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| Sabbath School Programs and Teaching Plans for your Church |
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Formerly Sabbath School Leadership, LEAD is a quarterly magazine to bring more power and polish to your Sabbath School programs and Sabbath School teaching.
 Listen to the Sabbath School Theme Music for this Quarter
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The Criteria: Reasonable and Sound 
Song Service
Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal
272—“Give Me the Bible”
273—“Lord, I Have Made Thy Word My Choice”
He Is Our Song
77—“All Through the Day”
78—“I Shall Not Be Moved”
Quarterly Theme Song
“Spirit, Bear Fruit in My Life,” by Gale Jones-Murphy; leadmagazine.org
PROGRAM
The questions and answers for this program are adapted, with permission, from the General Conference Biblical Research Institute Web site “Which Version Can We Trust?” by Arthur Ferch: http://biblicalresearch.gc.adventist.org/documents/whitebible.htm.
Program Notes: Find two presenters who interact comfortably with each other. Visual aids could include PowerPoint or other exhibits of dates and quotations. After the main presentation, play one or more Bible games based on Sabbath School lessons for the various age groups.
Evangelism
In a public venue, host one or more of the following: Bible story reading, Bible puppetry, Bible art shows (provide art materials for portraying Bible accounts, e.g., naming of the animals in Eden (God’s zoo); Noah’s Ark; the garden in Eden, Baby Moses.
The Criteria: Reasonable and Sound
Presenter 2: The first major revision of the Bible, after the organization of the Adventist Church, was the English Revised Version, published between 1881 and 1885. The Review and Herald issued several articles designed to acquaint readers with the progress, reception, and value of the version as well as its relationship to the King James Version. Two of the reprints from other journals were added as favorable reactions by prominent Adventist writers. Adventists, one would assume, were generally comfortable with this version.
Presenter 1: How did Adventist leadership respond? Lively debate arose over the benefits—or otherwise—of this version. Finally, on March 20, 1930, the General Conference Committee took an action relative to the merits of both the King James Version of 1611 and the American Revised Version of 1901 (drumroll or piano/organ fanfare).
Presenter 2: The decision of 1930 was confirmed by another General Conference Committee action of June 1, 1931. Leaders implored church members to avoid controversy over the use of versions: “We further record our conviction that all our workers, ministers, teachers, authors, editors, and leaders should rigidly refrain from further participation in this controversy, leaving all free to use the version of their choice. We also appeal for the sincere cooperation of all our workers in endeavoring to preserve the unity of our people.”
Presenter 1: The next question is (instrumental fanfare): Was there a riot among Adventist Church members during the period that the Revised Standard Version was published? The answer: Absolutely not! However, there was legitimate concern about the rendition of certain passages. So the General Conference appointed the Committee on Problems in Bible Translation to study those passages. The group submitted its report to the General Conference Committee in January 1954 and received authority to publish its findings.
Presenter 2: Subsequently, another decision was made to expand the report to include material dealing with issues such as the biblical manuscripts, versions, problems of translation, and the principles and problems of interpretation.
Presenter 1: Finally, Problems in Bible Translation was issued by the Review and Herald Publishing Association in 1954. The authors recognized that Bible translations stand in need of revisions for a variety of reasons, including archaeological discoveries that impact our understanding of the biblical world and the need to speak the ever-changing language of the people. For example, findings in archaeology after 1870 enriched our understanding beyond anything known previously. The discovery of numerous portions of Scripture, official papers, and letters of ordinary people that dated from Bible times significantly improved our knowledge of biblical languages.
Presenter 2: And since the nineteenth century, scholars were given access to previously unknown, ancient, and almost complete Bible manuscripts. These and other factors required revisions of certain points in Bible translations to be more accurate in the English rendering and elimination of words, phrases, or verses that had once been taken for granted as Scripture. Living languages change. Revisions must speak the idiom of the day.
Presenter 1: So the Committee on Problems in Bible Translation recognized the Revised Standard Version as having as much value as other Bible translations. It was declared to be sound and reasonable.
Presenter 2: Next week: Ellen G. White’s opinions about Bible reading.
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