I understand what you are saying....however, when one realizes that all Christian churches, have their own experts in all the different languages, have their own experts to read and translate original scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, and yet they come to different conclusions about what the Bible is really saying, than I have to come to the conclusion, that ALL churches have got some things wrong and some things right, and I am not expert enough to know which is which...
I furthermore, I dont know that there is anyone on earth today, who is expert enough to know which is which....which has actually been my basic point all along...
But some people are so stuck in their own personal interpretations of what the Bible is saying, that they will never consider a contrary view, even tho that view, may actually be correct....
I am just trying, as many others are, to make my way, and consider all views, read the Bible, pray for help and guidance when reading the Bible, and then trying to understand as best as I can...
Some folks are absolutely certain that they understand completely and correctly everything that the Bible is saying...I am not among those folks...I have many questions, often receive many answers, from many sources, and from there, I just have to make my way...
This issue of Bible translation has been hashed and rehashed many times with LDS who try to claim the Bible is not accurately translated and significant things have been left out by men. But the LDS Smithina version of the King James Bible deos not reflect either truthful 'translation' or text derived material. In fact, Smith made thousands of changes and additions to the King James Bible, none of which would support his specious claims of things left out that he 'restored' or mistranslated by earlier actual scholars.
One can't ask for much more than this.
We do, however, need to recognize the difference between READING the bible, and UNDERSTANDING the bible.
In the READING part, since hardly anyone of us can actually DO that, we rely on 'experts' who study these things for years, to translate the language we can't read, into one we can.
Of course, there will be difference of thought over just what some passages or words really mean in the old language.
Problems arise if translators use what they THINK the text means, according to what they BELIEVE already, when they come to these problem areas.
About the only thing most of us plain, ol' Seekers can do, is to rely on what the he MAJORITY of translators, from a variety of background, agree upon.
No matter how MANY translations there are, each one should go back to the earliest known ancient manuscripts to use as a base.
We should let the Bible determine what our belief is, and not let our 'belief' determine for us what the Bible says.