translation is Linguistic Expertise and this is accepted as the main criteria while DISREGARDING the personal spiritual experience and/or repentance of those same translators.

And of those Modern Versions today accomplished using this method, accomplished while disregarding the spiritual life of the translators and the verifications of whether or not those translators are true Christians, MOST modern translations of the New Testament appear to Meet this criteria, something which MANY Translations and Translation boards and Translation projects are EAGER to not only ADMIT, but PROMOTE.

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There may be other criteria, but these are the criteria by which we begin our evaluation of Translators and Translations, concerning the matter of Chinese (and other) translations of the New Testament and Old Testament.