Translation & More

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Freedom

There are a lot of questions that have been in the back of my mind about the RcV. I can vaguely remember seeing old-timers with NT RcV 'booklets' for various books of the NT. I seem to remember hearing that these were produced in conjunction with the Life-Studies. I was once told, and I have no idea if it's true, that the original 1985 RcV was essentially just throwing together all these booklets produced and printing it as a NT Bible. John Ingalls' testimony would certain support that, especially because he readily admits that they (the original translators) produced something sub-par that needed extensive revision. So it makes me wonder if a printed NT Bible was ever the original intended goal or not. Is that what WL initially tasked them with producing, or was it more something along the lines of a study aide for his Life-Studies?

The original RecVers came out book by book just in time for each Life Study training. Outlines accompanied the messages, so the RecVers booklet and outline were on each seat to start the training. They would also be sent to all those who prepaid to watch the videos. The Life Study of the NT started in '74 with John's gospel (I think), then Romans, then Hebrews, then Revelations, when I came on board. The quality of the handouts improved over time. I think the videos started with Matthew in '77 or '78. The loose Life Study messages would come out months later.

Each subsequent book of the RecVers had more and more footnotes. Actually Romans had an introductory paragraph about each section of verses, but little footnotes. On my desk here is the original bound version of those booklets passed out in all the trainings. I like Ingalls text of the scripture much better than Robichaux's, though admittedly they are quite similar.

The major work that was needed to put together the current RecVers was not in the actual text, the accompanying outlines, or the verse references, it was all the footnotes. Brothers had to read through all the Life-Studies and glean out text to add for footnotes. When you read the new RecVers with the Life Study, you will see whole sections which correspond word for word.

Ingalls felt his initial work needed reworking to harmonize the translation into a complete whole. I am not so sure about that, since the tendency is to uniformize? the diverse books into one coherent. But that's not how they were originally penned. Many of the current translations (like the NLT for which Philip Comfort was NT coordinating editor) used different translators for each book. What's so bad about that?

The quality of binding and paper for the new RecVers is head over heels better than that original cobbled together book. After many years of experimentation on those of my books (and my shoes btw) which tend to fall apart at the seams, I have by now arrived at my adhesive of choice to hold these well worn items together, at least for another day.