Over the past several months I have been collecting the comments and questions that have been posted in response to my “Which Bible” entries. I hope I am clear when I say that I am not attacking anyone for their translation preference. I think we can agree that all of us, if not, then the greater majority of us, do not live our lives submerged in Hebrew and Greek language and culture (I see you, Short. Welcome! ). Most of us reading these posts are probably English speaking people with little or no knowledge of the original languages of the Scriptures. Our comparison then must be between English versions.  Do they agree?  If not, where do they differ, and WHY do they differ? Which Bible, if any, will be my final authority??? What is my doctrine based on?  The following is an attempt to answer some of the questions that you have asked: 

“Do you believe that King James in 1611 was ‘a holy man, moved of God’ to write the Scripture, in which case you would consider the KJV itself superior to the originals?”

No. King James was not “a holy man, moved of God”, not in the same sense that the men were to whom God gave the original words of the scriptures.  But he was moved of God to authorize the preservation of God’s Word in English. 

And no, the KJB is not better than (but it is as good as) the actual original manuscripts, but it IS better than many of the copies that were made, and from which later versions were translated. Case in point: see my post on “EASTER OR PASSOVER”, in which I explained why “Easter” is the correct word in Acts 12:4, regardless of the fact that most of the Greek manuscripts use the word pascha, translated “Passover” in all of the modern Bible translations.  

“Are you of the position that in order for someone from a different language to read God's Word they must first learn English?”

No, God’s Word is NOT found only in the English language.  I believe God’s Word has been PRESERVED perfectly in English in the KJB. And you will have to decide too, which English version is God's Word. Or else decide that we don't have God's Word anywhere.

There is a prevalent misunderstanding among those who oppose me on this issue. That is, they think I am saying that King James I, or his men who did the translating, were inspired by God in writing a new English version, just as Moses, Daniel, Paul, Peter, etc, were “inspired” when they wrote the original manuscripts. No. THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE OF INSPIRATION. (Capitals for emphasis only -- I am not yelling.)  Neither King James I nor the translators of the KJB were inspired by God to write scripture. In fact, the original writers were not inspired, either!  It is the WORDS which were God-breathed, not the men who wrote them (2 Timothy 3:16). The scriptures (the words) were GIVEN by inspiration, and PRESERVED by God, through men, sinners all, who wrote down those God-given words.  I think I have already given Bible verses that promise the preservation of God’s words in previous “Which Bible” posts. There are several of them, not the least of which is Psalm 12:6,7.

“Noah, Job, Moses, and other patriarchs believed, had faith and had a heart for God … whatever did they do without the KJB?” 

Noah, Job, Moses, and the other patriarchs had the very words of God as they were spoken, and later, written.  While I sometimes think it would be nice to have God speak to me personally, too, and give me wisdom or direction like he did these men, God does not now appear to his children giving us revelation in addition to what he has already given to us in his Word.  Here we have the promise of God that this prophecy which we can hold in our hands is now more sure than a voice from heaven: 

 
1 Peter 2:16  For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17  For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

18  And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

“What do you think of the NKJV?”

Well, it really doesn't matter what I think of it... is it really a new and improved version of the KJB?  How does it compare to what we already know is true?  One of the reasons why the publishers make changes in the Bible is to get a copyright ($). In order to get a copyright, the text has to be substantially changed from the original work. The thousands of word changes in the NKJV are subtler than in some of the other versions. The translators claim that the NKJV comes from the same set of manuscripts that the KJB does, and that the changes are all for the purpose of easier readability, but that is not true. The Hebrew text is different -- you can Google that if you want to.
Here are some examples of changes (why are we such suckers for something "new"?):
“Repent” is omitted 44 times.
“Blood” is omitted 23 times.
“Hell” is omitted 22 times.
“Damnation” is omitted entirely.
"God" is dropped 66 times.

Here are some other changes:

Genesis 22:8: (One of the greatest verses in the Bible proclaiming that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.) "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:" The NKJV adds the little word "for”: "God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”  I wrote a previous post on the miracle that God promised here, providing HIMSELF, the Lord Jesus Christ, the LAMB OF GOD, as the offering for our sins.  The NKJV has removed this promise of a Saviour.

Matthew 7:14 changes “narrow is the way” to "difficult is the way”. There's nothing "difficult" about the salvation of Jesus Christ!  2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Now there’s a contradiction.

