I ran the register today at the Christian bookstore where I work. A young man was leaving, but before he did he asked me some of the differences between the New King James version and the English Standard Version. To the statement, "Is there that big of a difference?" another customer jumped in and started preaching the gospel of King James--that being that only the King James Version is correct and that all modern versions corrupt the Bible.
I wanted to stop the man for two reasons. First, that sort of talk is absolutely not allowed in our business as we believe it is antithetical to the gospel message. Secondly, I didn't want the young man to be swayed. Unfortunately, I phrased my "stop it" statement wrong and it allowed the older gentleman to plow through me with his "facts." The tactic used by the King James Onlies is to overwhelm their opponents with things that may or may not be true, but are so over the head of the opponent that the conversation cannot be reached. This is the fallacy of Argument by Question. For the interest of the greater good, I employed a fallacy of my own: appeal to authority; that is, I nonchalantly got a manager's attention and she moved them outside.
It was at this point I decided to write this blog. The King James is allegedly the only correct version because all modern translations "cut out" portions of scripture. These verses talk about the Trinity and other important topics. In truth, the modern translations have tried to cut out as much of what has been added to scripture over the years as possible. However, the defense of these doctrines are not dependent on those handful of verses and can still be found in the NIV or ESV or any other translation. This, however, is not the point of this blog. In contrast to the King James Only tactic, I re-offer Suz Tzu's:
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
Whenever you are presented with something as weird as the KJOs, simply ask, "Why?" Why would the NIV cut out all these verses? Why is the church so blind to these missing verses? If the verses were never part of scripture, they have no place in the Bible. If the verses are part of scripture, why were they taken out? Are the modern translations trying to destroy God's Word? Why are they taking out "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen" and not touching things like God created the world (note: that isn't a Genesis 1 thing, this is talked about in the majority of the books of the Bible) or the Resurrection? If these guys are trying to destroy the Bible, they are doing a very poor job of it. When presented with oddities, always question. See it from the opposite point of view.
The rest of the story:
The young man came back and told me that he agreed with me that translation preference is a matter of opinion. He just wanted to hear what the older gentleman had to say to better understand his side. Once again, I had already decided to write about this, how much more so now? In addition, the young man pointed out that the older gentleman quoted a passage, but certainly did not preach it.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Eph. 4.14-16
The man was so adamant and forceful that he was far from speaking the truth in love. I was in awe at this dual-natured man: a person with a level head, capable of rational thought, and yet still concerned with love for his brothers. The kingdom of God grows by grace and through those such as these.