Tag: KJV only

Irony In Translations

Revelations 22:18 & 19 lays it out clearly concerning
the war of translations:

18 For I
testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book:

19 And if
any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall
take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from
the things which are written in this book.

Now was this written to the readers of Revelations or the
readers of the Bible as a whole? Reason I ask is this has been applied to the
Bible as a whole, yet over the history of the Bible and the translations things
have changed. The original Bible is what? Technically all the Bibles in print
do something to change the wordings and underlying meaning.

Through my readings of the various translations and my
research into the “perfect” translation I have found one thing, these verses
have been violated by the translator. First we get into the KJV vs the NIV
version. Ironically the original KJV had 80 chapters and that was reduced to 66
in the 1880’s. Also, the NIV was translated from older manuscripts and thus
considered more reliable and are missing some verses or had some added. Now the
KJV only crowd says just because it is older doesn’t mean it is accurate. The
majority of ancient translations as well as letters quoting missing scriptures
from the “oldest” sources imply that the KJV is a correct translation.

Also, newer translations like the Message and The Voice are
very easy reads, but add a bunch of language to help clarify the statements
from the original translations. Whereas the Message has had some questionable
stuff embedded in the book, I have found the Voice to be very helpful in
understanding some of the more difficult passages.

The theological and historical bias starts to creep in since
the English language has changed and our understanding of ancient languages we
are translating from have changed. Also, when you are dealing with theological
biases, the meaning of a certain phrase could be different and therefore translated
different depending on the bias. The Jehovah Witness Bible is very much like
this since they do not believe Jesus was God.

Now through all this what does it mean for the lay person?
Should we only read the 1560 Geneva Bible, the 1611 KJV, The 1380 Wycliffe
Bible, the 1970’s NIV, the 1984 NIV or the 2011 NIV? Or some other version? Or
should we learn Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew to read from the originals? If so
that which originals should we read since the originals are lost?

Before the Reformation the Bible had been translated to
Latin, a dead language at the time and was hidden from the people from around
300AD to 1300 AD. So for 1000 years we lived in the dark, hence why it was the
Dark Ages. As we discover more archeological evidence of the time we can see
that the translation of the Bible and our understanding may change slightly.

So what does all this mean to YOU? Should you give up and worship
a goat or science of no God? Or trust in faith the Bible you have is correct? I
do not have a definitive answer here but can say that the Gospel has shown
through in all the translations I have read and therefore we need to stop the
decision process and just pick one to study. Use BibleGateway to do parallel
readings on parts you may not understand fully. The key is to read the Bible
and not have it collect dust.

I have looked into reading the 1560 Geneva or the 1611 KJV
and am quite depressed on two levels since most of the ones available are
copies and not re-typeset, so they are not only difficult to read Old English,
but difficult to read type. So I struggle with what to study next. I want to
read the Apochrypha and possibly the Gnostic Gospels. Also, I have taken
interest in the latest from Israel where the tomb of Jesus’ family may have
been found along with Jesus’ bones. This definitely throws a little change in
the theologies if it is in fact true but also shows others the story of Jesus
is true.

1560 Geneva or the 1611 KJV?

I am looking at both of these for specific reasons. The
Geneva Bible was the one that was brought to America, fleeing the King and his
religious persecution. Ironically the KJV only crowd stems from these same
churches that flourished in the states. In researching the differences they are
minor and I guess the margin notes were what got King James upset, since they
removed any religious authority from man, including the kings and the Pope
specifically.

At the same time it has been argued that the 1611 King James
Version was edited by Sir Francis Bacon to ensure the occult hidden agenda is
there. Sites I have visited go into detail on counting the Bible and seeing
that Masonic influences are hidden all over the book. This assumes the KJV with
66 books was the original 1611 KJV Bible which it is not! Therefore the great conspiracy
over Sir. Francis Bacon editing the Bible to show a hidden Masonic numerology is
hogwash, since the Bible that left his hands had 80 books.

Now this does not mean this hidden numerology was not put in
place in the 1880’s when the 1611 KJV was stripped of the Apocryphal writings.
I do not know and find it interesting that people spend a bunch of time trying
to discredit one book or another and after reading a few different versions all
of which have “flaws” the one thing that has stood out is through all the BS,
God’s message and words hold true.

Another thing I found interesting was a recent documentary I
watched concerning finding Jesus’ tomb. If true this could throw Christianity
on its head since the theology from the early Roman church would be thrown out.
Could Dan Brown have stirred the pot to the point of bringing to light some
interesting changes in our understanding of Jesus? What would it matter?
Honestly what I have read would only change the story slightly and some theologies,
but not the message of Salvation.

Which is the key here, since through all the great conspiracies
of the Geneva, KJV, NKJV, NIV, RSV, NLT, The Message and all the others I find
the message of Salvation through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus is the only
true path to God is still intact. The rest helps us understand God, but if we
get lost in what is allegory and fighting over what is historical fact we will
go bonkers and fall into a trap. Believe what you know to be true and keep
trying to find the real truth!

With this all said I am leaning towards the 1560 Geneva
Bible for two reasons, at the time it was accepted as the true word of God
while the 1611 KJV was considered political and my Great, Great … Grandfather
Roger Williams would have approved of that choice over the 1611 KJV. Now to
find a copy in it’s entirety!

KJV Only and Others

I have been thinking a lot about this since there are a ton
of detractors out there that say many different things about each version. What
I have discovered is the KJV was first published in 1611 with 80 books and in the
1880’s the KJV was reduced to 66 books. Also, the Geneva Bible is the “Protestant”
Bible which also has the 80 books. Ironically the KJV is touted as the ONLY
translation in many Protestant churches, specifically the Southern Baptists.

Anyway … my thought is to take the original 1611 KJV and the
Geneva version and do them in parallel … at least this week.

One thing I can say in all the research is the changes from
KJV to say the NIV although minor are significant theologically. Although most
churches have not adopted these “changes” and most likely will not since they
are subtitle and stated correctly in other places.

So with this I continue to ponder which direction since the
only one that seems the way is studying two old English Bibles. All to find the
truth, which honestly is very simple. Jesus was God’s first born son, and was
God in flesh, who died on the cross for redemption of mankind’s sins. All we
have to do is accept Jesus as lord, believe what was written is true and
confess one’s sins.

That is simple yet hard since today there is a movement,
specifically The Zeitgheist Movement that says Jesus was a fabricated story
based on a feeling that it could not be true. To that I respond too many people
died early on for a fake story that is historical truth, therefore based on all
the historical data, granted limited, Jesus IS real and who He says He is!!

So I will keep you updated on my journey!