Kalle Bowo Posted November 11, 2016 Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 Hey folks, by now I'm growing pretty tired of this damn Muslim/Koran/refugee discussion that's going on here in Germany. Well and since I consider myself a rational person who likes to make informed decisions, I thought to myself "let's read the Koran" ... "and THEN judge those refugees, muahahaaa" ... No, honestly, I'm an atheist. I believe in science and facts, in freedom, harmony, I am pro tolerance and against violence. Let's say I try to be a decent human being. Anyway, one point on my to do list was also always to read the Bible. And now might be a pretty handy time to read both and compare what they say. So to put this short: Are there any different versions of those two books, the Bible and the Koran, I should care about? I mean I have literally no idea about that, I just heard that there are different versions for example of the bible because they were translated by different people at different points in time or something. Let's say I don't want to order "Bible version 1.2" on Amazon when there's already "version 1.55 extended edition + hotfix" on the market. You know what I mean? So if there's something like a standard or go-to editon of both books, please tell me more about it cheers, Kalle PS: Please, PLEASE don't start any religious discussion down here ^^ everybody is free to believe what they want to believe. And I know many people take these things pretty seriously, so I don't want any bad blood between you guys ^^ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NodGuy Posted November 11, 2016 Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 I'm an atheist myself as well, but I purchased a Koran at one point to learn about Islam and was told that the Koran available today is the same as the original (never confirmed that personally). So if that's true then you should have nothing to worry about there. Regarding the Bible, yeah, there are a lot of versions of this. I never got around to finding and acquiring the "correct" one so good luck there. And yes, hopefully this doesn't turn into a religious war. Me thinks we don't need that happening here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einstein Posted November 11, 2016 Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 I'm glad we're all in agreement then! Civil discussion only sounds perfect to me. I can not speak about the Koran as I have never taken the time to look at it. However, there are many "versions" of the Bible. Since I am a Christian, this obviously presents some....problems right? I mean, Christians are accused of being hypocrites all the time so having so many variations of our holy writ, some of which are vastly different from others, doesn't exactly help. The bottom line when it comes to choosing a version to study is to ask yourself why. Why are you studying this? What knowledge are you hoping to gain and in what form/fashion? Because unfortunately some "bibles" won't give the same message as others. Some (especially very new versions) are tailored rather than translated, to meet the needs of a group that may want to change what might have originally been written. You strike me as an intelligent individual, therefore I will assume that this is not what you seek, but rather clarity and accuracy. To get the clearest picture possible of what was written as "The Bible" originally, the only way is to read it in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Failing that, I recommend the earliest English translations for accuracy. I am guessing that your primary language is German, so there might be some older German translations in existence that could be useful to you, but I honestly do not know. But seeing as your English is quite good, an English translation should not present a problem for you. After you gather up a few older translations, I recommend comparing them. The easiest way may be a bible program for your computer, since many of these possess in-built compare features. Very handy! And above all else, research the versions you plan to read. Make sure that you know their quirks and the "style" in which they were translated. I do not feel comfortable just choosing one for you, however I will give a short list of some older (and a couple newer) ones that I have used for myself, and that I believe to not be not cripplingly perverted by man-edits. Tyndale Wycliffe Smith's Literal translation Young's Literal translation King James version American Standard version English Standard version Contrary to popular belief, there are older English translations than the KJV, which you will find by looking up some in that list. If I remember correctly, the KJV was even partially based on the work of a previous English translation. But thats enough trivia. I apologize for being long-winded, but I do hope that somewhere in all this you will find some useful information. I hope you find what you are looking for! