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Dan Parr’s journey to creating a new Bible translation is a testament to the divine orchestration that underpins his life and work. He dives deep into the pressing need for a version that breaks down language barriers and makes scripture accessible for everyone, a mission he embraces with heartfelt determination. Throughout his conversation with T.S. Wright, Dan shares the challenges he faced in translating complex passages, especially those penned by Paul, while ensuring that the essence and intent of the original texts remained intact. His commitment to clarity and understanding shines through as he discusses the extensive research he undertook, consulting various translations and commentaries to navigate the intricacies of biblical language. This episode not only highlights Dan's personal story of faith and purpose but also emphasizes the transformative power of God’s word and the importance of engaging with scripture in a way that fosters spiritual growth for all.

Be sure to check out Dan Parr's Links:

To buy his Bible Translation:

Listen to the Easy to Understand, Read Bible on Audible.com

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To visit Dan's Audible site: 

https://www.audible.com/author/Dan-Parr/B0C9H1C21Q

Dan Parr's narrative embodies the profound truth of God's sovereignty and the divine purpose that underscores our existence. His personal story, which begins in the womb, serves as a testament to the miraculous ways God intervenes in our lives, often against the odds. This episode delves deep into the necessity of a new Bible translation, as Dan shares his experience of translating the scriptures into a more accessible format. He candidly discusses the complexities of translating Pauline epistles, noting how even seasoned scholars find these texts challenging. The conversation highlights the unique balance Dan strives for: maintaining the original meaning of scripture while presenting it in contemporary language that resonates with today’s readers. Throughout their discussion, T.S. Wright and Dan emphasize the importance of scripture being understandable to all, regardless of their background or familiarity with biblical texts. They reflect on the significance of examining multiple translations to enrich one’s understanding and encourage listeners to engage with God's Word actively. Ultimately, this episode inspires hope, inviting listeners to witness the transformative impact of accessible scripture in their spiritual journeys.

Takeaways:

• Dan Parr's journey from a health scare at birth to becoming a Bible narrator showcases the incredible sovereignty of God in shaping destinies.
• The necessity for a new Bible translation is underscored by the prevalent language barriers that hinder comprehension for many readers.
• Dan's translation project aims to make the scriptures not only accessible but also relatable to modern audiences without losing their original essence.
• The translation process involved meticulous consultation of various versions and commentaries to maintain fidelity to the original texts while simplifying the language used.
• Complex passages, particularly those authored by Paul, presented significant challenges for Dan, emphasizing the need for careful interpretation and clarity in communication.
• Readers are encouraged to engage with multiple translations to enhance their understanding of scripture and foster spiritual growth, reaffirming that God's word transcends linguistic constraints.

Welcome to the show that combines biblical truth with the purpose of sparking revival.

Committed to spreading the gospel, this is your Kingdom Crossroads podcast.

And now your host, T.S.

wright.

Welcome everyone to the Kingdom Crossroads which is brought to you by GCC Global, the God center concept.

I'm your host, T.S.

wright and I'm so glad you could join us today.

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Have you ever struggled with understanding the Bible because of word usage and language issues and things of that nature?

Well, today we have a special guest that is tackling that very issue for people who have had that problem or are having that issue because he doesn't just want you to be left in confusion.

Joining us today is Dan Parr.

He has had a calling put on his heart by the Lord to help solve this very issue.

He is a gifted Bible narrator, has a passion for Jesus Christ and a deep love for God's Word and making it easily accessible and understandable for everyone.

He is the publisher and narrator of the easy to understand read Bible known as eur.

His voice is clear, warm and engaging.

He actually does voiceover work as well.

So, Dan, I want to welcome you to the show.

Thank you so much, TS It's a pleasure to be here.

So let's dive right into this and as we, as we embark on this journey, before we get into the things about the book, talk to us a little bit about just your beginnings.

And I know that you had made a statement of something, a decision with your mother and how that worked out.

Why don't you just give us a little bit about yourself and include that as part of your story.

Yeah.

So my story starts before I did, right?

So when my mother was pregnant with me, she was going through a very dark time.

She was suffering from these terrible migraine headaches on a regular basis and the only relief she would get was, you know, sitting in a dark room and being on some pretty heavy medications prescribed to her by her doctor.

Well, during this time she becomes pregnant and I am in womb and she is very concerned about it.

So she goes to her doctor to talk about it and she just says, what's going to happen to my baby?

You know, I know I'm on these drugs.

Is that going to have an effect?

And he's like, you're right to be concerned.

It's definitely going to have an effect.

You're going to have some sort of issue with this baby.

