KJV Only? “King James Only” | Thoughts From A Farmer’s Wife

KJV Only? “King James Only”

King James Version for some is the only valid version.  Have you been confronted by a KJV only person or someone that says you aren’t saved unless you got saved from a King James Bible?

I emailed a friend of mine who has had a lot of conversations with others about the KJV only debate.  This lady is a thinker, I really appreciate the way her mind works.  I asked her this question: “What if the KJV Only people are right and we are the ones who are closed minded?”  Here was her response after decades of pondering the topic at hand:

The KJV Only persons seem to have this commonality:
1)  Anger
2)  Putdowns
3)  Won’t listen
4)  Haven’t researched
5)  Usually won’t read any other version from fear it is of the devil.

Typically, others who will read other versions have also read the KJV and have a hard time understanding it in comparison.

And, people emotionally hold to the KJV because of familiarity.  They can change hairstyles, clothing styles, ways of communication and transportation, update their cars, cell phones and computers but are not even going to give a look at another Bible translation?

They do not realize there have been revisions of the KJV and they do not understand that the reason so many books are written about the Bible is because KJV is hard to understand.

Is there a link between KJV only and their not reading the whole Bible?  Why do people struggle to ready their Bible daily?  Maybe one of the reasons is because its difficult to understand the version they are reading.  Would you read a Shakespeare book daily for fun?  Sure, some people do, but they are a minority.

Do Other Countries Have A King James Version Translated For Them?

Most people I know own a Bible, but would be clueless as to what Bible translation to get that would be different plus they wouldn’t know where to go.

Case in point is the Browns.  I kept telling Cathy about the NLT version.  She would nod her head and seemed neutral in interest about switching her bible even though she did not read the KJV because she said it was hard to understand.    In July, I gave them a NLT Bible.  Scott was soooo happy to get a Bible he could finally read and understand.  Rightly so.

When Bible translators go into Papua New Guinea, they translate all the different dialects into their current, as-they-speak language….in other words, street language.    We are held in the 1611 mindset even though and in-spite of better translating techniques and modalities.

So, if you read English, you have to read KJV. But if your first language is something else, you get the liberty to read a Bible is the common tongue version of the day (street language).

Why is this rejected when everything else in our life is new, improved and technically advanced?

What better way to hold people in the dark here in the USA.   We are holding to a silly tradition.

What we are left with?

One of four things:

• Either NOT reading the Bible at all,
• Reading the Bible and not understanding or
• Thinking it is boring OR
• Reading books about the Bible.

Read the story on The King James Bible

Follow the thought that the reason why it was printed and was ‘authorized’ was because it was in line with clergy thinking and ordination

as compared to The Geneva Bible.

How sad that every country except English speaking countries have the Word in their street tongue while we are still reading archaic English 400 years old…………..what other 400 year old item do we keep duplicating and selling in this country?

Why not hand someone a Bible?

Because they cannot understand the 400 year old language with over 300 words with differing meanings.