Tim and Kristen Borseth and Family

Why I'm switching to NLT!

I will probably be persecuted for this post by my Christian friends who have become convinced that godliness is spelled ESV, but I just can't hold my tongue any longer.

My Bible version story starts out with a Catholic version of the Good News Bible that my parents got me for Christmas the year I got saved. The introductory notes on why the Catholic version is superior to all others and why the Apocrypha is inspired was quite interesting.

Soon, though, I got my first NIV which was quickly replacing the NASB as the version of choice. I read the NIV, memorized from the NIV, and spiritually grew up in Christ with the NIV. It's a good version, but not perfect. Learning about the nature of a concept for concept translation and, more so, the theological influences of the translation team shook my confidence in it.

So I moved around to various translations until settling on the ESV by popular demand. It was far more a word for word translation and had minimal a priori theological influences, although not completely absent from them.

I was content with using NASB and ESV for years priding myself in using a more literal translation. Then it happened...

I was counseling a young Christian couple about the dangers of living together before marriage (in fact they weren't even engaged yet). It was sensitive. It was delicate. So I pulled out my Bible and read the pertinent verse:

"But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints" Eph. 5:3 (NASB)

They looked at me with blank stares. What?

How about ESV then:
"But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints." Eph. 5:3 ESV

Same response. Squinting of the eyes as they tried to figure out what I just read.

So seriously, I had to interpret the English so that a biblically unfamiliar person could understand it. I knew right then that if I have to translate the English so a person can understand it, I need a new version. One that translates the original Hebrew and Greek into a language that we think and speak in.

This is how the NLT puts it:
"Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people." Eph. 5:3 NLT

And the NIV uses the powerful phrase of "there must not be even a hint..."

Now that's language a person can easily understand! So, I bought me an NLT and I'm learning to appreciate the uniqueness of this translation.

I still have and use other translations to derive the exact meaning of a text in question, but my sword for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness will be the NLT. So help me God.

DSP has a successful launch

As of Saturday, May 23, the Decorah Summer Project got off the ground and has been gaining ground ever since.
The DSP consists of the already famous Decorah 7:

Luke Anderson
Holly Anderson
Joshua Anderson (young but cute)
Jenny Larson
Beth Boal
Vineet Kuruvilla
Dan Hult

We hope to see Alexa Gibbs and Rex Borseth around some too, as well at the Decorah team.

We came together Sunday morning for a "church in the park" service. It was sweet. 15 of us sang the best we could, got a good dose of God's Word about possessing a surprising faith, and ate lots of food. If every Sunday started like this, it would be a good life.

We've also done a lot of praying and playing. One great time playing was exploring Ice Cave and doing some cliff climbing. It was almost like Old Man Mountain at Estes Park, just not quite as challenging.

Some neat God things has been how quickly and easily the soccer program idea has been coming together. The middle school here was very eager to help out. I think the "are you Jack's brother" comment by the administrative assistant may have helped. She took us right to the top and got it all worked out.

Another huge blessing is working with Bethany in creating a soccer program logo. Not only is she good... she's fast. And the kids here with our church are excited about inviting their friends to it.

And a neat last minute service opportunity came up to help Hispanic women in Postville which will give us a great way to get soccer fliers out to their kids. We need Spanish speakers in a bad way to reach out effectively to them. Anyone? Anyone?

You can catch the whole summer calendar here.

Do pray for:
Beth, Dan, and Jenny to get jobs.
Success with the soccer program.
Genuine relationships be built and the gospel would get out.

You will never read this in the papers

In honor the the 58th National Day of Prayer, I joined 17 other prayer warriors today in front of city hall to pray for the moral rebirth of our nation.

Our prayers to God were humble, sincere, penitent, and desperate. I was honored to be numbered among them.

The verse to commemorate this day is Psalm 33: 22

"Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you."

The whole Psalm is a powerful one to pray.

It starts with the celebration and praise that only one whose hope is in the Lord can offer. Then moves to acknowledging the righteousness and supremacy of God. Camps on the necessity and responsibility for peoples and nations to honor Him. And concludes with a declaration of dependence on God.

Beautiful.