My Opinion About the KJV Bible
ABOUT THE BIBLE
The only version of the Bible that I recommend to use is the Authorized King James version, published in 1611. All of the other versions in print are inaccurate translations, which were made from other translations, or paraphrased versions, where someone has made their own interpretation of the Bible and rewrote it in today’s English.
Many theologians make reference to the Bible as God’s Word and for the most part I will agree. But due to the process of translating the original scriptures of Hebrew and Greek into English, the translators found it necessary to add some English words to the text in order to improve the readability of it, and in doing this, opened the door for possible misinterpretations of the subject matter. For this reason, I find it to be a more accurate statement to say that the Bible contains the Word of God.
An example of an inaccurate translation of a verse of scripture is as follows.
Luke 14:26 reads as follows: “If any man comes to me, and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Saying that a person should hate their father and mother goes against God’s commandment to honor your father and mother (Exo 20:12). The meaning of this verse was that a person should love their father and mother less than they love Him, or they should love the Lord more than they love their father and mother.
The translator of this verse really got the meaning wrong.
A similar verse in chapter 10 of Matthew was translated correctly as follows.
Matt 10:37 He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Don’t you see how man can change the meaning from what the original writings really said and meant?
Additional caution should be exercised because of the choice of the English words the Translators selected for the Hebrew and Greek words in the original text. In some cases the most accurate English word was not chosen. This becomes evident when one portion of subject matter does not read as though it is completely consistent with the entire book of scriptures.
There was a time when I was convinced that a believer had no need for someone to teach them from the scriptures. I believed that the Bible was written in terms that every person could understand the intent and meaning of the scriptures on their own. But I realized later, because of the errors I found in the translation process, that God knew what He was doing when He set teachers in the Church (1 Cor 12:28). Without an anointed teacher having been sent by God, false doctrines will be adopted by the church and cause divisions as we have today.
Prior to the King James Bible becoming available, there were a number of other translations made over a period of several hundred years. The first bible, which was the Vulgate, was hand written in Latin by an early Christian in the year 404 by the name of Jerome. The first printed bible was the Gutenberg Bible, printed in 1456, and was also a Latin edition made from the Vulgate.
The first English bible in Europe was printed by Miles Coverdale in 1535. This bible was hardly a success since Miles knew very little Greek or Hebrew and mostly used other translations, which created a bible full of errors.
No English bible was authorized for use in the Church in England until 1539 when the Great Bible was published by Thomas Cromwell.
A later translation called the Geneva Bible was published in 1560 by English subjects who were exiled from England to Geneva Switzerland. A copy of this bible was taken to America by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower.
The English speaking people during the sixteenth century wanted a new translation because they felt those existing ones that were being used contained too many deviations from the original scriptures and contained too many reflections by certain church leaders trying to prove their own interpretations. Due to this the people persuaded King James, who had just ascended to the throne of England, to order a new translation of the bible to be written.
Fortunately for us today, a plot to kill the King before he gave that order was put down. King James I of England was very opposed to the Pope’s philosophy and would not adopt their religion. Some of the Pope’s supporters placed a large amount of gunpowder in the building where the King and the Parliament met with the intent of blowing them up but this plot was uncovered and those people were put to death. If they would have succeeded, the King James Version of the bible would not have been written.
The King appointed almost fifty of the most renowned scholars available during that day to perform the task of making a new translation. Very specific instructions were given to them to insure that the final result would be as complete and accurate as humanly possible. Every available bible, scrolls and writings were made available to them to insure they had everything they needed. These men were divided up into different groups and worked in different parts of the world. Instructions were given to them, for each group, to proof read each other’s work to insure the accuracy of the work.
The job of these men was not to reinterpret the meaning of the scriptures but to insure the final translation from Hebrew and Greek to English was as accurate as possible. Some of these men were proficient in up to fifteen different languages, scholars of there own right from all disciplines.
The task assigned to these men was to insure the end result was a word for word translation. This means that whatever the Greek or Hebrew word was, they were to use the English word that had the same meaning. The problem they encountered was that a word for word translation made very difficult reading in English.
To insure that a smooth reading of the translation was achieved they added words they thought were appropriate in the sentences. For the most part this was a very good idea and it did make the translation a lot easier to read. But as always when man tries to improve on God’s work, some of the meaning gets changed. In 99% of the cases where these words were added, there was no problem but in some cases the words they added changed the meaning of the passage.
Unfortunately, there is no way for the average reader of the Bible to know which words were added by the translators. Only by doing a word for word study, comparing the original text with the English text, can these words be identified. Thus the need for teachers in the Church.
After the translation into English was complete, the Editors also saw a need to add some words to also clarify the meaning and better relate the original language into English. Fortunately for the reader, these added words were italicized, in other words the letters are slanted and are easy to recognize. An example of where a word was added inappropriately is as follows: in Luke 17:34 where it says “there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left”. The word men was added. No doubt the homosexuals use this as proof of God’s approval of them, showing that He will take a homosexual in the rapture. This word could have been left out and the meaning of the statement would not have been changed. It would have read: “there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left”. In this case the translators went farther than was necessary and changed the meaning of the statement.
If it had not have been for the addition of this word to the scriptures, I probably would never have questioned the accuracy of the King James translation. Even though this was not the only word that was added, it was the most profound and stood out like a sore thumb. There is no doubt in my mind that God influenced the adding of this word to the scriptures so as to call attention to the other errors of translation that were introduced by the translators. God knew that someone would come along and question the validity of what this verse said and because of it, begin a study of the meaning of the original scriptures, just as they were given to the Lord’s Apostles.
The KJV Bible was completed in 1611 but was not published in America until 1792. Since the publication of the King James Version, there have been thousands of revisions attempted but none of these revisions were ever able to take its place. All of the other revisions are just that, revisions and not new translations, words are changed, meanings are changed and a lot of paraphrasing is done where the person doing the revision puts his own translation and meaning in the work.
For the past 200 years, we in America have had available to us the most accurate translation of the original scriptures in existence. A copy of the King James Bible has probably been in every household and personal copies of it have been studied and taught from for many years.
But even in this day there are moves on to discontinue the use of this version and publish a version that would be known as a common bible to be used in all Churches. I have read where some have said to the younger generation that the King James Version is “hopelessly out of date” for this day and time. Also saying “There is grave danger that the continued use of this version may give modern man the impression that this bible belongs to another age, and doesn’t apply to the 20th century”.
If they succeed in eliminating the King James Version and go to a common bible, it will no doubt be one of the modern versions that have so many misleading paraphrases that the true Word of God, as translated from the original scriptures will be lost.
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Anonymous
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http://www.christianbooksbibles.com Heather
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Patti
