Subject: Statements on King James Bible
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 17:49:38 -0500
From: xxxxxxxxx@zzzzzzzzzzz
To:

Dear brother,

Statement:
I've enjoyed reading your pages! Your beliefs are very very close to mine. In fact, the only thing that I've found so far that I disagree with is your stand on the KJV of the Bible.

You asked for us to write, so I am. My purpose is NOT to be contentious or argumentative, but, like you, to exalt our Lord Jesus!

Statement:
With my limited understanding, I understand the the KJV translators used the best manuscripts and that is great. However, your statement of faith shows me that you've already seen translation errors in the KJV, so why would you pretend that God is the author of the KJV?

Answer:
Yes, the KJV translators did use the best manuscripts and also all of the English Bibles that had been printed before.

However you are in Error when you say that my statement of faith shows that I have seen translation errors in the KJV. There is no place in either my Introduction or in my Statement of Faith that says that, or even hints at it. To the contrary, I have stated that it is the KJV Bible of 1611 that has no errors. In Belief #3 "The Scriptures are Inspired", I have stated "The Bible is entirely true and infallible, therefore is entirely trustworthy, and is the final authority in everything it teaches of faith and conduct. I believe that God has protected His Word in the form of the King James Bible."

I then go on to state that it is the Other so-called bible versions that have been written by MAN, who twisted and changed it, introducing many errors into their false bibles.

As for God being the Author of the KJV Bible, God Himself tells us in the Bible that Every word is inspired by Him.

2 Timothy 3:13 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

And that His Word will never change.

Matthew 5:18 "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

Statement:
Specifically, the atonement scriptures in Is. 53 are one glaring error.

Answer:
I see by this statement that you do not believe that Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for you! The entire chapter of Isaiah 53 is prophecy about the suffering that Jesus would suffer for you. In reading the Gospels, we can see that every one of these prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

Statement:
I've got other things to do right now, but I'm sure you know the translations of "griefs" and "sorrows" rather than "sickesses" and "pains" is not only poor translation, but inconsistent with the way the translators translated those same words in other places in the Bible!

Answer:
You do not say which verses in the Bible is suppose to have this immagined mistranslation. I will assume that your are refering to Isaiah 53:4 since You were just questioning the entire chapter in Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:4 "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."

I can see that you relied on the Literal word for word translation which would be sickness and pains. But a word for word translation is not always correct. It must also fit into the sense and meaning of the text surrounding it. There are many many words which have been correctly translated as different words throughout the bible because of this. This is neither poor translation, nor is it inconsistent.

These words were translated in the bible in the following ways:

The Hebrew word translated GRIEF in this verse was translated in the Bible as:
Sickness = 12 times
Disease = 7 times
Grief = 4 times
Sick = 1 time

The Hebrew word translated SORROW in this verse was translated in the Bible as:
Sorrow = 12 times
Pain = 2 times
Grief = 2 times

According to your argument, you could have chosen any one of these words and claim that it should have been translated as that one. And there are many who do this, even though they neither speak and write the ancient Hebrew language. In fact, they usualy do not even speak and write english fluently, even though they do speak and write english in some manner.

Statement:
In summary, exaltation of the KJV version comes closer to idolatry or "bibliolatry" (I thnk it's called) than it is an honor to God.

Answer:
This is a Word of God Issue!! Not a Bible Version Issue. Either the KJV 1611 Bible is the Word of God, or it is not. As the Word of God, to Believe in it and to defend it, is NOT, either Idolatry or Bibliolatry, as you, and many others, are claiming. The Bible itself strongly claims it's writings are from God!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works"

John 17:18 "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me."

If it is not the Word of God, then you might as well throw it in the trash as it would then have no more Spiritual value than would the books of "Little Women" or "Tom Sawyer", the "Almanac" or "See Spot Run".

Pray tell me, Just How is it an Honor to God to refuse to accept, or to believe, God's Word?

Statement:
The original Scriptures are the Word of God and while some translations are better or worse than others,

Answer:
Oh, My, What a cop out. How many use this argument to reject God's Word. There is not one original scripture in the world. The argument is that the scribes who made the copies made many errors in copying. The truth is that it is only the modern man who makes these errors.

