The Narrow Path Ministries

I listen to 570Am here in Tampa. Recently, Bibles for America has offered a New Testament translation of the Bible for free, the Recovery Bible. It has over 9,000 side notes with it. I haven't heard of this version, but I ordered it since it was free. Does anyone know anything about this translation of the Bible or this group selling it? They also offer a lot of free info and books at bfa.org., or bfa.org/BibleStudyAids for free study resources. I am always leary of groups that give out free stuff, heh. The Narrow Path is one of the few sites through my studies and decernment of what I have studied, that actually offers information for free that is trustworthy. Rigth now I am in debt, and can't afford to buy many books and study resources. Through my studies and decernment, this is one of the few sites that I trust as a believer for good informaiton and falls withing the pale of orthodox Christianity for the believer in Christ. If anyone has any info on this organization, I would appreciate it.

I think you mean the Recovery Version. It's put out by a cult that was run by the late Witness Lee, who openly stated that he made changes in both the original language texts and the translation, to bring it in line with his unique teachings. I did quite a bit of research on Lee and his teachings a couple years ago, and still have my notes. I'm very tired right now but I'll post more on this tomorrow.

Bah, I figured as much. I hate to sound negative, but most of the organizations that put out a lot of advertised free stuff is usually cult related sad to say. My studies of the scriptures and decernment told me this. I would like to hear your research on the subject when you get time to post it, thanks Blev.

Sorry I didn't get back to this yesterday. I've been debating what and how much to post; I've decided to take the longer route, just so the information is here where it might be useful. I hope it can be helpful in steering someone away from this cult.

I mentioned that I did quite a bit of research on Witness Lee and his teachings. The purpose was to counter the effects of a longtime Lee follower who, by keeping his past and his real beliefs hidden, had managed to gain a position of great influence in our local fellowship. In the process, I found myself obliged to learn a lot more than I wanted to know about Lee, his followers, and the methods they've been using for decades to attack and destroy Christian groups, and to suck unsuspecting Christians into their group. A good example of those methods is their promotion of the Recovery Version as a good Bible translation while keeping hidden what it really is.

My notes on the Recovery Version consist simply of a couple pages of quotes from the writings of Witness Lee and his followers, that show that the RV has been "customized" to conform to Lee's teachings. This is not a problem for them because they consider Lee to be a higher authority than the Bible. In printed copies of the RV, Lee's comments actually take up more space than the Bible text.

What makes Lee's teachings particularly insidious is that they're very, very good at fooling Christians into thinking they're essentially orthodox Christian in their beliefs. They use words and phrases that they know mean something very different to them than to Christians, and they use this to their advantage in this regard. So Christians who get a short answer to a simple question, and don't question or research further, are often left with the incorrect impression that they're dealing with Bible-believing Christians.

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Following are a few things Witness Lee and his followers say about the Recovery Version. I see now that a few of the source links have changed and no longer work; I won't take time to fix them now, but anyone interested should be able to quickly find the source with a search engine.

http://www.recoveryversion.org/translation.html
* "There is a need for the New Testament Recovery Version because there is a progressive recovery of truth among God's children. The truth has been revealed gradually throughout the ages, and in each age the level of revelation has affected the understanding of the Bible as well as the translation of the Bible."
* "After 70 years of Bible study, we too have an understanding of the ancient text. In many places our understanding depends upon and corresponds to what has been handed down to us through the ages, but we must admit that we have seen things that not all today see. Our understanding of the truth, then, compels us to render the text according to what the Lord has shown us."
* "...the Greek text underlying the Recovery Version is unique, even if it is quite close to the accepted scholastic edition of the day."
* "The New Testament Recovery Version has several critical components which no other versions can offer: extensive footnotes stressing the revelation of the truth, the spiritual light, and the supply of life; in-depth outlines of each book expressing the spiritual meaning in each book; and cross references leading not only to verses with similar language but also to portions with related spiritual revelation. These components could not be attached to any existing versions because the language of the older versions is too archaic for our purposes."

http://www.recoveryversion.org/preface.html
"this translation and the accompanying footnotes could be called the "crystallization" of the understanding of the divine revelation which the saints everywhere have attained to in the past two thousand years."

http://www.livingstream.com/holy-bible.html
"As the work proceeded book by book, Witness Lee reviewed the translation and made numerous improvements and suggestions, both prior to publication and during his use of each book during his life-study trainings."

http://www.witness-lee.net/publications
"Witness Lee assisted the Editorial Section of Living Stream Ministry in the English and Chinese translations of the Recovery Version of the Bible as well as writing all of the outlines, footnotes, charts, and references. The Recovery Version of the Bible has proven to be a tremendous source of light and nourishment to millions of the Lord's children."

http://www.biblesforamerica.org/Frequen ... tions.aspx
The use of the word "recovery" refers to the regaining of biblical truth, Christian experience, and church practice that have been misunderstood, misinterpreted, misapplied, or missed completely due to the influences of history, tradition and even religion. Particularly since Martin Luther's time, God has been progressively recovering these truths, thus affording His people a constantly increasing understanding of the divine revelation. Now these recovered truths are brought together for the first time in a unique study Bible -- the Recovery Version."

"Speaking for God," Witness Lee, page 14:
"Under my leadership, several brothers who were capable in English and quite good in Greek re-translated the New Testament text. Following that, I revised it and made decisions regarding the truth. We called this new translation of the English New Testament the Recovery Version."

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It was very important to Witness Lee that his followers study both the Recovery Version (not just any Bible) and his notes and other writings, every day.

