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Be careful here brother. Although I cannot argue with you from a scholarly perspective, I am willing to point out that in many cases, the New Testament, including Quotes of Jesus Himself, are paraphrases of original Hebrew in another language. The Spirit is what is important. I, among all people I know, am more concerned about absolutely understanding the clear and total meaning each passage. Yet I will not go there and deride this or that translation with such a broad sweep! Your points about the purity of the translation are valid. Notwithstanding, you should also accept that these other translations have value, and only a fool would say I cannot throw this rope to a drowning man because it's braids are not laid just right! The NIV may be all someone can understand. The NLT is the easisier one for me to read, although not as trusted by me. NAS and the Good News Translation may be 'watered down' in places. Valid valid valid. And, yet... However, you and I and other like minded individuals who are willing and motivated to search exact meanings more deeply should do so not for only our own benefits. I think it would be easier if we all read only King James to the point that reading it became easy. However, the man on the street is likely to reject the message he or she cannot understand, and I have not met too many of those who speak King Jamesese. One of the Problems with the Catholic Church is the idea (whether offically or just from the pragmatic effect) that only the Clergy are fit to read and interprete the bible. I have seen the same done with KJV, I am afraid, and I cannot agree less! No, I would rather the person read the bible for themselves and not get caught up in the esoteric points of specific phrasology in the Archaic KJV! If you truely want to hurt yourself in that way, the bible should be read in the original Hebrew and Greek! Even the KJV (however good) cannot be that perfect! And along those lines, I will interject a note: I used to be jealous of a brother who read in the Greek. I was a young man at the time and the Sisters all thought he was the bomb! Funny, but looking back on it, I wonder if his understanding of the Greek was really that good. I think I could take issue with some of the positions he held by interpreting the Greek for us. Or maybe I am all wrong. It does not matter unless he is put before me today and gives me something specific I must challenge! I know you heart is in the correct place brother, but be careful here, that is all I ask. My challenge to you is this: If what I get out of a translation that I am posting is not in line with what you understand the KJV is saying, lets take the time to step back and analyze what the text says together. Use Greek and Hebrew, if you want! Your understanding of the KJV very likely will lead to insights that I (and others) lack. We can build up, or we can tear down. I make the mistake of tearing something down often enough. I don't want you to make that mistake and have to learn that way! You know, over the years, I know of many discussions where the begining point was the differences in the translations. Sometimes, it led to deeper understanding with more meaning than a casual reading of the most perfect text could have led to. Other times, bitter rivalry erupted and division was the only result. I think my God is a God of Reconciliation, so you can see which one I would think would be better! Two passages for you, dear brother: 39But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. 40For he that is not against us is on our part. 41For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Mark 9:39-41 26And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. Acts 8:26-31 Go therefore, and be thee like Philip! (or better yet, like Christ) Thanks be to the Grace of My God, without which, we could have no hope! Peace, Mel P.S. My HTML is better than my Greek and that is not perfect either! 2009-12-28 18:12:24 Posted by Mel ()

Mel, My intent was not to condemn people who read other versions of the bible. Rather, my desire is to highlight the facts of why we have all of those other versions and that no one who has accepted Christ can simply accept at face value what is written in the versions other than KJV. We must be as the Bereans and check out for veracity and accurateness. If I read a version in which the blood atonement of Christ is not even contained within the text, how will one discover the true reason why He came and died the way that He did? It is a loss of truth that is crucial to understanding our position in Him. I do dearly appreciate your concern, I have taken your points into consideration prior to posting that message. But at some point believers must realize that there can only be one "true" Bible version, they cannot all be true. How much error can be allowed to enter into it before we have lost inerrancy? That is the question... grace and peace brother, 2009-12-28 20:17:27 Posted by Eric ()

Agreed. I generally read versions other than KJV. However, it is one of the ones I check when I see something that strikes me as strange. The other I check is the Amplified Bible, which tends to show various ways certain words could be interpreted other than the "main" and generally accepted translation of that word. I think your zeal was admirable, but it tended to make it sound like condemnation for other versions. The part that set me off was the following part of your post: #1 The King James Version(from the Textus Receptus) is the real Word of God. #2 The modern translations are the Word of God. #3 Neither is the perfect Word of God. We do not have the perfect Word of God today. They are both wrong. If we choose the third option, then God is a liar for He promised that we would have His Word forever(Isaiah 40:8; Luke 21:33). God cannot contradict Himself, so one of the remaining options must be right, the other must be wrong. That is human logic, brother. Let us not be too wise in our own eyes to think outside your 1, 2, 3 postulate here. It is a good place to start, but I think if we examine it a little closer, we will find that there could be yet another answer to what you see. I do think this hits the point that I should post on my blog. It would be too long for comment here to do it justice! (and my lst comment was pretty much there already!)Understand that we probably agree on one main and central point, that for English Translations, the King James Version is the most accurate and faithfully translated version we can find. In Christ's Love, Mel 2009-12-29 12:39:05 Posted by Mel ()

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