The Message - Clarified

When I first noticed something was unusual about The Message, I did a quick "down & dirty" word study on www.biblegateway.com and found some very interesting and even disturbing differences between the paraphrase The Message, and the two best selling versions, the NIV and the KJV.


Until God laid it on my heart to dig deeper, this list was sufficient for me to know The Message was a book I didn't plan to use or endorse.


I'm sharing this list mainly because I want to get rid of this piece of paper, but I'm sure you'll find it interesting.  I was also curious about some of the differences between the NIV and the KJV that this little comparison brought to light for me. 

                                KJV       NIV       MSG
Christ                       537         531         343
Lord                       6781      6712          71
Jesus                        942        1276        998
God                       4094       3930       6273
heaven                      691        606          327
devil(s)                     106          35           55
hell                             54          14          381
blood                        392        389         270
Salvation                   158        120         129
Word of God              48          40           42
Word of the Lord      255        232             0
Lord Jesus Christ        81          60              0
Repent                        43          39            11
Holy Spirit                    7          96            90
Angel(s)                     283       291          530
Grace                        159        124           90
Mercy                        262       124           95 
Redeem(ed)               101         85            40
Sin                             388        433          297
Righteousness             289        232           37
Flesh                          369        124           44
Submit                         16          26            15
Barbecue                       0            0             6



I don't know if these numbers mean anything to you, but a few of them really bother me.