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  1. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    Are you KJVO? Would you consider leading him to English translations published prior to KJV?
  2. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    Thanks for your input. That’s essentially what the student I’ve been speaking about said. Besides (or in addition to) recommending that he not read the footnotes, what would you do to help him?
  3. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    I think most people probably do see the verse number skipping from 3 to 5 (in some translations, including NIV) and realize there is an issue with the verse. It is an odd thing for the translators to do. I agree. I primarily use NASB95. It retains the verse numbering (no skipping from 3 to 5)...
  4. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    The conversation took place sometime around 2004 or 2005. I recall that the student either read or showed the Muslim the passage in NIV (maybe he did both, I’m not sure anymore about that) and the Muslim replied that the Bible has been corrupted. Verse 4, which doesn’t exist in the NIV, was the...
  5. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    One of the sad things about the student is that when he read John 5 in the NIV he hadn’t even noticed, prior to his conversation with the Muslim, that there is no verse numbered 4. The verse numbering goes from verse 3 directly to verse 5. He had read it for years without ever noticing it.
  6. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    Another way that I used to help the student was guide him to commentaries. Initially he was reluctant to make use of commentaries - for the same reason that he was reluctant to look at any footnotes. Here is the commentary on John 5:4 from the NET. (I agree with the commentary.)...
  7. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    I agree with the footnotes. You know what they say, apparently, but you’ve declined to say whether you agree with them or not.
  8. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    I told you that I agree with the footnotes. All you’ve done, finally, is to acknowledge that you’ve read footnotes. The question remains, do you agree with the footnotes on John 5:4?
  9. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    This thread came about in an unusual way. Another member here recently posted in the Apologetics forum about how Muslims handle manuscript issues. I did an online search for something related to the topic and in the process of doing that recalled the conversation I mentioned in the OP. An hour...
  10. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    Have you read the footnotes?
  11. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    I agree with the footnotes.
  12. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    Thanks. There were no footnotes in the Bible he was using. He was reluctant to look at footnotes in other Bibles (NIV, and other translations). The reason he gave for his reluctance was footnotes are not inspired. I like that approach and made some use of it.
  13. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    What do the notes tell us? Are the notes correct?
  14. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    The problem is that the inexperienced student thought there was a problem. The Muslin threw him for a loop. The question asked in the OP is how to help the student. How would you go about helping the student?
  15. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    The question concerns how you would help the student. “Read the footnotes” is a way (and one of the ways that I used to help the student I spoke about in the OP) to do it. “Learn about ancient manuscripts” is another way (and one that I also used to help him.) There are additional ways.
  16. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    I was raised KJVO. I’ll have more to say about it after others have commented.
  17. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    The incident I described is real. The person I spoke about is real, not imaginary. I’ll give others an opportunity to respond before I comment on how I helped the student. I was live with the person (in that, I have those who weren’t at a disadvantage - which I suppose is the point of your...
  18. Matthias

    The happy thread

  19. Matthias

    The curious case of John 5:4

    When is the last time you read this passage of scripture? Some people read the Bible cover to cover and have never read it. If the translation you use is one of the following, you won’t have read it and may not even be aware of it: CJB, DLNT, ERV, GNT, NABRE, NIV, NIVUK, and TLV...
  20. Matthias

    The happy thread