From "The Way to Carry Out the Vision" by Witness Lee:

"I do not believe you can find as many basic truths in other books as you have found in the Recovery Version. Other expositions and commentaries, for example, do not correctly point out what the main truth in the book of Matthew is. The Recovery Version clearly points out that this is a book on the kingdom of the heavens and it gives you a proper definition of the truths concerning the kingdom of the heavens." -page 90

"The fourth purpose of the Recovery Version with the notes is to open up the books of the Bible. After the Recovery Version of a book had been published, that particular book of the Bible was opened to us. Because we have a Recovery Version of the entire New Testament, we must testify that the books of the New Testament have been opened to us." -page 92

"In order to get the benefit of these four purposes in full you must dive into the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages. It is not an easy task to be built up in the truth. You must study the text and every note. If possible, it is helpful to take care of the cross-references. Then you need to study the Life-study messages. You need to get into these messages not like you are reading a newspaper or a reference book. You must consider the text of the Recovery Version with the notes and the Life-study messages as a textbook. Because this is my work, I know the nature of it. I am fellowshipping this with you to let you know the way our publications were written. If you merely read them in a light way, you cannot get into them. You must study them as a textbook." -page 93

"We need to lead the saints into the real, right, and proper realization of the need of the Bible and also of the help of the Life-study messages and the Recovery Version." -page 105

"Tell them that the truth is in the unique holy Word and that the best help to usher them into the Word is the Recovery Version with the notes and all the Life-studies." -page 108

"Each saint must have a proper, daily, regular diet of a few verses in the Bible with the notes of the Recovery Version accompanied by the Life-study messages." -page 109

"As a help to gaining the full knowledge of the basic truths, I would encourage you to go through the entire New Testament using the Recovery Version with the notes and the Life-studies." -page 128

"At present, the best way to gain the knowledge of God's New Testament economy is to use the Recovery Version with the notes and the Life-study messages." -page 130

"We should not only help them grow in life, but also help them to be educated and built up in the proper knowledge of the truth. To carry out this educational work we must come to the Life-study messages with the Recovery Version and the notes. If all the saints could go through the entire New Testament and the Life-studies with the Recovery Version and the notes in five years I would worship the Lord. This would be wonderful." -page 140

Many other similar references are found throughout Lee's writings.

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Lee taught that it was dangerous and a waste of time to read others' books before being thoroughly familiar with his writings:

"You are free to go to any books, but if you go to the books I would say you run a risk, and you will probably waste your time. If you ask for my advice, I would say that you had better not go to others' books until you have finished the course of the Life-study Messages and the Recovery Version with the footnotes to get a strong footing and a proper foundation which gives you the best discernment. Then it is safe for you to go into other books." -"Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord's Recovery", Witness Lee, page 21

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I got the free New Testament Bible in the mail. I looked over it and have to agree with most of your comments. I found it to be withing the pale of Christian Orthodoxy, but the notes are on a dispensationlist view point, which I do not follow. Another thing I don't like about a New Testament Bible only, is that you are missing out on a lot. It takes the Old Testament to help interperet the New Testament, without the Old Testament you will not get the full understanding. A person can still get the basic knowledge of the Gospel from reading the New Testament only, but they will never be able to fully comprehend it all, it's all woven together and understood with the Old Testament. I ended up giving it to a homeless lady begging at an intersection. I'm sure that is not what she wanted and probably tried to sell it for a dollar or two, but the basic Good News of the Gospel was passed a long. Thanks for that informational post.

Backwoodsman, if your research on the Recovery Version "shows that the RV has been "customized" to conform to Lee's teachings," it is odd that that the much-respected Bible Researcher has not indicated such a thing. Here is a review by Murray Grindlay, February 2009. I have not found anything in it that remotely suggests such a customization.

http://www.bible-researcher.com/recovery-version.html

Paidion wrote:Backwoodsman, if your research on the Recovery Version "shows that the RV has been "customized" to conform to Lee's teachings," it is odd that that the much-respected Bible Researcher has not indicated such a thing. Here is a review by Murray Grindlay, February 2009. I have not found anything in it that remotely suggests such a customization.

I think you're right -- he doesn't seem to have addressed the issue of Witness Lee having made changes in the text to conform to his teachings. This is one point on which I'm going to have to go with what Witness Lee said on the matter. It's all in my post above, taken directly from Lee's writings, with sources so you can look it up yourself. As you can see, he stated it openly -- I guess since he and his followers consider his word a higher authority than the Bible, he saw no reason to conceal it.

The changes aren't hard to find if you know where to look. For starters, look for every instance of the word "soulish," one of Lee's favorite words, and compare it to the Greek. Let us know what you find.

actually there isn't really anything wrong with rendering "psychikos" as soulish. it may not be the perfect choice universally, but there is nothing misleading about it. its not really much different than saying "aeonios" could mean age-ish. it may sound weird , but they were probably thinking this a more literal rendering than "natural".
grace and peace...

I agree, Jeremiah. Indeed the Concordant Version renders "ψυχικος" as "soulish" in every instance it occurs in the New Testament — that is in I Cor. 2:14; I Cor 15:44,45; James 3:15; Jude 1:9. Rotherham translates the word as "of the soul" in each and every instance, whereas the other translations are inconsistent, seeming to guess its meaning according to context. Also they do not agree with each other, sometimes translating "ψυχικος" as "natural", sometimes as "sensual", sometimes as "physical", etc.

Okay, I guess it's settled that the Recovery Version did not translate "ψυχικος" in a unique way different from all other translations.

Backswoodsman, you were saying that the examination of "soulish" was just the beginning? Please proceed to other words or phrases you think the Recovery Version has rendered incorrectly.

An aside to Bev concerning ministries that give their writings for free: before I met my husband, the man of God I respected most did not believe in conducting ministry like a business and most of his writings and speakings are on his website free of charge. He and his family never lacked for anything. One of the first things I look at in a man of God is how he regards money. We have been given to freely, we freely give.
Bless you.