Good evening and welcome to episode 383 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, was a Mandonga Comando. It's a Friday edition of the Private Property Podcast. If you join us for the first time, welcome to the family. You tune into the only daily property podcast in South Africa, helping you on your property needs. And all our regular viewers on Facebook, on Twitter, Instagram, as well as on YouTube, welcome to it. You know how we do every single weekday. You and I have an appointment at 7 p.m. We're always in conversation with property experts who help us navigate our property journey. And it doesn't matter where you are along your journey, we're certainly here to help your aunt and to make sure that you make the best informed decisions. And talking about the best informed decisions, you also know that we've got other great shows that you can decide to tune into every single weekday at 8 p.m. right here across private properties, social media pages. As it is a Friday, you can catch Chad on their home shoppers show where he's on your screens on Mondays at the same time and takes you through exquisite properties that you can find on www.privateproperty.co.za. And it Tuesdays and Thursdays, Mbalino, takes you through the farming podcast tackling all things agriculture. And every Wednesdays, Estee Cranston brings you the first-time homebuyer show, which is always in conversation with people who've not only walked that first-time homebuyer journey and gone on to grow their property portfolios from strength to strength. Well, those are great shows that you can look forward to every single weekday right here on the private property, private property social media pages, rather. And of course, there's my samples I don't want to come out every single weekday at 7 p.m. You and I certainly are together. And I want to see who's watching us and why I dropped those green hearts down here below, regardless of where you're watching us. And of course, if you're watching us on Facebook, one of the great things to note with Facebook is that we're running a great competition where you at home stand a chance of walking away with 500 rounds in cash every single evening. And all you have to do is to make sure that you comment on the pinned post or on Facebook page where you share with that some of the great property and science advice that you've picked up while watching the show. And you have to make sure you're watching us live because if you call your name, you have to drop us a text in order to claim your prize. If the winner doesn't claim their prize, the money rolls over into the money bag. That's exactly what's been happening for the past two evenings. We've now got 1,500 rounds in the money bag. I hope whoever wins this money is watching us this evening and can end off the weekend on a high. Well, those are some of the great things that you can look forward to right here on the private property podcast with myself. Let's get started our conversation this evening. This one is the one that we have very regularly because we know that not a lot of people understand this process. A lot of people still have firm grasp of what to expect when it comes to the conveying journey. And this evening we're going to be looking at the basic principles of the conveying process and also just looking at some key terms that you always need to be aware of. And even things that could potentially make the transaction take longer than it should that you should be aware of from the get go. And to help us get a good sense of how we can do this we're joined by Alison Wright from DDT Attorney. And it's a good evening and thank you so much for joining us this evening. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. And it's such a pleasure to have you with us on the show Alison. I think let's start with you know convincing. When we talk about convincing what are we talking about? I mean so many people who start the property journey typically don't know about a convencer. Sometimes you know that there's an attorney who's going to be involved in the property transaction but you're still not quite sure how it's going to unfold. So when you talk about convincing what exactly is it that we're referring to? Well conveying is a field of law dealing with all things property. But more specifically it is the registration and the execution of a number of property transactions in the deeds office. And so when we look at conveyancing there are two pieces of legislation that deal with conveyancing that is the Deeds Registries Act and also sectional Titles Act along with a number of other legislative acts. But what it comes down to is there are certain transactions that are executed in the deeds office and conveyancing is the entire process that gives effect to that. So whether that is the transfer of property, bond cancellation, bond registration, servitudes, limited real rights, if you're looking at township establishments, registration of sectional title schemes. So it is a very specialized field of law that deals specifically with property transactions. So that's just a brief introduction to that. And I think the big thing to note there is if you're going to be dealing with any property transaction you're not going to be able to do it without a conveyance that involves. Because we've seen far too many instances where somebody says I'm selling my property or I'm selling the family home in a township and I'm just going to have an affidavit signed and give you my title deed. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. You absolutely cannot eliminate a conveyance of being part of that transaction because there's certainly certain things that you and I at home won't be able to do in order for that property to exchange hands or exchange ownership from one party to another. And that's a really big thing that we need to take note of. And I can already see that we're getting some love on our Facebook page. Many of you are watching us and sending through those green hearts. Do you keep sending them? We've got Anelda Everton and we've also got a first-timer Tony Melman saying hello my first time here. Welcome to the family Tony. I'm sure you're going to be very very comfortable. I think all of us at home are certainly give Tony some love. That private property love. You know he must feel the love because you know that we absolutely love making the so-called bigger right here on the show. And now Anelda, when we look at then the role that a conveyance plays in a property transaction at which point is somebody who is either buying a property or selling a property approaching a conveyance because I'm sure some people at home may be confused about okay I know that this is an important part of this puzzle called home ownership but at which point exactly is a conveyance and then getting involved if you're looking to buy a property or if you're looking to sell a property. Okay so I wanted to touch on something you said earlier. I think it's so good that you are just warning people about the pitfalls of dealing with this process on its own. Previously I mentioned the legislation that's applicable to the conveyancing process and in terms of that legislation a conveyance is is the authorized and qualified party that can execute these property transactions in the deeds office and any transaction executed without that will ultimately leave purchases vulnerable and unprotected. So I really do want to encourage people that if you are entering into these type of transactions to make sure that you are using the right avenues as to how you would approach a conveyance. So usually when you sell a property or when you purchase a property there's an offer to purchase to be signed meaning that the parties enter into an agreement and standard terms of those agreements unless agreed otherwise between the parties is that the seller is entitled to appoint the conveyance so the seller will decide this is the conveyancing firm that I want to work with or the conveyance that I want to work with and that I want to have this process with and to have a transfer registered in the end. So that's ultimately how you would get them. Many estate agents do have certain law firms