KJV vs. NIV?

I used to find it interesting, reading the opinions of those who throw aspersions on the King James Version of the Bible, but it’s become a little monotonous. The attempts to undermine the reliability of the KJV are always, at best, unreliable. It’s only mildly interesting to see someone who wants us to put more faith in their “scholarly” opinion than that of learned men who delivered the Bible that has impacted our world for the Kingdom of Christ more than any other book ever has or ever will.

I certainly wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or discourage them from most any of the more modern translations, but it seems some feel the need to state their probems with the one book that I and millions of others prefer. So, I have no problem speaking my piece on the matter myself. As Christians, we should certainly know how to agree to disagree. If someone prefers another translation, they are more than welcome to go to it. I often enjoy different versions myself, but always come home to the tried and true.

While a man who speaks only Chinese might have a problem reading the KJV, a man with nominal intellect, a passable command of the English language and a decent Webster’s, would have little trouble understanding the KJV. (Webster, by the way, is indispensable to the Christian who sincerely desires to understand the Holy Scriptures.) As any Bible scholar who legitimately is versed in the various English translations of the scriptures will tell you, many others renderings, for example, the New International Version, are good for readability, but for accuracy in translation, no English language Bible is as accurate as the KJV. (So I was told by one of my professors at Tennessee Wesleyan College, who, incidentally was a Methodist pastor. I feel she had no reason, not being a KJV fan herself, to give me other than good information. I have heard the same repeated from other scholarly, less conservative sources, than myself.) If updated spelling and punctuation are the best arguments one has against the inherency of the KJV, then I’d say their arguments qualify as sadly weak.

The argument against accuracy wears a little old and is one of Satan’s favorites. If the KJV is unreliable even only in part, then, like a house of cards or the redemption for man it promises, it will fall under its own weight. After nearly four centuries and the salvation of millions of English speaking individuals, et al., it still saves and it still preaches. If doubt can be cast upon it, who would prefer to cast that doubt? The one who wants least for us to have scripture on which we can depend.

I am no “greek scholar” and my cursory glances at a Stong’s Exhaustive Concordance do not compare with the men who made Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic their life’s studies and were commissioned by the great sovereign, James, to translate the Bible, for the first time, into the language of the common man of the British isles. Some might think they took the King’s edict lightly and didn’t overly concern themselves with accuracy. Some might even think that God Himself took this golden opportunity lightly. Others might see the finger of God that left Elizabeth I barren, resulting in the accession to her throne by her cousin, James the VI of Scotland, (whom we know as James I of England.) A man who would otherwise have not had authority to give us the “Authorized Version” of the Bible.

I won’t play “my Bible is better than your Bible” with anyone. Most all translations have their place and merit and I thank God we have them. Neither should I stand by while someone tells me the same Bible that told me that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” is just not trustworthy. In all honesty, if any translation of the Bible, or any book or any person for that matter has one untruth within, then who can truly know how much more is untruth. Aren’t we merely left with picking and choosing the parts that we like and dismissing those we do not? If we find ourselves attempting to win our point of view, not through the authority of scripture, but by undermining the authority of the scripture, should we not prayerfully search our hearts to determine exactly what is motivating us to do so?

Some say this is a dead horse and we shouldn't concern ourselves with one translation over the other; some say no Bible is completely dependable. I say, prayerfully choose, with God’s leadership, and you will choose wisely. Then find something in which you can place your unwavering faith. No, this “horse” is not dead. Thanks be to God, this “horse” will ride while the others are bucking their masters off and dropping them on the cold, hard ground. Remember the axiom: it’s alright to change horses in midstream as long as you get on a horse that’s going the same way.