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The King James Bible
By Wink Wilson, Goshen
Is the King James Version of the Bible the most reliable English translation? Having written on this subject quite extensively in the past, and having been printed in The Voice on it, I will pass on writing a long, updated article on it. The answer to the above question is very obviously no! I say this after having been a student for twenty-two years of the King James Version (KJV), spending the last ten years in the other versions like the New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the New King James Version (NKJV).
Sadly, a lot of untaught Christians (untaught on this issue, at least) consider anyone using any other translation than the KJV to be inferior to them. I’ve found that most (probably 97%) who hold to the KJV-only position in reality know very little about the King James Bible, the Textus Receptus, the translators, Erasmus—or anything about the issue, for that matter—and are just leaning on the views of some leader or pastor whom they hold in high regard. The controversy is, as I type this, being discussed on the Cable 5 program More to the Point, seen at 7:30 p.m. on Mondays on Cablevision of Litchfield. The host is Dr. Darril Deaton, the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Litchfield. The number to call is 567-4589 if you have comments or questions on this issue (or on any topic, for that matter). The beauty of this call-in program is that you can call and remain completely anonymous to the host and everyone who doesn’t recognize your voice on TV.
However, if you’re the bashful type and don’t wish to hear your own voice, especial on a topic that can be as volatile as the KJV issue in Christian circles, I’ll give you a website to go to on this subject-matter. It’s <www.Bible.ca>; by all means go to this site.
When browsing the Internet one can come across various church websites which proudly boast that they are an "Old fashioned, Bible believing, fundamental, King James Only church"—and then the site proceeds to advertise all their programs, services, statement of faith and so on. Believe me, when you go to the above website and click in the search box "King James Only controversy," you’re in for a ton of information. You will find that being a Bible-believing Christian—a fundamentalist, one who believes in the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, that the Bible is the Written Word of God, etc.—is something to be very proud of and very appropriately defended historically and scientifically. But you will also find that to hold to the King James Version only position—that is, to look down upon or reject all other translations of the Scriptures (like the NASB, NKJV, NIV, etc.)—is to place oneself in a very weak and indefensible position when all the facts are on the table.
Now, before you get the hair on your back up at me, go to <www.Bible.ca> and you’ll be kept quite busy reading, even looking at some of the original pages of the KJV 1611. There’s a ton of fully documented information on this site.
If you have any questions or comments for me personally, you can email me at <wink_wilson@hotmail.com> and I’ll be glad to get back to you (unless I get buried with emails—which I really don’t expect, but who knows?). Let’s keep it friendly, too. As I said earlier, amongst us Christians this KJV topic can be quite volatile and we must never forget the command of Jesus Christ: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34 KJV) Let’s never forget this.
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