that they are closely associated with so that might also be an avenue to to get in contact with the conveyance but ultimately once that offer to purchase is signed the instruction is given to and conveyance to deal with the matter. And I want us to look at the offer to purchase Alison because I think you know all TPs are synonymous with sometimes having a few issues it becomes a very intimidating contract especially for the plier with many of them is the first time that you're assigning you know contract of that nature some of them thinking they can pull out at any stage and we've had this you know conversation before just warning people at home that by the time you signed up OTP it's a legally binding document so you need to be aware of. I think if you can just share with us perhaps some of the mistakes buyers in particular make when it comes to the offer to purchase and when they sign the offer to purchase that they often realize retrospectively things that they were not aware of and obviously by then they would have signed the contract it's already legally binding and some instances you're able to have a conversation with you know the estate agent to speak to the seller but in other instances they may not be you know as understanding to make those particular amendments. I would definitely like you said encourage purchases and sellers alike to really take the time and go through an offer to purchase it shouldn't be something extremely complicated a party should be able to go through that offer to purchase and understand oh okay what is the effect that it's going to have on me and if they don't understand something I really do encourage them to make sure that they ask the right people and find out exactly what the consequences would be of that because definitely one of the most important things to consider is the enforceability of that contract the moment the parties agree that is the moment it's legally binding and you and that contract can then be enforced so and of course there are legal consequences to that so that's very important so I think just briefly taking maybe a step back when you decide to purchase a property that's of course a process you need to embark on on your only need to decide what is my budget what loan approval I might be suitable for what am I looking for on the property and then once you find a property it's a back and forth between the asking price of the seller and what the purchaser is willing to to pay and and once the parties have gone back and forth and really reached an agreement and that agreement is signed then of course it's binding but I want to encourage people that before that point things to consider is definitely financially what are the implications for me what is the greater costs of this and then also looking at that property a standard term in in offers to purchase is a foots to its clause which means that the property is sold as is with its latent and patent defects you are indemnifying the seller against any claims for any damages with regards to the property because it is your responsibility as the purchaser to make sure that you go through the property that you identify any problems that they might be and it might also be a good idea to appoint a building inspector to help you consider more specialized fields of the of the building let's say structural defects or water damage or any of those types of risks and it is important to know that yes there are exceptions definitely from the seller's point of view if the seller is deliberately concealing certain defects in with regards to the property with the intention to defraud the purchaser that is obviously a red flag and the purchaser will have recourse in that regard but I would also then just encourage sellers to protect themselves by really being transparent in this process to say that listen this is the purchase price for the property and with that yes there are these certain problems that you need to take notes of and to be transparent in that regard to protect themselves against future claims and to protect themselves against certain future disputes so definitely from both party sides transparency is good and and really just doing your homework to find out what what is what it is you are actually purchasing so that's just a few of the things yeah I am this evening in conversation with Alistair and Rytoos from VDT attorneys and we're looking at the basic principles of the convincing process and of course joining us I want to find out from you at home your process when it comes to dealing with conveyances when you are you know when you are buying your property or selling your property what is it a pleasant experience I know that some of us sometimes have not so great experiences with some of the attorneys that we've dealt with but some of us would actually have really good experience I've I've taken a stance you know there's a firm that I use feeling rigidity with a lot of my transactions and sometimes you want that you know once you get used to a particular firm that's a firm that you kind of becomes your firm of choice when it comes to property matters I want to go for a quick break to find out who the lucky winner of that 1500 grand that is in the money bag and when we come back we're going to be looking at some of the key terms and concepts that both buyers and sellers need to be aware of as Alistair has already touched on one the footshoots clause and we've touched on this you know on a number of different occasions and it always is one of those things that will keep going back because we need to be aware of what it means and the limitations and that it of course has but in the meantime let's take a look at who the lucky winner of that 1500 grand is and that lucky winner this evening is John Ishmael John Ishmael congratulations to you you walk away with 1500 grand right here on the private property podcast with my son for some of them I hope you're watching drop us a message down here below to claim your prize and of course if John doesn't claim his prize then we're going to have a roll over into Monday where 2000 rounds will be up for grabs but for now a thousand 500 rounds is up for grabs let's see if John is going to claim that money before the end of the show and continuing our conversation as we're looking at the basic principles of the convincing process Alison when we look at you know what are some of the key terms that both buyers and sellers should be aware of especially even as we sort of look through the offer to purchase and because they're really going to be key terms that you always need to be aware of one of them you've really touched on is the food students course perhaps because through a few others that we always have to be mindful of as we're going through that offer to purchase and you know signing it that we are aware that these are certain parts they're almost the the signaling parts where this is important take note of this part in an offer to purchase well I would definitely say in an offer to purchase both the seller and the purchaser need to take note of those terms that really place obligations on them so for the purchaser the purchaser will look at how is the financial aspect of this transaction structured they need to be wary of the deposit that they will be required to pay in advance to secure the property they would also need to be aware of how are they going to to secure the purchase price of the property are they going to do it cash needs but it is a cash transaction what guarantees are they able to give with regards to the purchase price alternatively if they are going to secure it by means of a loan they need to keep in mind that there is a requirement on them to obtain loan approval within a specific time for in a specific amount and that is usually a suspense of condition of a contract meaning that if the purchasing thing fails to obtain that loan approval within the time specified the agreement we will become null and void so that is for example something that the purchasers should look at whereas the seller on the other hand might also have certain obligations with regards to the contract such as making sure that the electrical compliance certificate is in place