Is The King James Version (KJV) The Best Bible to Use?
>> Saturday, August 15, 2009
There is a push in the Christian community that believes the only reliable Bible is the Kings James Version (KJV). When I first became a Christian, I had some friends who believed that any church who preaches from a Bible other than the KJV wasn't a Bible believing Church. It started bothering me when I started visiting churches who didn't preach from the KJV. As I started to mature in my Christian faith, I started realizing how judgemental that view really is. They claim not to be judgemental, but they make such a big issue about a church who doesn't preach from their approved Bible. Now don't get me wrong because there are versions of the Bible that are pretty secular and perverts the teachings of Jesus, but I think the most important thing in a Church is if the members are God fearing people who love the Lord, and follows his teachings. A church can be very Godly even if they preach out of the NIV version of the Bible.
The King James Only movement believes that the KJV and usually the Textus Receptus version of the New Testament and the Maxoretic Text of the Old Testament is the only correct translation of the Bible. They also sometimes believe that the KJV is the only inspired word of God.
James White has divided this Movement into 5 main types.
1) People who Like the KJV Best, but who do not believe that it is the only acceptable version.
2) People who believe that the KJV is the most accurate of the Bibles.
3) The "Received Text Only" would believe that the traditional Hebrew and Greek texts are believed to be supernaturally preserved.
4) The "Inspired" group believe that the KJV itself is divinely inspired by God. They claim that the KJV is the only Bible.
5) The "KJV As New Revelation" believes that the KJV is a new revelation from God, and should be the standard from which all other translations originate. There is also a view called "Ruckmanism" which would say that the original Greek and Hebrew can be corrected from the KJV.
Questions:
1) If you believe that the KJV is inspired, then which version was inspired? The last version came out in 1769. The original KJV included the Apocrypha so was that Bible inspired?
2) What Bible was inspired before 1611 when there was no Bible?
3) If God always gives the world his word in one language (English), then the KJV is certainly not that language, for God chose Greek, not English to reveal his Revelation.
4) If the Textus Receptus(TR) is the error free text, then why are the last 6 verses of Revelation absence from the TR, yet present in the KJV?
5) How can you accept that the Textus Receptus is perfect and error free when Acts 9:6 is found only in the Latin Vulgate but absolutely no Greek manuscript known to man?
6) In Revelation 22:19 the phrase "book of life" is used in the KJV when absolutely All known Greek manuscripts read "tree of life"?
7) How can we trust the TR to be 100 error free when the second half of 1 Jn 5:8 are found only in the Latin Vulgate and a Greek manuscript probably written in Oxford about 1520 by a Franciscan friar named Froy.
God inspired the original writers of the Bible, and how the Bible gets translated is up to man. There is nowhere in the Bible where God says you must use the KJV Bible.
I would be more concerned about living a Christian life and doing Gods will, not what Bible I use. Every Bible has issues with it. There are issues with the KJV and there are issues with other version of the Bible. If I were you, I wouldn't get so caught up in this movement.
3 comments:
This is a tough topic as I have many friends who are probably either #4 or 5 on your descriptive list of KJV only people. I have made a blog devoted to topics such as this to discuss and share about. You are welcome to join the discussion if you like! Thanks
http://mindofdusty.blogspot.com/
http://biblebelieversfellowship.webs.com/aboutus.htm
http://www.kingjamesvideoministries.com/apps/videos/
http://biblebelieversfellowship.webs.com/aboutus.htm
http://www.kingjamesvideoministries.com/apps/videos/
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