Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the burning fiery furnace

[Kit Sober]

Wordwolf had this to say over on the "Forgiveness" thread, and I didn't want to derail that topic, but remembered a wonderful teaching that so inspired me that E11ie Wi1s0n did circa 1969-1970,

From the From the Forgiveness thread in "About the Way" forum

Daniel 3: 14-18 (KJV)

14Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

15Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Daniel 3:14-18 (NASB)

14Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

15"Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?"

16Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.

17"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

18"But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

[Now, THAT'S some men of God who refused SECULAR deliverance/release. The world was not worthy of Shadrach,

Mesach, and Abed-nego. Even if God did NOT deliver them from a painful death, they would STILL not

worship other gods, or bow their knee to a graven image....and they didn't need to compose an answer

or confer amongst themselves before saying so.

Sir. since you asked,

OUR God is able to deliver us from a blazing furnace.

Even if He does NOT, we STILL won't serve your gods or worship your statue.

To be so prepared to suffer and possibly die horribly JUST for doing what God said...

an alien perspective to twi leadership and teaching....]

E11ie Wi1s0n many years ago gave one of those teachings that inspired me for years that twi was a place for people who loved to read the Bible for what it really said.

She taught at a woman's advance circa 1970 (I didn't attend, but Jane Yerem1an lent me the tape from her tape library in Alameda).

E11ie taught that the grammar of the response to the king (KJV) showed that the only question the three Jews had was whether or not the king was going to throw them in the firey furnace. The king was given to fits of rage and repentence and was currently in the "rage" stage. With God, however, there was no change neither shadow of turning, and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had no doubt that God was going to deliver them.

Ellie's teaching has been precious to me over the years because of the thoroughness required for our faith. And gave me an example to aim for -- Oh I yearn to have faith like those guys. That's the pipeline for God's grace and kindness to flow.

Wordwolf's posting of these two versions also gives a prime example of how personal opinion enters into the translator's versions. Seeing the movie "KJB" which is (to me) a wonderful and amazing film showing the creation of the King James Bible gave me an even greater respect and admiration for the awesome Godliness of the translators who humbled themselves and their work before God Almighty in their work.

The NASB translators added those words "of explanation" but the additions were personal opinions, which are fine, but not when someone says that is what the God meant to say, in my opinion.

[WordWolf]

[Actually,

I added those words of explanation.

When I add the brackets and the boldface, I'm making it clear I'm speaking for myself.

That's why I use the underlines for emphasis.

The NASB, as you can see, renders similarly to the KJV in that.

A quick comparison on Bible Gateway or something similar shows that.

My point was that the supposed "sacrifices" made by twi'ers or twi-style Christians

are mislabeled as being as bold as Bible examples. However, none of them ever got

into the same ballpark as Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.]