and that the gas compliance certificate is in place another thing that the seller should be should note is just to be realistic with regards to the timelines of this contract one specific example is if this offer to purchase is subject to sale so if the purchaser has an existing property that they first need to sell before they can purchase this new property that is something that can really delay the process for the seller and something that they need to be aware of and realistic about because really the process is then a double transaction that needs to take place and everything needs to happen on two fronts so definitely something that can can delay the process for the seller so that's also something I would suggest they just keep in mind to look at. We're taking your questions and comments this evening on the private property podcast with myself as Amandonga Kumalo as we look at the basic principles of the convincing process we've got Umensi Bouteles on Facebook asking can the issue of being rushed into signing a contract be seen as duress or undue influence and Alison this is when you know estate agents sometimes almost and I say almost even though I think as a purchaser you may feel like you were being pressured to sign but almost effectively pressuring somebody to sign is that something that can be you know viewed as duress or undue influence? Well I definitely think it's important to know your rights in terms of the Consumer Protection Act so parties entering into an offer to purchase are protected under the Consumer Protection Act and in terms of the act there is a cooling off period so if you feel that you were pressured into signing a contract for the purchase of property there is a period of five days that you can utilize to cancel that contract to say that you know what I feel like I thought about this a little bit I'm having buyers remorse I'd rather step back and and not and not go forward with it so on the one hand important to know what you're getting into and I encourage purchases not to be pressured into into transactions I do feel that is something we see a lot especially when that is state agencies there's a lot of competition and you know there's a lot of offers and you might lose this property you won't get a deal like this again I encourage you stay cool calm and collected and but know that the Consumer Protection Act can also protect you in that regard to say that while you have a cooling off period to just think about things so use those five days and listen I mean correct me if I'm wrong if I remember correctly the cooling off period isn't it for for properties I think it's under is a 250 000 so there's a there's a there's an amount where the cooling off period is you know applicable if I remember correctly because I think is it a standard cooling off period for all amounts or it is I know for instance for properties that are valued or put or going for under a quarter of a million then the cooling off period applies to be fair I'm not entirely sure you're asking me a trick question in my mind if the Consumer Protection Act applies then that cooling off period does also apply bearing in mind that the Consumer Protection Act protects natural persons not necessarily juristic persons with a turnover of more than 2 million rand um so to my knowledge I I'm I stand to be corrected that might be the case but not as far as I know at the moment as far as I know it is a standard term in a contract that's a good question yeah and we've got another one here coming through on YouTube uh TR2 Munya saying what are the documents you collect in order to submit to the Deeds Office for Registration love this question so I think as conveys as you do this one quite a bit so what are those documents that you ultimately have to have before you uh you know before you take uh you know them obviously to the Deeds Office for Registration okay well there's um what we call certain documents in preparation for largements and then they are your documents that you lodge in the Deeds Office so firstly most importantly as with anything these days FICA documents are always applicable so those are documents that you're transferring attorneys and your bond attorneys will collect from you um as required by law so those are the first things secondly there are certain documents that need to be signed in preparation for for the transfer of the property one of the most important being the power of attorney where the seller authorizes the conveyancer to act on their behalf um to lodge the the matter in the Deeds Office but if we are looking technically at what documents are we lodging in the Deeds Office not necessarily other documents important for the process um those documents will be that power of attorney that we spoke about where the seller is authorizing the conveyancer to act on their behalf to appear before the registrar deeds to transfer the property um then also in order to do this any um property transaction you will have a deed that is your deed of transfer or your title deed so you will have an existing title deed which protects your rights with regards to the property saying you are the owner of this property that existing title deed will be included then you will have your deed of transfer that will become your new title deed so that is the document that we will be using to say that this property belonging to A is now being transferred to B for this amount so that's your third documents fourth is your rates and taxes clearance certificates so we are required to apply to the municipality in the area for a rates and taxes certificate so we get clearance figures the seller will pay three months rates and taxes in advance and once they do that the municipality will issue a clearance certificate which we are required to lodge in the Deeds Office and then the final document will be a um a transfer duty um declaration to say that transfer duty has been paid on this property alternatively a transfer duty exemption certificate to say that transfer duty is not payable so those are your general documents of course if you have more specialized transactions then then those will also be applicable um it is necessary to say at this point that those are just the documents necessary for the transfer if you're registering a bond there are additional documents for that that we need to lodge so that will be the new bond to be registered as well as a power of attorney and then a bond to be cancelled we will have a consent to cancellation that also needs to be lodged so um like I said just some general documents but there can be more specialized documents depending on a case-to-case basis and going to more of your questions and comments this evening as we continue our conversation on the basic principles of the convincing process coming to our rescue there on Facebook Sarita saying yes the cooling off is for properties under 250,000 thank you there Sarita for confirming I'm going to say most people become too excited while viewing the while viewing and completing the offer to purchase then you need to give you a few days later they sober up and fortunately most of us sober up when it's too late and penalties apply and that's a big one penalties will apply so you want to make sure that you're not signing something that you may ultimately regret a question here coming through from Oroz and so on asking is it wise to purchase or put an offer to purchase without being physically there to make those necessary assessments I'm asking this with regards to people who are residents of the Republic of South Africa but are working abroad for an extended period of time so any tips for people you know South Africans working outside of the country looking to buy property before they sign that offer to purchase the best ways that they can effectively make sure that they're also protected and not you know buying a property that has issues that they obviously can't see physically to be fair I mean that risk is on them buying a property from overseas that is a risky thing to do so not something I would advise someone to do but of course there are parties that can assist you in this regard if you have a trusted family member or colleague someone