Another poster linked to a 1200 page dissertation on KJV onlyism. I had some time last night and went through it a goodly bit. It turned out to be a rather long winded non sequitur.
How much difference do you suppose English translations of the bible make in the grand scheme of things?
I believe the Bible existed perfectly in the Hebrew (OT), Greek (NT) (During the time that the Greek was a world language). I believe the Latin was the next language that the Holy Scriptures were preserved in perfectly when Latin was the world language. Then in 1900, English was full in bloom as being a world language (See this article
here) and the apocrypha was removed with the Cambridge Edition of the KJV. This was also a time when the printing process had been perfected, and when there was a standardization of grammar and spelling. Before 1900, the Scriptures existed perfectly in the Latin language. So there has always been an unbroken line of God's Word existing perfectly in some language (While it may have existed imperfectly in other translations). I recommend people to use the KJV (circa 1900 Cambridge Edition) as their final word of authority and use Modern Translations only as a means to help us understand what the King James says. For we do not know Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek because they are dead languages that are so far in the past. At least with 1600's English, we have an idea of what it is saying based on our current Modern English. Psalms 12:6-7 says that God's words are pure words and that they are preserved for all generations forever. Is the Lord our God the God of the dead, or of the living? I believe God speaks to us in our language perfectly today. How else can the poor man be rich in faith according to James 2:5? Does the poor rich man have to go into debt at a Bible school to learn the original languages to understand the Bible? Surely not.
Jesus said, "beware of the scribes."
The scribes are those who "
tran-SCRIBE" the Law or the Holy Scriptures. They write down and make copies or translate it into another language. The scholar of our day is the scribe because they interpret what God's Word says. Jesus said to beware of them. Understanding God's Word is not in the wisdom of men like at a Bible school, but it is by being taught by the Spirit and by comparing spiritual things with spiritual (
i.e. comparing Scripture, with Scripture) (See: 1 Corinthians 2:13). For we received the Word not as the words of men (
infallible words or words that have errors in them), but we received them as the very words of God (
that are divine and perfect and without error) (See: 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