1 Timothy 6:10: The NKJV changes "For the love of money is the root of all evil:”  to "For the love of money is a root of ALL KINDS OF  evil”. The words "KINDS OF” are found in NO Greek text in the world! Where did they get them? Straight from the NIV, NASV, NRSV.

1 John 5:13: The NKJV reads: "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may CONTINUE TO believe in the name of the Son of God." They add "CONTINUE TO" without any Greek text whatsoever. Not even the other modern versions go that far. This is a subtle attack on the believer's eternal security. This passage tells us that we may KNOW, now, this moment, in the present, that we have eternal life, not temporary life that depends on what we do with Christ after we are saved.

The NKJV is NOT new. All of these changes (except that last one), and many many more, are already in the NIV, NASV, NRSV, or RSV.

“Most people fail to understand the meanings of words that have changed since the KJV was first written, so they get a very distorted view of what was originally expressed.”

That can easily be fixed by using a good dictionary, such as Noah Webster’s 1828 edition.  If it too pricey for you, use the free, online version.  This is no different than your pastor getting up and telling you what the “original” word was in Greek/Hebrew, except that you and I probably don’t speak or read Greek, and we don’t know which manuscript he is using as proof. He may not even know Greek -- it is simple to give a Greek lesson using a lexicon. If someone is telling you that YOU can't really know what God meant, but that HE could show you, since he knows the "originals", don't believe him.  That is popery.  The world was kept in spiritual darkness for centuries by men who insisted the common man could not know God's Word. If you don't know what a word means, look it up, just like you would do with any other book.

Peter and John were seen by the intellectuals of their day as “ignorant and unlearned” men, but they had been with Jesus, who is the Word of God, himself.  Which is of more value – knowing about God, or intimacy with God? If you are intimate with God, spending time in his Word, you will know him.  And if you aren't intimate with him, you can't know him; you can only know about him. I don’t doubt the sincerity of pastors who study Greek/Hebrew to better understand the Bible, but they don’t need to. We have wrongly elevated scholarship and education. People spend a lot more time in books that are written ABOUT the Bible than they do in the Bible!  If English is your first (or only!) language, stick with the English, and dig deeper.  You will be amazed at the buried treasure you will unearth.

(Written with help from various sources. )

I know it seems like I am really on the attack against the NIV, but that is only partly true.  All of the modern translations are faulty; the thing about the NIV is that it is the easiest one in which to point out errors, because there are so many glaring ones!  Here are just a few of them:

Compare Mark 1:2,3 in the NIV with the same passage in the KJB.  The NIV says the verses that Mark quotes here are taken from the book of Isaiah.  But that is only true of one of the passages.  The other is not found in Isaiah, but in Malachi.  The KJB says the quotes are from "the prophets".  Am I being picky?  No.  I am requiring inerrancy of a book that claims inerrancy.

Second, the NIV says in Hebrews 3:16, of those who came out of Egypt with Moses, "Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?"  Compare this with the same passage in the KJB. "For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit, not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." Joshua and Caleb were not among the rebels. Picky? No. Exact.

And here is a real kicker.  This is a really wicked corruption. See Isaiah 14:12 in the KJB.  According to the Bible, Satan, as Lucifer, fell from heaven and was cut down. (This is the only verse in the Scriptures which identifies Lucifer as Satan, and the name "Lucifer" never occurs at all in the NIV.) "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"  Now look at the NIV. "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!"  Do you see what the translators did here??!!!

Both the KJV and the NIV tell us in Revelation 22:16 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the "Morning Star". In Isaiah 12, the NIV wants you to believe that Jesus Christ fell from heaven, not Lucifer! "Morning Star" is a name which Jesus has reserved for himself.  How diabolical to assign to Satan any one of the names of God. Jesus did not fall, and he was not cast down from heaven, as a matter of fact, he is the one who will do the casting down. This is not an accident. 

The words "Isaiah" and "prophets" are not the same words in Greek; neither are the words "all" and "not all".  "Morning star" and "son of the morning" are not the same words in any language. To say that the NIV is a more modern, correct translation is just plain falsehood.  One of the best ways to understand the works of men is to read what they say about their own efforts.  In their Epistle Dedicatory, the KJB translators refer to their finished work as "one more exact translation of the Holy Scriptures". They considered the Bible they produced to be an exact translation of God's words. On the other hand, the NIV translators refer to their work as one that "undoubtedly falls short of its goals". Why did they not achieve their goals before they published the book?  At least they were honest about this. Their goal was not to produce an accurate translation, but to produce a Bible that would be acceptable to the religious, but lost, world.  Their design was to remove or change every reference to the major doctrines of the Christian faith: the deity of Jesus Christ, his blood atonement and bodily resurrection, the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus, etc.  They could not have made all these changes at one time, or their "bible" would not have been received by the general public.  Instead, they change a little bit more of the book every time they put out a new edition. One day they will have reached their goal, a bible with a human "savior", the perfect "holy book" for the coming one world religion.