you trust in South Africa to go and at least look at the property more specialized parties like a building inspector can be appointed to go have a look at that property and to compile a comprehensive report of sort of what what is the state of the property and what should you expect what are the shortcomings so there are definitely options but I think it's best to do that yourself just to to be safe but of course I understand it's not possible for everyone and I think when we then look at the convention process holistically perhaps just give us a timeframe of how long it typically takes I mean I've had a couple of matters in the past few weeks some have been very quick you know one wasn't as quick as as others and it was because of the nature of the application but just to give us the average you know time that we should almost budget from the moment that offer to purchase is signed right through when it's going to be up for prep and ready for lodging at the Deeds office well we look at a time frame of about five to eight weeks but that is of course generally speaking things that can possibly delay that is if we offer example dealing with estate transfers so property that are um that is transferred from a deceased estate will always take longer because the master's office needs to consent to that um like I said earlier if you were dealing with the property that specifically is subject to sale of an a foregoing property that will also delay the process also generally just important to keep in mind um if you are purchasing a property um from the plans of course if the building needs to be built first it has to be completed and sometimes that can take a year to get to that point even longer it just depends on the circumstances and then finally the the problems we find most is if there is a problem with the municipal account at the municipality for example just just something outstanding amounts or discrepancies or information I mean there are so many strange things that can happen and just the going back and forth and following up with with municipal departments that can really delay a matter so um generally five to eight weeks but like I said case it always depends on on the matter and Alison before we wrap up this evening you know any final tips for our views at home when it comes to them supposed to just best understanding the convenience process whether they're looking to buy or of course looking to sell that can best help them navigate or certainly walk the buying or the selling journey going forward. One of the things that we haven't really touched on and I know I think we're running out of time a little bit but um is really understanding the costs involved for both parties um if I can briefly just go over the um sellers must always keep in mind that there will be estate agents commission applicable of course if you are working with an estate agent so if you are looking at your purchase price just always be in mind that a cut of that purchase price will also go to an estate agent just to prepare yourself for that type of thing. I mentioned earlier sellers also need to keep in mind clearance figures that need to be paid to municipalities levies that need to be paid to body corporates if there are any compliance certificates that are required the seller will be responsible for for the cost of that for the purchaser many costs involved so it's important that that they understand that going into things I think that buyers remorse definitely kicks in the moment you see all those costs um and and so definitely just to touch on a few of them there is the transfer duty so the tax to be paid when it when a property is transferred from a seller to a purchaser unless the seller is registered for that then there's the deeds office fee for the registration of that transfer and then there's also just the conveyance thing the transfer attorneys fees for for that transfer if they are financing it by means of a bond there's also going to be bond registration fees applicable I don't think we have enough time but also just some costs that you need to take an account with bonds the initiation fee applicable to all bonds doesn't matter who you bank with that's a 6035 rent fee that is payable as well occupational rent if a property doesn't register before a certain date you might be required to move into that property and to pay occupational rent for for a certain period of time before it does in fact register so that's um just another example I just quickly want to think if I'm missing anything um just popping back to bonds many banks require you to take our property insurance which is another monthly yeah a monthly premium you need to think about and some banks even require you to have credit life insurance um life insurance that pays out to cover your debt should you die or disability or lose your job etc and that can also be a monthly premium that you didn't necessarily think about when you saw the property and fell in love with it so um I think my biggest tip would be consult with someone just to say listen outline the possible cost for me what am I looking at um and and keeping that in mind um when when you start this process I think that would really be my biggest tip um and just doing your research beforehand of what this process looks like to really manage your own expectations but also to give you that peace of mind in this process and to make it to make it a celebration because it is exciting it um I think it's a dream for many people it's a dream for myself as well um so just enjoy it but keep an open mind and just know what you're getting yourself into and it's just such an important draw I think those costs stack up um and of course with transfer duty if you're exempt if it's under a million but anything over that you know that you're going to pay so we have to budget for it you can use the calculator on the private property website uh to get a sense of how much the transfer duty would be if uh you're going to have to pay for it and all these associated costs uh they're different calculators on our website that you can use to get a good grasp of how much you're looking to spend I'm going to squeeze in this last question it's a great question coming through from uh Cedric Yonkers um and it actually touches on something that you mentioned earlier uh Allison and this question is in the sale of a property in a deceased state a section 42 to certificate from the masters of the High Court is required who is required to pay for that the seller or the buyer shoo that is an interesting question I'm trying to think usually your purchaser is is required to pay any transfer fees that is applicable like we like we just discussed so I would firstly I would say I would just consider whether they are really costs involved with that


We'll use the internet simulator tool over the course of multiple lessons in this unit to continue exploring concepts around, you guessed it, the internet. Up until now, we've only used the internet simulator to connect to one person at a time to understand how two computers can communicate. Now up to six people can connect together to simulate multiple computers sending information. Have one person in your group click add room first if there isn't a free room to join. Connecting is now easier than ever. With your group, agree to a room number to join and have each person click the join button for that room. Everything should look pretty familiar except now you're connected to more than one person. But what happens when you send a message? In this version, your messages go to everyone you're connected with, including yourself. If you need to send a message to a specific person, you're going to have to come up with a way to indicate that the message is intended for them and not for the others you're connected to. Things might get a bit chaotic when you're receiving everyone's messages. To help you manage all the incoming messages, you can mark the messages as read by clicking the message or minimizing the message to just see the message contents.


