[Ostlandr]

So you're saying that His Nibs, the Big Boss Bad Guy hasn't done his best over the last 2,000 years to get weak, imperfect humans to do his bidding by rewriting the Bible?
If one were to take the most ancient versions of the accepted books of the Bible and have them translated by, say, a non-Christian but very expert Japanese linguist (i.e. someone with only a scholarly interest in the Bible and no preconcieved notions of what "should" be in it) would the result have any resemblance to what passes for the Bible today- especially such 'updated' editions as the "New International Version" (NIV) ?

[nmh]

You might want to have someone learned in Hebrew and Greek to do the translating ... NOT Japanese - LOL!!!!

Yes, a scholar who translates the original writings and knows the verbiage of the time WILL have the same translation. As words change in meaning for us, for example the word, gay ... so did words in those days have meanings that would vary. It's all about context and understanding those times. Unfortunately we have people with an ungodly agenda putting their beliefs in there in stead of the intended words, meaning and context.