Someday these men will face God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and they will give account for the changes and omissions they have made in his Word.  I would not want to be in their shoes. God himself warned against doing this in Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18, 19.  You don't have to accept inconsistencies in your Bible.  God's Book is true, and every word is pure. If you are reading along and you see something that doesn't agree with what you read earlier, question it! "STUDY to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed..." 2 Timothy 2:15. We who now know the difference must make a decision... which Bible?

I have been meaning to get back to my "Which Bible?" posts, and just haven't done it. One of these days I am going to do an expose' on Wescott and Hort, two men who prepared some of the manuscripts that were used in the translating of the 1881 Revised Version, and which have been used in every Bible translation (revision) that has been done since then. Until then, take this quiz, and ask yourself WHY men would change these things in a Book that claims to be the very words of God, and what spirit would lead them to do so.  If you are new to my blog, please go read my other posts on "Which Bible?" under Categories on my sidebar, and begin at the bottom.

I have received a couple of negative comments on my Which Bible posts, which I have had to delete. They were not hateful, but I can't let them sit out here for everyone to read before I get a chance to answer the charges. We have started school again here, and I have less time than I had before to blog, but I will get back to them.  I saved the comments to refer back to later. I appreciate the moral support I have received, and even the challenges. I am not interested in holding a forum or a debate over this issue, because for one, neither of us is going to convince the other, and second, according to Romans 1, debate isn't something we should be engaged in.  At least, that's the way it is in my Bible. What does yours say?  Should we, or shouldn't we?  Here we go again...

For those of you who have asked, you can find more information about the English Bible translations at this good site.  Read the FAQ's.  The books available at this site are very good, and not too deep for someone like me to understand.  (As always, a disclaimer, since I can not answer for the authors at this site regarding what they believe doctrinally.)

  The Bible 

This book is the inspired, infallible Word of God. The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, its prophecies are accurate, and its decisions are immutable.  Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains Light to direct you, Food to support you, and Comfort to cheer you.  It is the traveler’s Map, the pilgrim’s Staff, the pilot’s Compass, the soldier’s Sword, and the Christian’s Charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. CHRIST IS ITS GRAND SUBJECT, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a Mine of Wealth, a Paradise of Glory, and a River of Pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the Judgment, and will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its sacred contents.

“For ever, O Lord,

Thy Word is settled in Heaven.”

Psalm 119:89 

I feel that possibly my Bible version series may have prompted a post I read recently about divisiveness. I will be the first to admit I am not the queen of tact.  Certainly gentleness and meekness are fruits that I need to have the Lord develop in me further -- and probably will be until the day I die.  I do not write my posts with the intention of upsetting people or to boast of my own goodness or scholarship (both are paltry in my life). In fact, I spend a lot of time wording things so that I might say them with as little offense as possible!  Pray for me that I might learn to present truth without offending. I would appreciate that very much.

What I see here at HSB, in spite of many differences in beliefs about Jesus Christ, salvation, and godly living, is an "I'm okay, you're okay, we're all okay," attitude, with little concern for what is actually RIGHT.  Does it matter?  Yes, it matters to me.  I know that "right" matters to you, too, or you would not be teaching your own children. If I thought there were many truths, that everything that calls itself "Christian", or "spiritual", is okay, there would be no point in my posts about the Bible versions. My aim is not to change the minds of those who are confident in their beliefs, but to prayerfully teach those who are NOT sure, to those who see the inconsistencies in the English Bibles.  My hope is that maybe one person reading my posts will be led to love the Lord Jesus, to love his word, and to have a zeal for that which is right.

If I post something that you disagree with, please do not feel personally offended. I know that many will disagree with me about the Bible versions. I do not wish my blog to be a source of hurt or anxiety.  If it is, please, with no hard feelings on either side, simply remove me from your friends list.  Please do accept my sincere, heart-felt apologies, and forgive me for saying things in a way that is rude or offensive to you.  May the one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, be glorified in my blog and in yours.

Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

Galatians 4:16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

My husband is responsible for showing me the differences between the various English translations.  Many years ago he challenged me to read the KJB from cover to cover.  I had owned my beloved NIV for many years, and several times I had tried to read it all, but I had not succeeded one time.  So, okay, I reluctantly tried it.  I opened up the KJB and read a little bit, and then I got so angry with the whole preposterous idea that there was only ONE Bible, that I threw it against the wall!  But I did keep reading.  All the way through.  Again and again. And I found that there was power in the King James Bible.  It spoke to me "as one having authority, and not as the scribes".  It was black and white, not leaving moral and doctrinal issues up to me to decide. And it was plain on salvation.  “To as many as received HIM gave he power to become the sons of God.” John 1:12.  I grew up in a church that teaches baptismal regeneration.  Do you know, I could not find that doctrine in the King James Bible? I could find it in my NIV, though.  Now what?  I had to know.  My eternity depended on it.

Do you have a Holy Bible or an unholy Bible?  Do you have the whole Bible or a Holey Bible? Doesn’t it bother you when six different people at Bible study give their own revision of a verse, and none of them match? One says, “Baptism now saves us”; in the same verse another says that baptism is a figure of that which saves us.  One says redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, is through the blood of Christ; another leaves the blood out. What are you going to believe?  The issue is final authority.  What is yours?  Either it is God’s Word, or else it is your opinion, or someone else’s opinion. Someone once asked a well-known preacher the question, “Does it matter which Bible I read?”  He answered, “Only if you believe anything out of it.”

This quiz is just for fun:

 Try Answering These From Your NIV

INSTRUCTIONS:

Using the New International Version Bible, answer the following questions to this NIV quiz.

Do not rely on your memory. As the Bible is the final authority, you must take the answer from the Bible verse (not from footnotes but from the text).

1.      Fill in the missing words in Matthew 5:44. "Love your enemies,__________ them that curse you, ______________ to them that hate you, and pray for them that __________ and persecute you."

2. According to Matthew 17:21, what two things are required to cast out this type of demon?
3. According to Matthew 18:11, why did Jesus come to earth?
4. According to Matthew 27:2, what was Pilate's first name?
5. In Matthew 27:35, when the wicked soldiers parted His garments, they were fulfilling the words of the prophet. Copy what the prophet said in Matthew 27:35 from the NIV.
6. In Mark 3:15, Jesus gave the apostles power to cast out demons and to: ____________
7. According to Mark 7:16, what does a man need to be able to hear?
8. According to Luke 7:28, what was John? (teacher, prophet, carpenter, etc.). What is his title or last name?
9. In Luke 9:55, what did the disciples not know?
10. In Luke 9:56, what did the Son of man not come to do? According to this verse, what did He come to do?
11. In Luke 22:14, how many apostles were with Jesus?
12. According to Luke 23:38, in what three languages was the superscription written?
13. In Luke 24:42, what did they give Jesus to eat with His fish?
14. John 3:13 is a very important verse, proving the deity of Christ. According to this verse (as Jesus spoke), where is the Son of man?
15. What happened each year as told in John 5:4?
16. In John 7:50, what time of day did Nicodemus come to Jesus?
17. In Acts 8:37, what is the one requirement for baptism?
18. What did Saul ask Jesus in Acts 9:6?
19. Write the name of the man mentioned in Acts 15:34.
20. Study Acts 24:6-8. What would the Jew have done with Paul? What was the chief captain's name? What did the chief captain command?
21. Copy Romans 16:24 word for word from the NIV.
22. First Timothy 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verse in the New Testament concerning the deity of Christ. In this verse, who was manifested in the flesh?
23. In the second part of First Peter 4:14, how do [they] speak of Christ? And, what do we Christians do?
24. Who are the three Persons of the Trinity in First John 5:7?
25. Revelation 1:11 is another very important verse that proves the deity of Christ. In the first part of this verse Jesus said, "I am the A______________ and O___________, the _________ and the _______:"

Conclusion: Little space is provided for your answers, but it's much more than needed. If you followed the instructions above, you not only failed the test, you receive a big zero.

(Ed. These are all missing in the NIV.) So now what do you think of your accurate, easy to understand, up to date Bible?  

If you would like to improve your score, and in fact score 100%, you can take this test using the Authorized (King James) Bible.

By Rex L. Cobb

Today's daily devotion from the Institute for Creation Research  fits so appropriately with my recent posts on the Bible!

"Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain" Philippians 2:16.