Okay. Welcome back everyone to BC 106 interpreting scripture. It's our second lecture today. So we're going to start off with a question. Ren, you had a question. God inspired them to write the scriptures, the Old Testament prophets. Okay. So Ren's question is whether the Old Testament prophets understood what they were writing. Answer to your question is they didn't understand or they didn't understand everything. Right. How do we know that? We go to, I think it's either 1 Peter or 2 Peter. I think it's 1 Peter, chapter one. So 1 Peter chapter one versus 10 and 11, 1 Peter, 10, 11 and 12. 1 Peter chapter one was 10, 11 and 12. He's talking exactly about what you asked. So he's talking about the prophets. 1 Peter 1 was 10, the prophets. They searched carefully. They prophesied of the grace that was to come. That means they prophesied ahead into the future. And verse 11, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit who was in them was indicating. And he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. So they were searching. They themselves were trying to understand what they were speaking about. They were searching, trying to understand these things. And verse 12, to them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us. They were ministering the things which now they have been reported to you, which has been reported to those who have preached the Gospel to you, given by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which the angels desire to look into. That means the sense that they got was we are speaking these things, not for ourselves, but we are speaking these things for a generation to come. And they were trying to understand, they were trying to search, what does all this mean? But the Holy Spirit is saying, it's not for you, it's for them. So the answer question, they didn't fully understand. They just spoke what the Holy Spirit revealed, things that are beyond their own understanding. So for example, when you study Daniel, Daniel wrote prophecies and he was so disturbed. What does all this mean? He was trying to understand, God, what is this? And of course, Angel Gabriel came and he said, Daniel, you write these things, you seal them up, they are for a future time. So Daniel didn't understand all the things he wrote. Any other questions? All right, now we're going to go to the next lesson, which is about two methods and tools to study the Word of God. So let's see how far we go in this. Chapter three, lesson number three, tools and methods for study. So in our personal Bible study, what are some of our objectives? We want to know the truth. So why are we studying the Bible? Not just because we want to accumulate knowledge, not just because we want to preach messages, but because we want to know the truth ourselves so that we can live ourselves by the truth. So I want to just go, just side trip, Matthew chapter five. So every now and then we'll go on short picnics, Matthew chapter five. So Jesus said, this is Matthew five. Let me find this exact verse. Matthew five, verse 19, in Matthew five, 19, Jesus said, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And notice the second part of Matthew five, 19, whoever does and teaches. So very important. This is a rule you have to put for yourself. I must do it first, then I must teach it. Whoever does and teaches. Once you do first, you practice it. Like we say, you know, generally we have a phrase, you practice what you preach or you preach what you practice. You first practice, you do and teach, then you teach, then you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Okay, so that is the rule. So why should I study the Bible?  I can do the word. Then when I do the word, it'll be very easy for me to teach the word. I just have to tell them what I do, like how it is working in my life, how I understood it, how I've applied it. I just teach finish. So you do and then you'll be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So keep this as a rule for yourself. Okay, I must first do it. I must practice it. I must, as I study the Bible, I know the truth and apply the truth. Let me practice it. Let me put it to work in my life. Then I can tell others this is how it works. This is how we have to practice. So why do we study the Bible? One, we want to know the truth personally. Second, you want to know God through his word. I mean, I'm not saying which is more important, but you want to know God through his word, which is also one of our objectives. Want to know God. And third is we want to be changed so that God could be revealed through our lives. So I want to know the truth. I want to receive revelation of God and so that my life can be changed so God can be seen in me. God can be glorified in me. So this is our objective in studying the word for you and me. God, I want to say to the words, I can know the truth and I can know you. I can know you.  Keep this as the main objective. Now, as we get started in learning how to study the Bible and we talk about the tools and methods, one big question is, what about these many versions of the English Bible? How did these come? Like, why are there so many, which one is better like that? So I want to explain this. I want us to understand it. So I think in our apologetic course, we will study how the Bible came to us, like, you know, how the Bible, the authenticity, the validity of the scripture. So we'll study that in detail. But generally speaking, the New Testament has the Greek New Testament and then of course the Old Testament. There are many, many manuscripts of the scriptures. So these manuscripts were handwritten. In those days, no printing press, no computers, no Xerox machine, nothing. So these were handwritten. So you can imagine at the time when the prophets were speaking or when the apostles were writing the New Testament or the Old Testament. It was all handwritten. And then copies were made and those were handwritten copies. So these all are referred to as manuscripts. I mean, these are original writings, manuscripts. But now we have many manuscripts, meaning people made copies. Like how we have many copies of the same New King's Bible order. Those days, many handwritten copies. But of course, it was not that easy. And the copies were written by scribes. That means these were people who were very meticulous in their copying to the point where if they had any serious mistake, they will destroy the whole manuscript and start again. So it was not, they didn't take their work lightly. It was very serious work. They hand copied, but very seriously, without any error. So copy submit. So we have manuscripts. Now these manuscripts, they vary in time, like when it was a copy. So when it was copied, so time. Now you'll learn this in detail in the course second year on apologetics, but I'm just giving a little, just when it was copied from the original. So 100 years later, maybe 200 years later, maybe 300 years later. Okay. So example, book of Isaiah, as I wrote it, maybe 750 BC, then somebody copied it 10 years later. Somebody, in other words, copy 20 years later. So copy from based on a copy like that copies were made copies were made. What is interesting, you'll find when we study this is example, the book of Isaiah copies that were written. About 900 years later were identical to the original, no change. So that's how reliable the manuscripts are of the Bible. But you won't find this in other ancient literature. You won't find this, right? That the exactness of the copies is very great, precise. You'll learn that. So you had copies over time, but then these copies were also distributed geographically. That means people will make a copy and they will carry it to their hometown. From there it will go somewhere else. It was distributed across the Mediterranean, that region, the Middle East. Copies were distributed. Example, we read Acts 8, what Ethiopian came. He came to Jerusalem, he bought a copy, he's carrying it to Ethiopia. So you can imagine, he carried one copy to Ethiopia. From there, if somebody made a copy, it would have got distributed over there. So like that, the copies were distributed. So now we have all these copies and now they've been collected in a museum. They've been kept in a safe place and all of that's happened over the years. So when scholars want to do the translation, they go to the original