walking by a Lutheran church: this we believe

As I mentioned before (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/11/walking-by-lutheran-church-no-930.html), I started reading "This We Believe" from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod website (http://www.wels.net/). I'm including two quotes that have made me think what it means to be a "true" Christian. Of course, I might be wrong.

Although I've heard the concept that the Old Testament predicted the coming of Jesus many times before, the words in the following quote made this concept clearer to understand and believe.

"5. We believe that the entire Bible is Christ-centered. In the Old Testament God repeatedly promised a divine deliverer from sin, death, and hell. The New Testament proclaims that this promised deliverer has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus himself says of the Old Testament, 'These are the Scriptures that testify about me' (John 5:39)."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation

Maybe I'm desperate to understand and find God that I'm too naive to be eagerly attracted to any likable text (not saying that such text could be wrong, as of yet). I just fail to question my beliefs at times. I also fail to remember that people are imperfect and that human understanding and comprehension are painfully limited.

Then again I should point out that the following quote also from "This We Believe" makes lots of sense. We should keep in mind that some books referred to as the "true" or "best" interpretation of the Bible aren't quite the Word of God. Some of these translations could be biased or simply erroneously false willingly or not.

"11. We believe that the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament are the inspired Word of God. Translations of the Hebrew and Greek that accurately reflect the meaning of the original text convey God's truth to people and can properly be called the Word of God."
http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-beliefs/this-we-believe/gods-revelation?page=0,1

Of course, we should admit and understand that it's hard to say which Bible's truer or better than another (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-bible-vs-your-bible.html). For the time being, I keep jumping from NRSV to KJV to WEB.

In all, the WELS website's got lots of good information to understand and reaffirm what it means to be a Christian. Nonetheless my curiosity doesn't mean that I'm planing to change churches any time soon. If there's one thing that I've learned and that's changed me, it's been the opportunity to be a servant of God by serving others. This last concept -- heavily driven into our minds at FAPC -- seems to be the truer meaning of being a Christian, at least to me within my limited humanoid understanding.

my Bible vs your Bible

There are several versions and translations of the Bible in any given language (about 20 in English alone). Ever since I started being curious about being a "true" Christian (about a decade or so ago), I've really realized that there are so many Bibles. I've since also wondered about the differences between the different versions and/or translations of the Bible.

What's my choice? I personally opt for the easiest to read and understand. I have
1. KJV on my phone (http://project05952381.blogspot.com/2010/06/bible-in-my-hand.html) and my old Palm Visor Deluxe,
2. NRSV (http://www.nrsv.net/) that I bought at church,
3. KJV (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/)/ESV (http://www.esv.org/) side-to-side comparison that I got as a present,
4. KJV (http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/), NET (http://www.enetbible.com/) and WEB (http://www.ebible.org/) if not more modules at different times on Xiphos (http://www.xiphos.org/)
5. and NET (http://www.enetbible.com/) and NLT (http://www.newlivingtranslation.com/) bookmarked.

All these versions and/or translations say pretty much the same sometimes using exactly the same words. Nonetheless many groups of Christians would argue that their Bible of preference is the "correct" Bible. This is clearly a stupid argument and it has become one of the biggest excuses that we -- Christians -- have to quarrel and separate into factions.

Said all this, am I right or wrong to read and try to make sense of the Bible in its numerous versions and/or translations? Well let's just say that I hope I'm not wrong.

By the way, for Trekkers there's a Klingon (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/aliens/article/70638.html) version of the Bible (http://www.kli.org/wiki/index.php?Klingon%20Bible%20Translation%20Project). For those who think that this might be of bad taste, let me point out that Klingons -- if they existed -- would also be part of creation and hence also children of God. Besides religion should be enjoyed and not experienced as a punishment of sorts.