A controversy of immense silliness has recently broken out among Evangelicals regarding the validity of modern, conservative translations of the Bible like the New American Standard, the New International, and the New King James. The controversy was ignited by a book written by Gail Riplinger entitled New Age Bible Versions.
The only thing sillier than the controversy is the book that sparked it. Remember the old joke? -- "If the King James Version was good enough for the Apostle Paul, then it's good enough for me!" Well, Riplinger tries to convert the joke into gospel.
A Ridiculous Thesis
Her thesis is that the King James Version is the one and only pure translation (in any language!) and that all the new translations that have flooded the market in recent years (including the most conservative) are part of a Satanic, New Age conspiracy to undermine the deity of Jesus and the credibility of God's Word.
The book is mean-spirited and vicious in its attacks upon the godly evangelical scholars who labored so hard to produce the modern versions, not to undermine the Word, but to make it more understandable to the average reader.
Unfortunately the book has spawned an army of Riplinger disciples who feel it is their god-ordained duty to go forth and purify the Church by demanding the exclusive use of the King James Version. Picking up on their mentor's divisive spirit, they are labeling as heretics all fellow Christians and Christian leaders who prefer to use some version other than the King James.
To illustrate how insane this silliness has become, consider a recent article that appeared in the newsletter of one of Riplinger's most enthusiastic supporters, a prophecy teacher by the name of Texe Marrs. Calling the new conservative translations "unholy" and "grotesque," he proceeded to condemn four leading prophecy teachers because they refused to endorse Riplinger's book and join with him in certifying the King James Version as the only reliable translation. The four he condemned as "misguided leaders" and "false witnesses" were Dave Hunt, Peter LaLonde, Arno Froese, and John Ankerberg. Two of these, Hunt and Ankerberg, happen to be among the leading defenders of the Christian faith today!
Even more incredible is the fact that all four men use the King James Version in their preaching and teaching -- and Marrs knows that they do! Still, they must be condemned as heretics because they refuse to denounce the "Satanic, New Age" versions.
According to David M. Carr, the history of Scriptural interpretation indicates that religious texts are popular candidates for reinterpretation and, as such, are spaces wherein the personal identity of the reader frequently inscribes itself at length:
In the Galatian letter, Paul offers a stern rebuke to the Christians there for accepting false teachings. In fact, they had turned aside to what he describes as a “different gospel” (Gal. 1:6-10). Undoubtedly, this “different gospel” sounded good. But was it really good? Most certainly not! We live in a deceitful world, and Satan seeks to find ways to infiltrate a Christian’s life and lead him/her astray. Chimney corner Scriptures are merely one avenue he might
René de Chateaubriand, François. The Beauties of Christianity. The Hebrew Bible In Literary Criticism. Ed. and Comp. Alex Preminger and Edward L. Greenstein. New York: Ungar, 1986. 445.
“Paramount and Permanent Authority of the Bible” explained how people today perceive the Bible. John A. Broadus points out several interesting points on how Christians today have contradicted what the Bible says on many different occasions to make it say what we really want it to.
The NRSV Notetaker's Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
...s distorted by authors who are not qualified in writing it and the chance for a soul to be transformed by the Word of God is lost. There are many works out there that misrepresent the image of God and His word. People take it and mold it into what they want it to be, and what they need to hear. There must be an understanding of the importance of God’s word. In order to preserve the Bible for future generations, the Bible must stay intact in its original form, translated rather than rewritten.
...sesses no characteristics of true Christianity and ransacks the very same scripture that they claim to believe in and follow.
The Holy Bible is the most read, studied, refuted, and revered book on earth. There are those who blindly believe, like the Author, the Bible is the word of God. No amount of shared information or contrived evidence the Bible is anything more than a collection of stories passed from generation to generation and finally centuries later written by a collection of unknown scholars will change this opinion. There are also scholars who attempt to interpret the words of the Bible so those who read the words can understand their meanings two thousand years after they were first written. Textual and source criticism are examples of the positive use of criticism
The nature of Scripture and the authority of Scripture are two characteristics carefully entwined in such a way that creates an impossibility for them to not affect each other. They directly influence each other. Evangelicalism, Liberalism, and Neo-Orthodoxy all have differing views of the nature and authority of Scripture. Evangelicalism takes up the view that the Bible, Scripture, is infallible (Lane, 2006, p. 255). Scripture is God’s word and is therefore fully truth (Lane, 2006, p. 256). People under Evangelicalism equate Scripture with God’s spoken word, and they believe that though God and humans are both authors, the human author was divinely prepared by God to write out His word (Lane, 2006, p. 257). They believe that “the Bible is the supreme authority for faith and practice” (Bingham, 2002, p. 162). Liberalism takes a different view on the Scripture. In Liberalism, religion is “nothing but feeling and experience” (Lane, 2006, p. 238). This reduces the authority and value of Scripture. Scripture is not seen as God’s word or His revelation but as a written record of the experiences of humans, which takes away from its divinity and authority (Lane, 2006, p. 239). Schleiermacher, the father of Liber...
The Holy Bible: giant print ; containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues ; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command, authorized King James version ; words of Chri. Giant print reference ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994.
The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Nashville: Abingdon Press, ©2003.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
The King James Bible is known as the Bible and in the Bible there is more than 1,200 years of books and different stories in 2 main parts. The Old Testament was written by the Hebrews and New Testament was written by the Greeks. It was completed in 1611 and was a main corner stone to European culture. Back in the day it was in Egyptian which meant that the priests had to learn how to read the Egyptian language. The parable called “The Prodigal Son” is in the King James Bible and when you read this there are some good lessons that you can get out of it and some bad things that you can get out of it.
Thiselton, A.C. (2005). Can the Bible mean whatever we want it to mean? Chester, U.K.: Chester Acadamic Press, 10-11.
The rule of Biblical interpretation that was not followed and should have been was when a contradiction like this appears, the emphasis should only be given to the multiple passages that are clear rather than to a passage that is isolated and obscure. The only basis for establishing a doctrine cannot be based off the historical occurrence of an event. As well as the writer’s original intent must be the only valid interpretation of a Scripture passage.