manuscript. So most English Pibles, most would be translations from the manuscript, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic. So you need scholars who read Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic. They go to the original manuscripts. But there are two sets or two kinds of manuscripts generally to understand. So one is called the majority text, Byzantine text type. So that means when these translators are doing translation, they will translate into English what is stated by the majority of manuscripts. So we have so many manuscripts. What do the majority say that we will translate? There may be some variation a little bit here, a little bit there in that some copies. But what do the majority of the manuscripts say about this verse? That is what we will translate into English. Another set of manuscripts or translation is what does the oldest say? That means let us go as close to the original. So that is the Alexandrian, the date of the manuscript. So one is what do most people say? Another one is what is the nearest to the original say? You got it. Two approaches to translation. So you have these manuscripts. One is what do the majority of the manuscripts say? That we will put into English. The other is what is the oldest to say? That is what we will put into English. Two times. Got it. So when you get an English Bible in the beginning opening of the Bible, it will tell you this is how we are translating the... This is the text that we are using. So M for majority text. MSS means stands for manuscripts. M is a majority text. So sometimes in your Bible also it will put M. Majority texts say this. Okay. And so on. Okay. So you can see that given to you in your Bible depending on your version of the Bible. So this is one part. Then the translators will also decide how they want to translate the scriptures. How they want to translate it. Okay. So there are different ways to translate. One is word for word. That word is there. I will translate that word into English. Now sometimes one word in Greek or Hebrew will need three words in three or four words in English. It's okay. But that word has been translated into English word for word. It's called formal equivalence. So some Bibles are word for word translations. We will give examples. But then there's another way of translation which is thought for thought. That means what is the thought in that text? That thought I will put it in my own words in English. Thought for thought. So example nowadays when we have an interpreter. Okay. I'm speaking in English interpreter is interpreting into Hindi. He is not doing word for word. He is doing thought for thought. What I said he will put it in his own words and he'll try to communicate the meaning. So literally the interpreter is doing thought for thought. He's not doing word for word. Word for word will take too much time. He has to think about every word. But he's doing thought for thought. Sometimes he might give his own thought also. That is different. Once it happened to me, I was happily preaching the interpreter is telling his own story. Then after sometime I was like, oh no, something is wrong here. So he's gone up his own thought. He is putting more stories, adding more masala and giving it to the people. Then I asked him why he is doing it. No, he said I have to put it in the story. If I'm only there they will understand. So he's creating his own story and telling it. So that happens sometimes. But anyway, coming back to this. Functional equivalence. Thought for thought. So it's not word for word, thought for thought. This is what he said. This is what we will say in our own words. Thought for thought. There's an optimal equivalence. Which is they will try to balance word for word and thought for thought. We'll try to use the same words. And but at the same time we want to communicate the thought. So there is little flexibility. It may not always be exactly same word for word. They put a balance word for word, thought for thought. Number four, fourth way of translating the Bible is meaning for. Meaning that means. So now they are doing interpretation already. So it is one level up. This is what we believe he meant. Therefore, this is what we will say meaning for me. So it's not word for word, not thought for thought. It's one level higher. They have interpreted it. Taken the meaning and they communicating the meaning. So it's not word for word, not thought for thought. It's meaning for meaning. The passion translation is meaning for meaning. So it is a little away from the original. Okay. So that means we are saying what the translator thought was the meaning. They're giving it to me. But what if they are wrong? Right. So I'm depending on the translator's understanding. There's a bias there because the translator thinks this is the meaning of what he said. So he's putting that in English. Meaning for meaning. It's not necessarily accurate. Okay. But that's just for you to understand. Then number five, the last one is paraphrase. So this is like this interpreter giving his own story. Paraphrase means he's putting it in his own words. He will say what he can say, whatever he wants. As long as he says, okay, I am saying something like what you're saying. Paraphrase. So living translation is a living Bible is a paraphrase. It's not word for word, not thought for thought, not even meaning for meaning. It is more of, I will give you a gist of what he said. So it is even one level away from the original living Bible is like that. Now each one of these has its advantages. So for example, if somebody just likes to read like a storybook, you know, okay, they can read paraphrase worship. It's like a storybook. Okay.  It is not serious Bible study. You don't use a paraphrase verse. Okay. But if somebody wants to read light, something light. Yeah. I have an idea what Bible says. Okay. Paraphrase version. It's easy. So for those people, it's good. They may not want heavy. At least they get started, you know, so it's good. So having understood that. Okay. So the kind, the way they look at the manuscript and the way they decide to translate is important. Then that is why you have so many different versions of the Bible. So if you look at the types of Bible translation, you see on the right side, you have paraphrase example message Bible. Today's living the living Bible. They are paraphrase. That means they are not word for word translation. They're not even thought for thought. Not meaning for meaning paraphrase means this is a little story about what was written, the summary, a gist of what was written. We are putting in our own words. We might put the worst numbers to keep you, you know, in sync with the actual Bible, but it's a paraphrase. It serves its purpose. Those who want to read light, they can read. They read message Bible and all of that. And paraphrase will use modern English. They will use ideas from today's world, which were not there in that world in that context 2000 or 2000 years ago was not there. So they may use ideas, you know, things from our world, but they're paraphrasing and they're putting it in the language of today to help people connect. Then as you move towards the left, you'll find things by versions that are more closer to the original text. So can you see it? You can see, does it sharpen up? Okay. And you'll have it on the PDF. So in the middle, for example, here, this is NIV. Thought for thought, new international version of the Bible. Here is NKJV, the word for word. The closest is the NASB, the New American Standard Bible. And NASB has come out with the 2020 version. That means even more. So they try to use contemporary English, but they try to keep it word for word. That means only that word that is there, I will put it in as few English words as possible. Sometimes it would be just one word, but sometimes I may need two or three words to translate that word. Fine. But it's a word for word translation. Okay. So now we understand why there are different English versions of the Bible. Okay. It is not that the Bible is saying different things. It is that the translators have taken a different approach in how they are translating the Bible for different audiences. Some