There is such beautiful correlation between the Living Word (Christ) and the written Word (the Bible) that certain Scriptures could well apply to either one. Such is the case with our text. The Philippians were exhorted to hold forth the Word of life, which presumably could mean either Christ, the Living Word, or else the Scriptures, which speak of eternal life.

The same dual meaning can be discerned in such texts as II Timothy 4:2 ("Preach the word") and Hebrews 4:12 ("The word of God is quick, and powerful"). In fact, there are many beautiful figures of speech that are applied in the Bible to the ministries of both Christ and the Scriptures in a believer's life.

For example, Christ is "the light of the world" (John 8:12), but also, "the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light" (Proverbs 6:23). Similarly Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35), but He also said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4).

The Lord Jesus Christ said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37). God also promised that "as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, . . . So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth" (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Both are described as the very personification of truth. Jesus said, "I am . . . the truth," and He also prayed to the Father: "Thy word is truth" (John 14:6; 17:17). Finally, both must be received: "receive . . . the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21), for "as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God" (John 1:12). HMM

This post is being written in response to the comments I got on my last post.  I didn't want to try to fit all this multitude of words into that little teeny comment box, so unless you click on someone else's blog right now, you are going to be bombarded with my reply to /johnightthirtytwo and BibleMan. Oh, wait a second. Before I invite more fire, I wanted to tell you all (all but 8 of you, 8 wonderful ladies who are my FRIENDS) that I was disappointed in the results of my delurking day! Only EIGHT?? Who's still just lurking?  I got way more than that on my counter... out with it.  Oh, okayyy, you don't have to say you love my blog.  Just post a comment. And oh, whoever you are, Anonymous non-HSB'er, you didn't leave me a way to contact you to say thank you!  So leave another one :o)  And now everyone, go get your tomatoes, you have time.  This is a long post.

  Whoa!  See what I mean about it being a divisive issue?  Both of you raised some good points.  In answer to Short, the titles, subtitles, and chapter headings were not a part of the inspired, preserved words of God, but were inserted later by publishers who do not claim infallibility. The chapter and verse numbers and the paragraph markings were also added later. I agree with you.  I have seen some misleading headings when looking for passages in my own Bible. But that is not what I am talking about when comparing Bibles.

You said the KJV (which, by the way, was not the first English translation) has many errors when compared with the Hebrew. How many Hebrew texts are you talking about?  What are you comparing the KJV to?  And how do you know which one is wrong? (The originals don’t exist anymore – I know King Jehoiakim threw one of Jeremiah’s original manuscripts into the fire!)  I don’t know how many Hebrew texts there are, but I do know that there are over 5000 surviving Greek texts manuscripts which contain all or part of the New Testament. These 5000+ manuscripts agree with each other 95% of the time, and it is from these texts, called the Textus Receptus, that the KJV was translated. The other 5%, called the Alexandrian manuscripts, make up the differences between the KJV and ALL of the other modern translations, accounting for between 5000 and 36,000 differences, depending on which translation you are looking at, AND they do not even agree with each other much of the time!  The Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus, two of the manuscripts on which modern translators rely very heavily, are in this group of revised Greek texts.  This manuscript evidence stuff can get really deep, but it’s really not that hard to understand. (After all, even I can get it! lol!)

For example, look at Mark 16, regarding the resurrection of Christ.  Six hundred and eighteen texts include the last twelve verses.  The Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus both leave out this portion of the scripture.  But there is NOT ONE other manuscript that leaves out these verses!  Yet look in your modern Bible. The NASB puts these verses in brackets, saying these verses “probably” were not in the original writings.  The other modern versions use brackets or footnotes to indicate this unfortunate “error” or “ambiguity” in translation also.  That is ridiculous!  If 618 people said they witnessed a crime and two said it didn’t happen, whom would you believe? The issue here is TRUTH. If the verses are true, what is the point of removing them, except to cast doubt on God’s Word??

Bible Man had a good point, which is that the underlying issue here is one of final authority.  As long as we do not believe God kept his words for us, we are free to disagree with the Bible and change it.  Satan cast doubt on God’s Word right from the start of Genesis.  He asked Eve, “Yea, hath God said…?” and men have been questioning God’s Word ever since. Without God’s Word being the final authority, we ourselves will choose what to believe and what to reject.  You don’t believe Mary was a virgin? Okay, take that part out.  You don’t believe in the blood atonement?  Okay, just take the blood out. You don’t believe Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh?  Just attack the verses that prove his deity. What’s left? Certainly nothing to show sinners their need of Jesus Christ.