The ancient scribes copied the scriptures with such accuracy that prior to the Dead Sea Scroll copy of the Book of Isaiah, the best copy of that Book was over 1000 years newer! In comparing the two copies that covered this gap of a thousand years, there was found only ONE CHARACTER changed, and that was an article that "possibly" could have lost the accent mark of the character to make it 100% identical to the dead sea scroll version! Imagine 1000 years of copies and NO CHANGE in the versions! That can only be the work of God who said that HIS Word would not change. To read more on the accuracy of the Scribes see http://www.barr-family.com/godsword/inerrant.htm

But while some men place great importance on these missing pieces of "paper", God does not. Thus their argument is blown out of the water by God Himself in the Bible that they do not believe in.

Consider the following:
(Author unknown)

QUESTION: Shouldn't we be loyal to the "original autographs" and not a mere translation?

ANSWER: We should put as much value on the "originals" as God does.

EXPLANATION: It is impossible to be true to the originals because the originals have long been lost. This well established fact should be enough to make the sincere student of Scripture realize that an affirmative answer to the question is an impossibility.

But it does not explain the above answer. Just how much value does God put on the originals?

To get the answer we must explore seveal chapters in the book of Jeremiah beginning with the famous passage in chapter 36 concerning the roll that Jeremiah had written.

In verse 21 the roll is brought before King Jehoiakim and read by his servant Jehudi.

According to verse 23 Jehudi read three or four leaves and King Jehoiakim cut it up with a penknife and cast it into the fire on the hearth until it was destroyed.

Thus ends ORIGINAL #1!

Then the Lord moved Jeremiah to rewrite the roll adding some words to it. (Jeremiah 36:32)

Thus ORIGINAL #2 is born.

We are shown the text of this second original in Jeremiah 45-51 where it reproduced for our benefit.

Jeremiah told Seraiah to read this roll when he came into Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59-61). Then Jeremiah instructed Seraiah, after he finished reading the roll, to bind a stone to it and cast it into the Euphrates river (Jeremiah 51:63)!

Thus ends ORIGINAL #2!

But wait! We have a copy of the text of the roll in chapters 45-51. Where did it come from? It came from a copy of original #2 which we can only call ORIGINAL #3!

So there are two very big problems for those who overemphasize the "originals."

(1) Every Bible ever printed with a copy of Jeremiah in it has a text in chapters 45-51 which is translated from a copy of the "second" original, or ORIGINAL #3.

(2) Secondly, NO ONE can overlook the fact that God didn't have the least bit of interest in preserving the "original" once it had been copied and its message delivered. So WHY should we put more of an emphasis on the originals than God does? An emphasis which is plainly unscriptural.

Thus, since we have the text of the "originals" preserved in the King James Bible we have no need of the originals, even if they were available.

(End of Article)

Now, as for the other translations, a comparison of them shows that they all deny the deity of Jesus Christ, deny the trinity, and deny the virgin birth, they make Jesus a sinner by some of the words that they changed / took out. There is not one of them that is not a "Counterfit Bible." Not one of them is the Word of God, each one is different. God said that His words never change, but man has been trying to change it, taking out what man does not like, changing them to read the way that man would like it to read, instead of the way that God gave it to us.

Statement:
EVERY DOCTRINE that you spoke of is faithfully represented in ALL the traslations, no matter how bad they are.

Answer:
If you think that if you take 3/4 of a quart of water, and add 1/4 quart of Orange Juice to it, that you now have a full quart of Orange Juice, then by all means believe it. The changes to the doctrines of the bible in the "new versions" amounts to the same thing. The doctrines have been highly deluded. But then, if you never had the real Orange Juice you would not know the difference and would believe the lie that the deluted one is the same. If you do not know the doctrines in the real bible, how on earth could you judge how deluted they are in the "new versions"???

******** The End of My Answers ********

God Bless you Brother for all your efforts to share!

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Rev. Jack Barr