audiences say, okay, please tell me what is the meaning of what he said. Okay. You want like that? Meaning for meaning Bible, passion translation, you read. But there is a little risk because you will get the meaning of what the translator thought the writer said. Hopefully the translators are staying accurate, but sometimes they can give their own idea. This is what we think he said. So that's a problem. Somebody said, okay, just give me a summary. Okay. Then you read Message Bible, Living Bible. Fine. But if you want to study, seriously study, then you have to go closer to the original text. So that's where, you know, something like the ones that you find here, the new King James, the King James, the RSV, the ESV, English Standard Version, Amplified, New American Standard Bible, these are all word for word. The closest is the interlinear. Interlinear means it's like the word Greek or the Hebrew. And on top of that, they put the English word or English words. So it's word for word, literally word. It's very difficult to understand because it's not set. They don't put it in a sentence, but I'll show you. You can see it. Okay. I'll show it to you shortly. Other books. Yeah. So we don't. So one is they're not part of the scriptures. So for example, there are, let's call them as historical documents, like historians are recording, right? So they're just saying, okay, more of what he did is recorded there. It's historical in nature. So they're not part of the scriptures, but, you know, in some cases, those historical accounts will be there. So those are interested in history can go read it and do that, but we don't treat it as scripture. It's more like historians of that time. They're recording what happened in history. So for those people are interested in studying history, they'll go and study it. Okay. So, so this is where it is. What I would encourage us to do, especially when you're studying the Bible, go as close as you can to the original. Okay. Plus we will show how we can look up the Hebrew and the Greek and to actually go to the original Hebrew, Greek words and look up the meaning. So that way you can say, you can be very confident of what you're talking, right? I actually went and looked up the Hebrew and the Greek. And so I know this is what the actual text says. Okay. So when you're studying the Bible, try to go as close to that. Now, the thing is what I find helpful is I would also read thought for thought and paraphrase because that helps us. It shows us how to communicate it to a modern audience, how to communicate that in contemporary English. All right. So it is good when you're studying to go as close to the Hebrew and the Greek, but also to read thought for thought and paraphrase or other versions. So then it helps you. Okay. So when I read thought, I can speak it like this. As long as it is keeping in line with the original meaning, I can communicate it like this. So I find that helpful when you're preaching and teaching. So it's a good thing to have all these versions look at it and then communicate it. I'll show you how to do that. Okay. So this explains why we have all of these Bible versions and so on. And then here on this page, I just kind of show you, let me just put on the dates on, you know, over time, all these versions were translated. People continue to translate it and continue to work on it. Like the passion translation is the most common one that's of recent work, so on. All right. Now let's talk a little bit about methods and then we will talk about the tools that we can use in studying the Bible. There are many ways to study the Bible. Everybody's with me so far. Yeah, you're followed. We're talking about methods and we're changing a little bit methods. Okay. The simplest way which we can practice almost daily is what we refer to as devotional or passage study. We'll give an example of this later on. Now I'm just sharing with you different ways to study. We will give example one or two. We'll give example. Okay. Simplest way is devotional or passage study. Okay. So example, today maybe your Bible reading is some chapter, say example, Gospel of Mark, you read some chapter and you may not take the whole chapter but take a portion of that chapter, maybe 10 verses or something. So it's a passage. It doesn't have to be a full chapter. It could be a full chapter. Example, Psalm 23 means okay, you have six verses finished. Easy. But sometimes the chapter is very big.  You study that passage. Okay. We will talk about how to study, how to use the tools all that. But so this is a passage study and you can make it part of your devotional time. So that's why it's called devotional. That means part of your morning Bible reading, whenever you're reading part of your devotional time itself, you are studying the Bible. So devotional or passage study will explain it a little deeper shortly. This is also part of the verse by verse study. So in that passage, you're going to look at every verse in depth, in detail. So if that passage is 10 verses, you look at all the 10 verses very carefully. So it's a verse by verse study. Okay. So there's a devotional method or there's a verse by verse study method to study your passage. In a devotional method, you're primarily looking at it as what can I get out of this passage that I can apply for me today. In verse by verse, you're going into even more detail. Verse by verse, looking at everything, detail. Okay. Another way to study the Bible, I'm just giving us an overview now and we'll get into details, is to do a character study or a biographical study. Character study is studying the life of a person in a given situation. David faced Goliath.  You study his behavior, his character in that particular situation. Biographical study is study David's life from the time he was born till he died. That is full life. Okay. Character study means how did this person behave in a particular situation? Of course, both are learning from a person's life. But one is you're looking at only a small time period. Other one is full life. You're looking at the whole like biographical study means full life. How did he walk with God? How did he apply his old previous lessons in future in his life, et cetera, et cetera. So you can do the biographical study of Abraham's life from the time God called him till he died, how he walked with God, or you can talk to do about Moses or David or Daniel or any of the characters. Or you can do just a character study. How did that person behave in a given situation? What lessons can I take? What inspiration can I take from that? So you can do. But both are you're studying a person. You're studying an individual, man or woman in the Bible. Character study. And we are learning about how that person walked with God, how God dealt with that person. What did God teach the person? What did God do? So we are learning through that. We are learning for ourselves. Character study or biographical study. So again, very, very useful. Similarly, in the New Testament, we could study Paul or we could study Peter or any of the apostles, how they walked with God, what they did, et cetera. Third one is a thematic or some people call it topical, some people call it word study. That means study on a particular topic or a theme or even a particular word. So if we say a topic, we can say healing. Study about divine healing in the Bible. Starting from Genesis, you go all the way to Revelation. What do we see about divine healing on the topic of divine healing? Or you can study about a theme. It could be family. How did God work in different families? What is God's promise for the family, et cetera, or marriage and family? A theme. Similar topic and theme, quite similar, but usually a theme is much broader. A topic is a little bit more focused. A theme like marriage and family. Should we be studying different families or different things, how God worked and so on and different aspects of that. Or they can study a word, faith. Study a word. What do we see about faith? So that word faith, of course, in the Old Testament, you may also study the word believe, believe, faith. That word you study throughout the Bible, a word study or giving or money, you know, or