A Comparison

Mark, an invited contributer who can't figure out how to log on, Karen, give him some know how I ain't got, offered a brilliant comment which I will post for him. He posts the same verses from the NLB that I did from the KJV, note how differently they read. Even as an agnostic/atheist I was sceptical of newer translations and is part of what created my internal turmoil at the time. To put it a man's perspective, the KJV is Belgian Abbey Ale compared to Natural Light.

Mark Maness said...
That passage in Matthew 6 really speaks to me. I made a post dedicated to this subject a while back. Here is an excerpt from that post:The year was 1991. America had entered the first Gulf war, Operation Desert Storm. Back in Kansas City, where I was living at the time, one wealthy woman decided to support the troops in a unique way.She went out and bought yellow ribbons. Hundreds of them. Then she wrapped them around all the trees all up and down Ward Parkway, a major thoroughfare in Kansas City, Missouri. She spent hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. It was her way of showing support of the troops in Kuwait. Nice gesture, huh? Wait. There’s more to this story.Then she called up the news media, and announced what she had done to all within radio and television tower reception distance. She became a local media darling. Soon the act of showing support took second place to the act of self aggrandizement.Jesus said:

1.“Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.

2. So, when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

3. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

4. So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” -- Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV)

It has always been a pet peeve of mine when someone donates to charity and brags about it, then sits back and reaps the accolades of their peers. I have done some charitable things many times, but no one knows. No one but my ex-wife and the ones I helped, and God. And that’s the way it should be.It is a very good thing to be charitable. And if you want rewards on Earth, it is certainly a good and honorable way to receive them. It certainly beats doing evil things for attention.But if you want rewards from the only One that matters, keep your mouth shut about it.

And the same verses from the KJV, note the difference:

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Alms is prayer or sacrifice for the Lord not the needy, as that clearly socialistic version pronounces. Sorry all, such a bastardized interpretation just burns the Goats tailhairs. Yes the needy are a Christian concern though not the point or meaning of "alms".