On the Question of KJV Only..

I have been asked many times about whether or not the King James bible version is the "right" one to read, or that sort of thing. I thought I would share our thoughts on this.

Ok, first let me give you my family's stance on the KJV-only issue. I am sure I will make many others in the "Anabaptist" faith a little displeased with what I say, but this is just our take on it.

We don't feel that there is one translation that is "perfect". In our minds, no translation could really be 100 percent perfect because they were all translated from the Greek and Hebrew and words rarely translate between languages absolutely perfect. I know many believe that the King James Version was miraculously translated with Divine Authority, but I personally have never seen any evidence that this is the case. That being said, our family does primarily use the KJV for several reasons. One, that we wanted to have one standard translation as a family so that as our children are learning memory verses and first learning to read, they are not confused by seeing different versions. Second, we believe in keeping a sense of "reverence" when worshiping, praying, and studying about Our Lord. And we prefer the formality of the language used in the KJV. Third, this is the version that the church we attend, and all others like it use. We do own several other versions, primarily a few NIV Bibles, and one other that I cannot remember what it is right now. And we sometimes will use those to see another version of a verse that perhaps has difficult wording. There are a few of the newer translations however that we stay away from because we feel they have been simplified too much and have taken away from what the original verse stated. Also some of the newer versions have purposely changed the meaning of verses to make them more culturally palatable, and this we find to be opposed to God's Words, as He is never changing.

There is quite a bit of information out there about why people believe in using KJV only. There are numerous books on both sides of the issue, but I think that it is something you will really have to research if you want to fully understand it. The primary points seem to be that supporters of KJV only believe that it is the only English translation that is accurate and that any other translation would be changing the word of God, and that the original translators of the KJV were divinely guided, and thus the words they used were given to them by the Holy Spirit to be implemented without any alternates. Of course there are wide ranging variances among those who are KJV only.

So that is my take on it, I am sure others may have more information or a better explanation. But I thought it might help if I explained our personal feelings on the matter.

Through God's Abundant Blessings,