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSoldier Posted November 11, 2016 Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 (edited) The discussion in germany isn't a real discussion, Kalle . As this "first" started there were multiple objections by multiple politicians and intellectuals that were hauled off into the right wing at the start which led to the now happening "discussion" with some politicians themselves having "right-wing" opinions and most people keeping their mouth kind of shut. It's indeed kind of weird. As for myself, I believe that the money used for infrastructure outside of germany is used way too inefficiently which results in the "european dream" that here is everything better. But that's way too broad for a topic to cover in 2 or 3 small sentences. As for the (german) bible and quran... The Lutherbible is the evangelist one which I think should be the easiest one to compare. (As I'm from germany myself, I'll post german amazon links ) https://www.amazon.de/Bibel-nach-Martin-Luthers-%C3%9Cbersetzung/dp/3438033054/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478859356&sr=8-2&keywords=Bibel Or you take the official "school"-bible with influences from the catholics and the evangelists: https://www.amazon.de/Die-Bibel-Altes-Testament-Einheits%C3%BCbersetzung/dp/3451280000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478859356&sr=8-1&keywords=Bibel As for the quran itself... phew... https://www.amazon.de/Koran-Vollst%C3%A4ndige-Ausgabe-Max-Henning/dp/3868200835/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478859666&sr=8-2&keywords=Koran should be fine. The version of the 80's present in the german amazon may be a cut version. But you might actually be better off with the english versions as Einstein said. Here I would recommend the King James - Edition. Edited November 11, 2016 by NoSoldier 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted November 12, 2016 Report Share Posted November 12, 2016 (edited) Hmm, so I've been making a (somewhat half-hearted) attempt at learning German for a while now. One day out of curiosity, I got the idea to try looking up a German version of the Bible online and try comparing some familiar verses I knew in English to their German counterparts. Did a Google search, clicked the first link, went to Genesis 1...and oh man, I could barely understand a word Anyway, how is it that the Koran ended up as masculine and the Bible as feminine? Edited November 12, 2016 by delta 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilslayersbane Posted November 12, 2016 Report Share Posted November 12, 2016 I consider myself to be Catholic, though I disagree with some of the Church's views. As far as Bible's go, the one that most protestant faiths (at least in the U.S.) use is the King James Bible, as it was the first English translation. With the Duoay-Rheims Bible following shortly after for the Catholic Church. The biggest differences between a Catholic Bible and Protestant Bible is that King James left out a number of books from the original Latin/Hebrew texts. These are: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, parts of Esther and parts of Daniel. According to Wikipedia, these books are found in Eastern Orthodox bibles, but not in Protestant. I got about halfway through the old testament during Basic Training. My favorite book so far is Ruth. It's short and rather uplifting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRAYDO Posted November 13, 2016 Report Share Posted November 13, 2016 Anyway, how is it that the Koran ended up as masculine and the Bible as feminine? I didn't even know that was a thing. A masculine book and a feminine book? Must be the Quran taking a subtle jab at the Bible. Hmm, so I've been making a (somewhat half-hearted) attempt at learning German for a while now. Same here. I would really like to learn German as well, and likewise it's a half-hearted attempt. I have a phrasebook lying around, though I believe getting the grammar and proper pronunciation down would be more effective. If I were to be taught that, I think the rest would be easy to grasp. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted November 13, 2016 Report Share Posted November 13, 2016 (edited) Oh, the masculine/feminine thing is a German thing where every single noun is either "masculine", "feminine" or "neuter". So whereas in English we just say "the tree", "the flower", "the house", in German it's "der Baum", "die Blume" and "das Haus" since they're masculine, feminine and neuter respectively. There's not any rule as to what sort of object gets which gender, you just gotta memorize it for each and every noun. And to make things even more infuriatingly complicated, der/die/das can get completely swapped around depending on whether the noun is the subject of the sentence, the direct object, the indirect object, or is used in the possessive case. Edited November 13, 2016 by delta 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodlied Posted November 13, 2016 Report Share Posted November 13, 2016 Oh, the masculine/feminine thing is a German thing where every single noun is either "masculine", "feminine" or "neuter". So whereas in English we just say "the tree", "the flower", "the house", in German it's "der Baum", "die Blume" and "das Haus" since they're masculine, feminine and neuter respectively. There's not any rule as to what sort of object gets which gender, you just gotta memorize it for each and every noun. And to make things even more infuriatingly complicated, der/die/das can get completely swapped around depending on whether the noun is the subject of the sentence, the direct object, the indirect object, or is used in the possessive case. TL;DR: Dutch is easier. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalle Bowo Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Anyway, how is it that the Koran ended up as masculine and the Bible as feminine? I guess someone flipped a coin much german, such accurate, wow ... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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