There's going to be some sort of physical, mental, whatever that is going to be wrong.

She was heartbroken to hear that, as any mother would be.

So she took that news, went home, talked to my father, and they began to pray.

They already had three other children to take care of and this was going to be a special needs child that they were going to have.

The doctor had advised her to get an abortion because it was going to be a very hard challenge for them.

And he knew that, right, because he was prescribing the drugs that she was on.

So they began to pray about it and thought, well, came to the conclusion that, well, God, if you have me pregnant, then obviously you want this child here.

And we don't know what that is going to look like.

And if it is going to be a special needs child, then that is what it is.

You have a plan for everybody.

So we're going to go ahead and carry this baby through to term and let you be lord over the situation and trust that you're going to help us with this.

Well, I came out and they looked and I had all my fingers, all my toes, everything seemed to be in place.

And they watched over the next few months as I developed and I was perfectly healthy.

You know, I'm in my late 50s now and I've really not had any major health concerns.

So, yeah, it is just God and his protection over me, his blessing on my life, and just his honoring their commitment to life.

The Bible talks about in Psalm 139 how God knit us together in our mother's womb.

He knows us before we were born.

That just became very painfully evident to me once my mother shared that story with me when I was old enough to appreciate it.

Ever since then, I knew that I had a purpose, that I was put here for a reason.

Well, I'm not special, right?

Everybody has a purpose.

So if you're breathing, you have a purpose that God made you for a reason.

But that just became very clear to me because of the way that it started.

So that's a little bit about how I got started in this world.

Amen.

Well, hey, that is, I think for a lot of you listening, those type of stories are reminders of God's sovereignty and his power over ours.

Us humans, we can make certain decisions, but at the end of the day, God has the power.

He has the power to transform things and Lives in all kinds of unique ways.

I think your story just is an illustration of that in God's perfect form.

Thank God that it worked out the way it did.

We need to bless and praise him and lift up his name for being able to continue to carry you on, to be able to do the work that he had assigned for you.

Right?

Yeah.

And you know, our church has an embrace ministry where they take care of special needs children.

They have a whole center for it, and we celebrated them yesterday.

God doesn't make mistakes.

You know, people come out the way they come out for a certain reason, and we don't know what that is.

But, you know, we look at it at the 1,000 foot view.

He looks at it from the 100,000 foot view.

He knows much better what's going on than we do.

And there's a purpose for everything.

So even if I had come out special needs, you know, God still would be God, he would still be sovereign and that would have just been the way it was supposed to be.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, Dan, let's.

Let's now take the next step and start diving into what you do and what you've been doing.

And so here's my question.

What was the moment or need that you recognized that led you to believe a new version of the Bible was necessary?

Well, TS I wish I could tell you I heard God's voice saying, dan, write a new version of the Bible for me.

But that did not happen.

He speaks to me a little bit different than that.

I'm a voice over talent by trade, as you'd mentioned.

And I love reading God's Word and I'll read it in public whenever I get a chance.

In our life group or Sunday school class, as it used to be called, they would ask for people to read scriptures during the lesson, and I would always volunteer.

And our teacher had mentioned, Dan, I love it when you read God's Word.

I love to hear your voice.

I thought that was very nice.

So I thought, one Easter I'm going to put together a little video that I can throw up on my Facebook about the resurrection of Christ.

So I looked to the Gospel of Luke, found the resurrection story, kind of reworded it to make it flow a little bit better without changing the intent or the meaning, and put it together and put it on Facebook.

Got some good feedback from that.

And I got maybe a little cocky and thought, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to do the entire book of Luke.

How crazy is that?

So I wanted to read the book of Luke.

And I thought, I'll put it out there on Audible and Amazon, see what happens with it.

Of course, you can't just pick up the Bible and read it.

Right?

Everything's copyrighted, trademarked.

So I had to find something in public domain.

Looked at the King James Version, I thought, yeah, that's not going to work for me.

So I had to find something else.

And I came across the web, the World English Bible, a good, solid translation, interdenominational and in public domain.

And as good as it is, there was still some awkward phrasing, some interesting word choices that I thought I could smooth out, make better, and just make it clearer and more concise.

So with that, I went to work.

And, you know, I'd get frustrated and think, how am I supposed to do this?

And God would eventually lead me to another translation or a commentary where I could see what was being said, then figure out how to write it in a more clear and concise way that's easier to digest and understand.

So I did that with the book of Luke and enjoyed the process, but was also glad to be done with it as well.

So I got done with that and put it out there.

And wasn't too much longer after that TS that God began to speak to me again.

And I felt him saying, you know, the book of Acts is really the book of Luke Part 2.

