DC, I appreciate your responses. I believe that you are very serious about finding the truth. You said to Shain, "I have no desire to correct what the Holy Spirit inspired. But I do believe we should try to determine the exact words He inspired, or the precise meaning of those words." The point for me is that I believe that this has taken place with th KJB. You are still searching. Because you are sincerely seeking truth, I trust God that He will reveal it to you in time. The concern that I have, and why I speak of it, is that there must come some point where one must make a decision. The search should not be unending from now until the end of time, should it? If there is to be an end, and I believe that the search has already ended, then what version will it be, if not any that are on the market today? None, besides the KJB, are claimed to be perfect by anyone. Are we getting closer to perfection? Or, as seems obvious to me, is every new version coming out becoming less true than its predecessors?

I also agree with you that even if we had the originals (and obviously it is not God's will that this be so, look at all the examples of originals being destroyed in the Scriptures - e.g. The Tables given to Moses), there would still be plenty of argument over the correct English translation of each word, both between true Biblical scholars themselves, as well as between Biblical scholars and intellectual scholars. The battle would in reality remain unchanged. By faith, I am confident that I hold in my hand the exact original message that God intended for me to have, plus nothing, minus nothing.

steelmaker, out of curiosity, how do you read the phrase "one more exact translation"? I (and it appears DC also) read it as ONE translation that is MORE EXACT than the previous were. You appear to read it as ONE MORE translation among many EXACT translations. Does the MORE describe the EXACTness of the translation (KJB), or that MORE fits with ONE to describe the quantity of EXACT translations? I accept the first meaning as the intended one.

DC, I believe that God was working through the translators to accomplish the perfect work. In their human efforts to be as absolutely accurate and honest (hence italics), they realized that there were places where argument could be made for different wordings. Even in this case, when a choice was made to place one word in the text and the other in the margin, the superintending of the Holy Ghost caused the correct word to be placed in the text. To emphasize this unawareness by the translators of the extent of God's control, do you think that Paul was aware that he was writing Scripture when he said in I Corinthians 7: 10 and 12: "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, ... " and "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: ..." Was he understanding that though he was expressing his own position, it was in fact the very words of God?

To finish a thought that I had last night:
Another area where doctrine is damaged has been demonstrated by a number of studies. Many of the newer versions weaken the Deity of Christ by altering or removing phrases in the Scriptures which deal with that doctrine. While some may say that the doctrine is still there, it has been altered, nonetheless. An example of such is the changing of the phrase "by him" to "through him" in several places in John 1 (v 3, v10,etc) in the NKJV, NIV, NASB, etc. The effect is to change the work of Christ in creation from being the active agent ("by him") to being the passive agent ("through him") in the event. While it can be argued that the Greek can be translated either way, I again believe that the EXACT word was placed there in the KJB, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, so that the EXACT intent of the message would not be weakened.



In the Service of the KING,
Brother Tim Keyes (Proverbs 3:5-6)

When I fully rely upon God, I find that He is fully reliable.