Life with The Swell Guy!

Oh, we've got The Funk

My all time pal, Paul, is working on a documentary called "Finding The Funk Machine". He and his Wild Mercury Productions partner, Tom Neal, are interviewing professional bass players and researching what happened to Motown legend James Jamerson's 1962 Fender P-Bass that was stolen shortly before his death 30 years ago.

I was on hand Friday when the guys interviewed bassist Brandon GilliArd. Some big music names are jumping on board with the project. This time the bass player does get some love.

Rx for a Smooth Monday

Here at The Swell Guy Blog we do our best to make life more enjoyable. How about we start our week of smooth with a dash of The Bo-keys? Enjoy. 

Old Bulls that quote Walt Whitman sure are cool.

Translate

How many times in church communities have you heard someone ask what translation do you use? AVS...AMP...CEV...ESV...TNT...KJV...AKJV...MSG...NASV...NIV...RSV...VOICE...? Yes, if you don't have the initials down you may not even be in the club.

Are you hipster with the latest translation out on the street? And by out on the street I mean the schooled dudes at bible study. Or maybe at Starbucks where you can be part of that cool tandem checking the discipleship box over a Mocha Coco Latte. Not that there is anything wrong with hanging at Starbucks since I like Norah Jones music, too.

Are you a purist? And no, a purist is not some guy reading from the ancient Greek and Hebrew texts. It is the fellow who believes some bearded guys in tights from England assembled the most accurate holy text 1611 years after Christ was walking the earth. The purists also seem to be the folks who pray in King James speak since that is way more holy. Thou hath to loveth that.

And oh the words, discourse and arguments over bible versions. I have a true translation, yours is flawed. Mine is accurate, yours is only a paraphrase, and by paraphrase I mean you, my friend, are living on the cusp of blasphemy. 

All the time in scripture it seem Jesus said something and his followers were asking him and each other how to interpret the message. Does that get lost on us? People were sitting right...at...his...feet and were tryings to figure out what Jesus meant when he spoke. Looking at many of Jesus' responses, I would think questions are good. Very good.

When I am studying scripture I often like to look at more than one bible translation and often written commentary to try to understand the words, the meaning, and the context. Figuring out one great truth beats all the times I end of thinking it could be one thing, but then again, it could be something else.

In the end, I do not care to argue such things as which version of the bible is best. What if that person in the third world who has one bible has the wrong one? Could that really be The Deal Breaker of All Time? Give me a break. I am far more interested in me becoming the best translation. Isn't that what it is about? Us reflecting Christ? Us being transformed into the image of him?

How do I translate at loving others? How do I translate at loving people not like me? How do I translate at following Christ and becoming more like him? Do I reflect The Gospel? Do I reflect Jesus? Is the message of who I am read true and good?

What translation do I use? Jesus.

Lent begins tomorrow. Let's start it off with a great quote.