I was waiting for that to come.

You need to tell the whole story.

So I thought, okay, I'll do the book of Acts, and did that.

Got done with it and thought I was done.

But God, as he often does, just continues to lead you along.

And I was arguing with him along this way, just kind of telling him, God, we don't need another version of the Bible.

There are plenty of versions out there.

Another one's not necessary.

And I would say that frequently as I was going through this, not in an arrogant or rebellious way, just voicing my concern.

Eventually I got to the point where I heard God speaking to me, saying, dan, why don't you let me decide what's necessary and what's not?

And I thought, okay, I get it.

I'm familiar with that.

Yeah, he is very good about directing our steps, if we'll allow him.

So I. I did the New Testament, and I love the book of Genesis.

It is probably one of my favorite books of the Bible.

And I thought, man, that would be a great book to do, too.

So got done with the Old Testament and four years later, put it all together.

If you had told me five years ago that I was going to come out with a new version of the Bible, I would have thought you were insane.

But as God leads, he had me do it.

And it took a while, but finally got it done.

Wow, that's.

That's amazing.

And, hey, and that is exactly how God works.

You know, he works with us in processes.

Yes.

And he wants faithful obedience.

That's what he wants.

So, yes.

And I. I can completely relate to that.

So I've got another question for you here, and I think this is really something that the listeners would want to hear, and maybe this question will really bring that out is, do you believe that traditional.

That traditional languages of older translations can pose sometimes a barrier to spiritual growth and understanding for some believers?

Yes, I do.

Let me first put a little caveat through this.

I believe God can work through anything.

I believe God can work through the King James Version.

Right.

Even though it's a lot of thees and thou's and beseecheths and mites and farthings and.

And cubits, and we don't say those words anymore.

But I believe God is powerful enough, sovereign enough, to work through those.

However, I also know that people, if they look at something that is going to be too hard for them to digest and understand, they are going to abandon it and they are not going to take the time to invest.

So I wanted to take down any kind of barrier that there would be.

So my goal as I was going through this is if somebody knows nothing about Jesus, if they know nothing about God, know nothing about the Bible, would they be able to pick this up, read it, and get it?

And I wanted to make a version that would answer that question with the affirmative.

Yes, they could get this.

So that was kind of the goal.

As I put this out there.

Is it easy to understand?

Is it easy to digest?

Right.

So that was kind of the goal that I had as I put it out there.

So to answer your question, yes, it can be a barrier, but God can use anything.

Amen.

He can definitely do that.

So you talked a little bit about the whole translation process, but is there anything you would like to expand on that part of it?

Because I know you talked about how you got from part to part, but maybe talk about the translation aspect of this.

Yeah.

So one of the things I was very concerned about is my qualifications.

Right.

I'm not a PhD in the Bible.

I'm not a seminary graduate.

I'VE taken a couple of seminary classes, but I hardly felt qualified to take on this task.

But God reminded me when he first started, he picked a few guys that didn't have very good qualifications either, but he decided to use them anyway.

So I submitted myself to him, said, okay, God don't understand it, but if this is what you want to do, I'm willing to be used.

So I put myself out there and let him start working on me.

And I'd come across passages that I would just go, what in the world is being said here?

How am I supposed to make this clear?

And I'd be a little frustrated, but God would lead me to a commentary or another, actually several different versions of the Bible that I would look at and be able to kind of figure it out and how to wordsmith it, to put it into a modern translation, modern English.

So I did that time and time again.

And, you know, it was just me working on this.

But yet at the same time, I felt like I was surrounded by a team of experts TS Because I had all these other translations available to me at my fingertips.

I had all these commentaries available to me at my fingertips and Bible dictionaries.

And whenever I get stuck or frustrated, I would be able to look at all these other works that are out there and get it figured out.

I don't claim any credit of that.

I'm not that smart.

I think it's just God giving me the ability to get it done.

So I did it by myself, but yet I was led to do it by the Holy Spirit and surrounded by just a cloud of experts and witnesses, as the Bible says, that have gone on before me and paved the way.

Amen.

Amen.

I just want to say that I find this fascinating, the fact that you were able to do this, and I appreciate the fact that you bring up that, hey, you know what?

I don't have a seminary degree or any of that, because that doesn't need to limit us.

As a matter of fact, I watched a special on Billy Graham.

And yeah, he had his training and stuff, but he said he felt like he was going to be compared to people who'd come from Harvard and other institutions of higher learning that were considered higher tier and these great thinkers.

And yet God used him in ways that these other people I've never even heard of.

But Billy Graham, look at how many people he reached.

