I came across this while studying another subject:
Before the Revolutionary War, the publication of English-language Bibles was prohibited in America, since the king's printers in England enjoyed an exclusive copyright for printing the Authorized or King James Version (KJV). This meant the first Bibles printed in America were in languages other than English.
—Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992), pp. 400–401.
I'm going to have a post within the next few weeks dealing again with KJV-Onlyism. Specifically, I want to address some recent comments left on Blogspot
Pisteuo, but that is still in the works.
Yet, I have to stop and smile. One of the reasons I've often read and heard from KJVO advocates is that the KJV is not (nor has it ever been) copyrighted. Since other translations are copyrighted, modern Bible publishers are merely vain profiteers who condemn themselves by binding and merchandising the Word of God.
Here is one quote from a site
I cautioned against where KJVO author Terry Watkins gives his reasons for reading only the KJV.
2 Timothy 2:9, reads, " . . . the word of God is NOT BOUND." Anybody can freely (there's that word Eve omitted in Genesis 3:2) print, distribute, and reproduce the King James Bible, without asking anybody for permission! All other translations are "bound" by © copyright laws. New American Standard, - copyright© Lockman Foundation, New International Version - copyright© New York International Bible Society, New King James Version - copyright© Thomas Nelson Publishers. Who with a brain, would seriously think the word of Almighty God is "BOUND" by copyright laws?
And yet...
Before the Revolutionary War, the publication of [the KJV] was prohibited in America, since the king's printers in England enjoyed an exclusive copyright...
By Watkins' logic, the discovery of the words
Cum Privilegio in the 1611 disqualifies the KJV as being the Word of God. In fact, the AV continues its disqualification to this day, because its publication is still restricted in the UK, though it is in the public domain here.
Perhaps we should call the association of
2 Tim 2:9 with copyright laws an example of twisted Scripture (not to be confused with Twisted Sister, for you "
Wretched" fans), misinformation, and poor logic.
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