QUESTION: What about the “Good News Bible?” Is it a good translation?

ANSWER: No! There are very few so-called Bibles that are worse than this one. It can not even be accurately referred to as a “translation,” since it does not express the English word or words that are equivalent to the Greek words found in the original. It is a paraphrase expressed in terms that reflect what it’s authors believe the inspired writers meant to say. Therefore, it is not God’s word, but rather has it’s source in the minds of men. That this is the case is clearly indicated in the preface of the misnamed Good News Bible: “Consequently there has been no attempt to reproduce in English the parts of speech, sentence structure, word order, and grammatical devices of the original languages.” Since the Bible teaches verbal (word for word) inspiration (Ephesians 3:3-4), we can only logically conclude, based on the above quote, that the Good News Bible is not, nor does it represent, the inspired Word of God. In gross error, it, among many other errors, attempts to eradicate many of the references to the “blood” of Christ (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25; Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:13; and others. It wrongfully changes the day of worship from the first day of the week to Saturday (Acts 20:7). It employs the use of vulgar and earthy language in Acts 8:20. It contradicts the Bible by teaching the false doctrine of salvation by faith only (Romans 1:17). These are just a few of many reasons why copies of this book should be reserved for the trash pile or, better yet, as fuel for the fire!