So I think that's a great example of the fact that God can use us how he chooses.

And he gets to choose who gets to certain spaces.

And it's not always based on just your level of education.

That's not the only prerequisite to this.

Just like he chose the disciples.

He didn't go and choose Pharisees.

Right.

You know, until he chose Paul.

But that was after the fact, you know, I mean, he chose fishermen.

And some of these guys were, quite frankly, I mean, they were way below low on the totem pole.

Exactly.

Of all people.

Of all people who had to be the most despised human beings on the face of the earth as far as the Israelites were concerned.

So they.

Yeah, they didn't.

And we know that they didn't hold tax collectors in high esteem.

So I think it's amazing that you've been able to do this.

So let me ask you this question.

Were there any particular verses or passages as you're doing this that were especially challenging to translate into this more?

I guess, the best word I would be looking for contemporary English and the way that we understand English today.

Yeah.

So pretty much anything that Paul wrote, it was a little bit of a challenge.

You know, as I was going through this, I was thinking, man, I wish Paul had an editor.

It would have been so much easier.

But I get it, right.

He wrote in that particular way because it forces you to grapple with and wrestle with the text, to dig deep and to get into it.

And I find it funny that even Peter says that Paul's works, his words are hard to understand.

And it's like, yep, I get that, buddy.

But I remember going through Corinthians 1 and 2 Corinthians.

It was more of a challenge than I thought it was.

I thought, oh, 1 Corinthians 13.

All about love.

It's going to be simple, right.

Turned out not to be the case.

It was.

Probably took me much longer than I thought.

I say us, me and God, Right.

It took me a lot longer than it was expected to.

And so going through that, I had to look at a lot of different versions to kind of get what was being said and figure out how to put it in modern terms, as you mentioned.

So let me ask you this question.

Have.

Obviously you've got this version and you've got these links.

There's also a lot of Bible platforms out there right now.

Have you.

Have you been approached or have you had a chance or been out there long enough for you to start maybe approaching them to potentially get this on there?

I haven't.

You know, I'm open to that.

If somebody wants to.

From Bible Gateway wants to give me a call or.

That's totally Fine.

Yeah.

I use that on my phone as well.

I have that app also.

And they're celebrating a billion downloads.

Is that just incredible or what?

I actually attend Life Church.

Who sponsors this?

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Kudos to them for what they've been able to do in making God's Word accessible to people all around the world.

But, yeah, I'm certainly open to that.

And really, I can't even claim credit for this.

I don't feel like it's my project.

God did it through me, but it's his project, and wherever he wants to let it go, you know, who am I to say?

Whatever doors he opens, you know, I'll pray about it, see if it's what he wants, and just do it.

So however he chooses to use it.

Amen.

Amen.

So.

And I want to bring this out, and you can kind of.

I'm going to let you expand on all this.

Anytime there's a new translation of the Bible, people, the first thing they do is they get into this.

Is it watering down Scripture?

And, you know, how accurate is it?

And is it, you know, is it stepping away from the traditional kind of the traditional translations?

And I know there's some people out there, and I'm not trying to offend anybody, but that they think the King James Version, I mean, in their mind, they think that's the original version of the Bible.

And so if I'm teaching you about the Bible, I'm going to teach you how we got the Bible.

And so I have, matter of fact, I can, if we wanted to, I could take people through three or four lessons on how that all happened to give you.

But there's this guy that really, as far as the New Testament concerned, this guy named Athanasius, that was really kind of the bridge.

Not that there was not other people involved, because there was.

But he put out a festival letter, I think it was about 366, which is an Easter letter that said there's these 27 sacred writings.

And then later on, these councils would come up and say, hey, this is going to be the New Testament.

And it was those 27 writings, of course.

So it was a process just to get to that.

Well, these were originally written.

The Bible was written the New Testament, mainly in Greek.

Some believe there was.

Might have been Matthew, might have been in Aramaic originally, Greek, maybe.

And so there's been some different.

Scholars say different things on that.

For now, we accept that it was probably in Greek and it's a different style of Greek than what Greek is now.

But then Old Hebrew, biblical language was what most of the Old Testament was written in a little bit of Aramaic.

So we need to understand this.

So when these translations are coming out, this isn't just, you know, we can't just start all of a sudden throwing everything out just because, you know, we think the King James Version is the only version that is not fact, that's just not based on any fact.

If we study the history of this.

So tell us about your translation.

If anybody's talked about, is it watered down, all that stuff, I want to let you just expand on that.

Yeah.

And honestly, that was one of my concerns, right?

I don't want to misrepresent God.

I don't want to misrepresent His Word.

