Since its first publication centuries ago, the Bible remains to be the most translated literary work in the history of humanity. Throughout the years, several churches have transcribed the most integral book in Catholic and Christian faith to various languages, in line with its mission to spread the Word of God across countries all over the world. Each new translation and version is intended to make its contents more accessible and easily comprehensible to various societal groups, but does the Taglish New Testament version fall under this category?

The New Testament Pinoy Version has faced mixed reactions from the public from the moment it was first published in 2018 by the Philippine Bible Society. Recently, however, this conversation was opened once again when St. Pauls Online launched the Tagalog-English translated book online, priced at P145.00.

On the other side of the board, many devout Catholics criticize this initiative as they believe it diminishes the sacredness of the word in which the life of Jesus was first told. Many claim that the use of Taglish will reduce the impact of its teachings, risk misinterpretation, and for the text to not be taken seriously—if it uses the words the youth use to converse with one another, how will this text be heard with the voice of God? Moreover, many people question if it truly is necessary to translate the work in such a way, given that the separate English and Tagalog versions are supposedly already easier to digest, in whichever language one is more comfortable in.

Amid the discussion, the Philippine Bible Society has assured the public that this version meets the standards set out by the United Bible Societies as an official translation of the New Testament. It was also shared that the process took ten years of intense translation and debate within the organization in order to rightfully interpret the holy text and its message in this novel way, a daunting task for any new rendition.

It seems that netizens are split in half on the general opinion on the New Testament Pinoy Version, the discussion running on thousands of comments and shares on the original Facebook announcement post by St. Pauls Online. Ultimately, whether you personally agree or not, the comment thread shows that there really are people who have felt closer to God because of this new translation. We only hope that this is indeed the conversion we hope to see in the world today.