whatever. Money means you're studying money or riches, those words, how is it used in the Bible? But these are all on a given subject, given topic, theme. So you can study the scriptures on that. And that is very good because then at least you can say, I know what the Bible says about this subject because I studied this subject from Genesis 2, Revelation. And you have a clear picture of what God says about that matter. So it's good. So I would recommend this also to do topical study or thematic study, a word study on certain themes, topics. Then you can speak on that subject with confidence. You say, I know this because I've gone through the subject, Genesis to Revelation. I am very confident this is what the heart of God is concerning this subject, this matter is what it is. It's a very good way to study. Then, of course, you can do chapter study where you pick up a particular chapter and you study it. Now, again, in doing chapter study, you can take different approaches. You can do a chapter summary, which is not that much in depth, but this is this is what the chapter means, the essence of the chapter summary. Or you can go in depth. That is chapter analysis. That means you're getting into the everything that is said, what was said before, what was said after. Therefore, this chapter is here. Chapter analysis, in-depth study of that chapter. And then extending that chapter study is what, of course, is a book study. And we will be doing book studies in the third year. So, obviously, we kept it for the third year. So, we will study, I think, all the episodes you will study, verse by verse, in the third year. And John acts, and we'll do Daniel and Revelation. So, these are books we will study, verse by verse, in the third year. So, these are book studies. I mean, you're looking at every verse and you're trying to understand them in the context of when it was written in the context of the book, in the context of the rest of scripture. So, even when you're interpreting or understanding a book, you want to understand that book in the light of the rest of scripture. So, book study. Now, when you do a book study, again, there are different ways you can do it. Sometimes people will emphasize a lot on the background of the book. This is when it was written. This is why it was written. This is to whom it was written. These are the main things being stated in that book that are relevant, that were stated in that period of time, which are relevant to us today. So, it's more from a background of the book that is useful, especially when you're studying Old Testament books. That kind of approach is useful. There is a book survey method, meaning you're looking at a high level survey of the book. You're not getting too much in depth, but you're saying, okay, in this book, there are 12 chapters. Chapter one, he talks about this. Chapter two, he talks about this. Chapter three, he talks about this. And you're doing a survey, a high level survey, not getting depth, but you're getting an overall idea of the book survey. In depth is book synthesis. That means you are going into the book into every verse, verse by verse study. So what we had learned earlier, verse by verse study of the whole book, you read every verse, understand everything in depth, in detail. That's book synthesis. So that's what we will do in the third year. Read every verse, understand it in depth. Why it's there? What are the meanings? Of course, we have to do it fast, but that is the approach. Study the verse by book, verse by verse, in depth, book synthesis method. Okay. So quickly to recap, what are the different ways to study? There is the passage study. And in passage, you have to base, you can do it as a devotional or you can do it verse by verse. There is character study.  There is the word study. That means you can do it topical. You can do it by theme. You can do a word. There is the chapter study. Again, chapter, you can do a summary or you can do an analysis. And then there's a book study, which means, again, in book study, you can do many ways. You can do a full background study. You can do a book survey study, or you can do a detailed synthesis study of the book, many different ways. Okay. Now, let's talk about, yeah, we still have 10 minutes, so I can do, I think I can cover this. So in a passage study, we've got two ways, right? So one is the devotional method study. Devotional method means you're just trying to get a message thought, a main thought for yourself from that passage. Okay. So there'll be a short passage of scripture. You meditate in it. And you use what is known as an inductive study method. That means observation, interpretation, application. What does the passage say? What does it mean? How do I apply it? So example, let's go to Mark chapter 14. I think it is, yeah. Mark 14 verses one to nine, Mark 14, one to nine. I know we have only a little time, but let's try it. Okay. Mark 14, one to nine. I want you to quietly read it. There's only nine verses. So this is a passage, nine verses. Do these three things. Observe, interpret, apply, observation, interpretation, application. Okay. I'll give you five minutes. Online students, you also can do it. Okay. Mark chapter 14 verses one to nine passage. We're doing a devotional study now. Okay. Of this passage. I'll be quiet for five minutes. So I won't disturb you. You read the passage. Observe, interpret, apply. What can you apply out of this passage? Five minutes. I'll give you. I'll be quiet for five minutes and we will see what people have to say. Okay. I didn't give you much time, but we have, so in devotional method, we will continue this next week. Okay. But what you must do as you read this passage, observation. As part of observation, you try to put yourself in the passage. So imagine you are in the house, in this particular house. Imagine you are there. Maybe you're one of the disciples or you're one of the friends, whatever you're there. And you picture in your mind how this is happening, right? Jesus is coming. Simon may have invited him, please come for lunch.  So imagine how this is happening. And all these people are there and suddenly this woman comes. She's not invited, unannounced. I don't think she got permission to come. She just comes and she brings this alabaster box. I have to close very quickly now. But she, all these things she does, right? So observation. You put yourself in the passage. So as you're reading it, see all the details happening. You're visualizing, imagining. How the conversation, hey, why so expensive thing? You just imagine the whole thing, how it is happening. And what Jesus is saying, all of that. Okay. So when you visualize it, when you are there, you're observing, it becomes very, your feelings get touched. Then, so Jesus said all this. What does it mean to me, interpretation? What is Jesus saying? How is he reacting to the people, to the woman, to the people? What is Jesus getting across? What is the truth Jesus coming? And then last is, what can I take away, application? What can I take from this passage? Okay. So what I would, I will pause here. Next week, next class, I want each one to share one application from this passage, at least one. I'll tell everyone, everyone else, you have ten applications, others won't get it. One application, you want everybody to say one application. Okay. So you go back to this passage, just meditate in it. It's part of your example, the version. Observation, interpretation, application. What do you take away personally from this passage? You share next week. Okay. We have to stop. I have to get ready for the other class. Online students, sorry, I didn't give you time to ask any questions. But I hope you will also do the same.  So maybe you can type it and keep it ready so you can put it on the chat. One application from this passage, Mark chapter 14, verse one to nine. Okay. So just this observation, interpretation, application, just practice it. You may get a lot of thoughts, but one thing that you want to share next week, please put it on the chat. Okay. God bless. And of course we'll take questions, any explanations you need. Okay. God bless you. Thank you. I'll see you all next week. God bless. Bye now.