So I was.

I don't want to say fearful, but I was very cognizant of that.

And that was one of my concerns that I had.

And, you know, like Paul tells them, you know, the Bereans, they went back and they searched what I said.

And I encourage other people to do the same thing anytime they are reading any translation of the Bible, right?

Go back and research.

What do other translations say.

So as I went through this, what I wanted to do is make sure that I wasn't coming at it from left field.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't saying something that no other version had said.

So I would look at literally seven or eight different versions of the Bible as I went through this to make sure that what I was putting in there was in an alignment with what they were putting in there.

I wanted to make sure that anybody who picked it up would say, okay, I feel comfortable with this, right?

That God has been working through this person in this.

And, you know, I didn't change any meaning.

I changed words, but I didn't change intent.

I just changed the way that it was said.

An example I've been telling people is like, if I tell you John bought a red car, right?

That's pretty simple, pretty concise.

I could also say there is a man named John who decided to purchase an automobile.

For his automobile, he decided to choose the color red, right?

It's saying the same thing, but one is much more concise.

And I'm not changing the meaning, right?

It's the same message.

Just one's easier to understand than the other.

And so that's really what I've done with this.

I didn't want to water it down.

I just wanted to say it as concisely as possible with still getting the same meaning out there.

Amen.

Amen.

It sounds like just the thoroughness and the amount of time that you went through that this is obviously.

It obviously took that long to make sure that you kept.

You didn't lose any of the meaning or the intention of the original authors.

Yeah, exactly.

It's just one of the things that I had to be sure of that it's going to be accurate.

And that's why I consulted so many different versions to make sure I wasn't coming at it from a completely different place.

Amen.

Amen.

The next question is, because this has just been so enlightening and I mean, honestly, the word I'm going to use is just awesome.

This is great.

I'm glad that we've got people out there like yourself and that God is using people like you to make sure that everybody has this in a way that they can understand.

And I know some other people doing translations, like for people who are deaf.

I mean, it's amazing some of the different ways that God is using.

He's trying to reach everybody.

I mean, he's given everybody this opportunity to be able to dive in and absorb his truth.

How can someone be able to connect with you or even more so, learn more about your Bible translation and, hey, be able to actually purchase it.

Everything I've done is on audible.com so if they just go to Audible and search my name, Dan Parr, everything will be right there.

And it's, it's.

I didn't intend to do it this way.

It's just kind of the way God led.

Right.

As I put out a book, I would release it on Amazon and Audible.

So if they want to study just the book of Luke, they can do that.

If they want to study just the four Gospels, they can do that.

Right.

So it's all out there as one book, as the Bible, but there's also different versions, the chronological Bible, the Bible in a year.

Each individual book is out there if they want to look at it that way as well.

So everything's on audible.com well, Dan, this has been awesome.

I love this.

This is the kind of stuff I dig into.

Biblical scholarship, Bibles.

I mean, that biblical part of that is my favorite thing.

And as a matter of fact, when I used to be a guest speaker on this show, when Pastor Bob was the one hosting it, that we were always talking about a Bible topic.

And, you know, I gave a whole thing.

So to me personally, I just, I absolutely love this.

This is.

I think this is great.

So I just want to say that it has been great having you on the show and we're going to include everything that Dan has talked about to all of you.

We're going to include all this in the show notes, the links that you can go to Audible, you can purchase this.

You know, if you're having any type of issue understanding the Bible, here's what I challenge you.

Purchase this, go like to Bible Hub or YouVersion and look at those translations and read them side by side.

That's such a powerful way to do it.

That's how I do my Bible studies and I'm going to tell you right now, I'm so thrilled I'm ready for years to get on some of these platforms.

Hey, we're going to be praying for that and that they will be able to use that and then we have those side by side comparisons to help people to do those connections.

Because I think reading multiple translations and boy, if you're struggling with this, this sounds like to me just something that's magnificent.

So Dan, I just want to thank you for being on the show today and I find this absolutely fascinating.

My pleasure.

Thanks for the conversation.

Just getting the word out and you know, whether it's my version or anybody else's version, just get into the Word on a daily basis.

Let God do His transformative work through you, through His Word and you never know where it's going to take you.

And you and I, TS are both living proof of that.

You'll just do more than you can ask or imagine.

Amen.

Amen.

Well folks, thank you for tuning in today's show.

We appreciate you spending time with us and being a part of the KCR Kingdom Crossroads community.

Of course, presented to you by GCC Global.

The God center concept.

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This is TS wrright and until next time, go forth in total surrender to the one who owns and reigns over all creation.

Let the great harvest begin.