Update vs. classic

I have put my hope in your word (Psalm 119:74).

People complain about remakes.  Film buffs hate seeing a black and white film colorized for broadcast on television.  Fans of classic TV shows are frequently disappointed with how the property is updated for a theatrical release.  And feature films based on popular books often stir up controversy with how beloved characters are cast and which material is trimmed to meet limits imposed by running time.  It raises the question, why tinker with something that wasn’t broken in the first place?

But remakes and adaptations can draw new audiences unfamiliar with the original work.  Film series like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have done great business, and they were faithful to the books that inspired them.  Some movie remakes like Footloose and King Kong have equaled or even exceeded the popularity of the original.  A few TV shows have been faithfully brought to the big screen, as happened with Star Trek and The Muppets.

There are people who disapprove of new Bible translations.  Some of them grew up with the King James Version, a classic that has been in continuous publication since the 1600s.  Others worry that some translations play fast and loose with the words of the Bible in order to appeal to modern sensibilities. 

The King James is beautiful and majestic, without question.  But modern speakers of the English language have a hard time understanding a version that was written for people who lived 400 years ago. Some of the words have changed in meaning over centuries of use.  Frankly, there are many who would never read a Bible if it doesn’t speak God’s message in modern English. But updating a classic is tricky—you need to remain faithful to the original work.  The Good Book was written thousands of years ago in Greek and Hebrew, languages that don’t always translate easily into a modern way of communicating.  Bible scholars want to bring God’s word to as many individuals as possible; they work hard at finding the best way to convey God’s message, a way that is both accurate and readily understood.  God’s inspired message is the most important work ever set to paper—the constant efforts at publishing newer versions is driven by the goal of bringing it to the widest audience possible.