Advocation for Scholars
Members of the nonprofit team were formally educated in fields other than Biblical Scholarship. We know the Scriptures, but we are not Biblical Scholars, and since we are not, it is perfectly appropriate for us to advocate for funding for those who are. The nonprofit team has worked without support and we are not seeking support for ourselves here. However, consonant with the purpose of this website, there is a great need for more structural study of His Word, and there is much that remains to be done.
Support for seminaries, language translation, etc., is already being provided by many, and if you are one of those individuals, institutions, or foundations, we want to thank you for your support for those societies, institutions, and endeavors.
First of all, the Bible is God’s Word, it is God’s light unto a badly damaged and broken world. There is tremendous hope and comfort to be found in this book. As a culture, we need to be about maintaining it and also honoring it, just as the eternal Word has been for at least 4000 human years.
Second, we want to point out the time it takes to develop scholars who can understand the ancient languages at a nuance level, and competently translate His Word. I have trouble enough with English! If you are a seasoned and experienced individual in any field of endeavor or knowledge, you would be aware of the technical complexity in fields such as microbiology or genomics or quantum physics, or the expertise required in any profession such as business, economics, health, etc. They cannot all be listed. The details in Biblical translation are much the same, requiring decades of training in the ancient languages, and development of interpretation knowledge.
Third, you would know technology and computers have changed printing and publishing techniques, so that the true cost of the Bible is no longer reflected in printing costs. The reality is becoming that almost anyone can print a Bible at low cost, or produce it electronically, but relatively few can do the detailed research necessary to produce accurate translations. It is important to continue to bring the Bible at a low cost, but somehow, increased support must be found so that we have people with expertise into the future! Therefore, we want to urge you to provide support, not to ourselves, but to those institutions which educate and train Biblical Scholars in interpretation and translation. This will be an ongoing need until He returns!
May God bless us as we as peoples and nations honor His Word.