Yes, each Bible has an agenda.  The agenda of the modern bibles is to make you doubt God and his authority.  God’s agenda in preserving his words in the King James Bible was to show English-speaking people all over the world their need to be saved from sin and hell. The Bible says we are saved through FAITH, Eph. 2:8,9. How do we get faith?  From the incorruptible Word of God, Romans 10:17 and 1 Peter 1:23.

So if one reads the right Bible, he can get enough faith to believe that God meant HIM/her when he said, “ For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 

Then he looks further into the Book and sees that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23, and “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. 

Then he can learn the answer, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved,” Romans 10:9.  “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

The Bible also says, “…and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7, and “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

“Which Bible” is vitally important to our soul’s salvation.( “…the HOLY scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto SALVATION through FAITH which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Tim. 3:15.)  1 Peter 1:23 says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of INCORRUPTIBLE, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”  Right there is a promise of preservation, and there are others, Psalm 12, Mt 24:35, Ps. 119:89. “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,” Jn. 12:48 – can we be judged by it, if we don’t have it?

So then, finally, do we have God’s perfect, inspired, preserved Word today? (Not, was it perfect when it was written.)  And if we DO have God’s Word today, which Bible is it???  You don’t have to believe it is the KJV, but if you believe what God has told us about his word, you must believe that he has given it to you to believe and to understand and to be accountable to. Find the one that is perfect and without error, not according to human standard, but according to its own standard, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. You will then have found a Bible that you can trust your soul to.

Thank you, Short, for challenging me! No ruffled feathers here. Iron sharpeneth iron.

This afternoon I came across a random blog written by a couple of young ladies, and I was very impressed.  Many of the kids’ blogs I have seen are disappointing at best, but these girls are really trying to have a good testimony for the Lord Jesus, and to point others the right way.  One of the entries was a fictional advice column called “Dear Margaret”, and the questions had to do with Bible versions. Go read it. Young Rose did a good job of answering her “writer”, but I felt "led" to help her out a bit.  I posted a comment (edited a bit, since I have thought on it more), and here it is:

Dear Rose,

I found your blog at random, and I was very interested to see your answers to the above questions. You had some good thoughts, but may I add to them?  There are some very important reasons why one’s choice in Bibles is critical.  It is because we have so many different Bibles that there are so many different “Christian” doctrines.

Is faith in the blood of Jesus alone sufficient to wash away sins?

Is a sinner regenerated by faith in Christ, or by faith in water baptism?

Are you eternally secure (is Christ’s gift of salvation eternal or is it temporary)? 

Is salvation a gift, or must I do good works to go to heaven?

Was Mary a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus? 

Was Jesus 100% God and 100% man? 

Is there only one God? 

Your answers to these critical questions will depend on which Bible you believe to be God’s Word (if you read it), or which Bible you are taught from. Where is the Word of God today?  Do we have the actual words of God now?  Be careful how you answer. If we do not have God’s Word today, then God lied when he promised to preserve his words (emphasis on words, not message or ideas) in Psalm 12, and in other places.

The world IS changing, and most people, even Christians, are getting farther and farther from the Bible. One of the reasons why there are so many “bibles” is that there is money to be had every time someone can come up with a “new” one to sell. You were right when you said possibly some of the translators weren’t satisfied with the original words, and wanted to change them.  Many of the translators of the modern Bible versions have completely changed doctrinal truths by changing words, deleting words, or adding words. (The Bible itself gives us serious warnings against doing this!) They have left out the blood of Christ hundreds of times.  They have made Jesus merely a man, and not God, or the Son of God, or the Christ. They have made his mother, Mary, a “young woman”, rather than a virgin.  They have given Satan the name of Jesus, the “Morning Star”. Some of the translators of the modern versions were spiritists who held seances. At least one is a homosexual. These men do not believe in the authority of God's Word. YES, it is critical which Bible you read! 

Also, there is a good reason for the thee’s and thou’s.  In old English, as with many foreign languages, there is a different word for “you”, singular, and “you”, plural.  By paying special attention to whether a verse says, “thee” or “ye”, you can tell whether the person is speaking to one person or to a group of people.  That is simple, isn’t it?  Rather than confusing us, the thee’s and thou’s clear things up!

You are right about the KJV.  Stick with it.   You can get more information about this issue in a book called, Let’s Weigh the Evidence, from Chick Publications.  It is a small book, and easy to understand. God bless you for trying to point other young ladies in the right direction!

Mrs J.