Opus 2025-340: Blowing Smoke

I’m off on the KJV again.  Forgive me, but I am traveling to see my KJV Only friend.  He sent me three books to read.  Over the years he had already sent me 8.  The first eight I read attentively, took notes, and look forward to discussing with him what they said.  It never happened.  He wasn’t interested in it.  He just wanted me to change my mind.

So I am reading through these books.  The first one I finished with great attention but as I kept seeing the same cultish type vocabulary and argumentation, I have pretty much lost my interest as I try to get through the second book.  Loyalty to my friend has its limitations.

One of the things that these people keep saying is that the new translations water down Christian doctrine and do away with the basics of Christianity.  They will give you a long list of places where the King James in their opinion reinforces the divinity of Christ but the New American Standard ignores it.  Sometimes it’s because of a different Greek or Hebrew text the translators were using and as far as I’m concerned it’s not a matter of “Does it agree with your doctrine”, but “Is it true?”  Doctrine is pointless if it’s based on false evidence, and it’s only inserted in the text to reinforce your narrow view.  I’m after truth, not doctrinal purity.  In the end, they both should go together, but sometimes you have to study a bit to find the convergence.

I used to go down these lists, look up the reference, try to find out if it was a textual difference, emphasis of translation, or just in the imagination of my friend and his book sources.  After a while, I get tired of the nonsense.  In these books it occurred to me that the doctrines that he brings up being undermined by the modern translations are all fully embraced by me, except for his insistence that the KJV is “God’s Perfect Bible”.  I believe in the Trinity, the incarnation, atonement, the physical resurrection, and you can go down the list.  I am on board.  And I got there using these new translations that theoretically undermine our doctrinal purity.

It’s strange that people can come to the place of orthodoxy through translations that theoretically are out to destroy orthodoxy.  Again, the one point I can’t come to is the endorsement of the 1611 King James Version as the perfect Bible.  One reason I can’t endorse it that way is because of the Bible itself doesn’t say so.  You may think this is a silly point but one of the books he gave me actually seem to be saying that the apostle Paul did use the KJV.  That’s only a slight exaggeration and does not violate what that author was actually saying.

If I can keep myself from reading second and third books that he sent me, I’m a spare you more rants of this nature.  Of course, after I have spent three days “discussing” these issues with him I may need to vent again.  Stay tuned.

homo unius libri