[Manny Rodriguez]

Hello everyone.

It's been a while since I've been on here. I travel constantly as I'm on the deputation trail and many times I hardly have any Internet access or the time to come on here and fellowship with you guys around the word of God. Today I come on and see that this conversation has been brought back up, for which I am glad because it is an important topic. This is a subject of such paramount importance in regards to worldwide evangelism that this issue needs to be hashed out by Bible-believers who may provide different angles of perspective.

I feel that I have already said enough on this topic on the first few pages of this thread. But as I've perused through some of the new comments, some of which I am mentioned in, I just want to make a couple things very clear.

For those who have any doubts as to where exactly I stand or what flavor of King James Bible-believer I am... I believe that the King James Bible is PERFECT. It is the Preserved, Infallible, Inerrant, and Inspired (yes I said Inspired) Word of God in English. It is the final authority in all things especially in the matter of translating God's pure words into a foreign language. I believe the KJV should be the standard for foreign Bible translations and revisions. I believe Dr. Edward Hills said it best when he said that the KJB is "an independent variety of the Textus Receptus".

When the printing press was first invented in the late 1400s there was a push to publish all 66 books of the Bible into one volume and mass produce it. Before the invention of the printing press, having all 66 books in one volume was a rarity considering that God's words were handwritten and therefore could take over a year to hand copy the entire word of God from Gen to Rev. The push for the entire Bible in one volume for mass production began with the Latin Bible which was the first book ever printed on the newly invented press. As you all know, Erasmus was the first (in the new era of the printing press) credited with producing the entire NT into Greek. Prior to the printing press, Latin had been the language of choice for both scholars and the common Christian (such as the Waldenses and Albigenses) to render God's pure words as Latin was the most prominent of languages in the world for many centuries. Erasmus's efforts sparked a revival of interest in producing God's words in the NT into it's original language - Greek. God not only raised up Erasmus but others like Stephanus and Beza to continually purify the Greek text.

I said all that to say this. I believe the KJV is the fulfillment of the Received Texts. It is the final culmination. The completion of accuracy. Therefore, the KJB should be the final authority for Bible translators and revisers on determining accuracy and purity of God's words into receptor languages (Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, Polish, etc).

However, because of the complications that arise when trying to determine how to accurately translate some words from one language to another, I DO NOT BELIEVE that the translator is wrong for consulting other sources outside of the KJV. I believe the translator is well in his right to consult other TR-based Bibles in other languages. And what better sources to consult than the Received Texts in the original languages themselves, of which I would recommend the Bomberg edition of the Masoretic Text for Hebrew, and Scrivener's text for Greek since his is the only edition of the Greek TR text that was produced to match up with the KJV word for word. Contrary to the opinion of some on this thread, this can be done without compromising the KJB as the final authority.

Now the problem that I have with some you guys, though I respect all of you for your faithful stand on the KJB and your different approaches to this subject, is that some of you act as if those of us who believe the Received Texts can be used by today's Bible translators and revisers are somehow less of a Bible-believer than you. Somehow we're compromisers or something. But really you're just manifesting your ignorance to the nature of languages in general. The KJV translators themselves used many sources for their work. I would think that Bible Believers who know the history of how their KJB came about would understand from the example set by the King James translators the importance of consulting several sources FOR LINGUISTIC PURPOSES in the process of translating. But "the brethren" never cease to amaze me.

And another thing...

Though I appreciate Bibleprotecter's stand for the KJB, he remains guilty of twisting scripture to formulate private interpretations. The Great Commission is not introducing "Anglo-phone Protestant culture" (whatever that is) to the world and to force everyone to learn English. The Great Commission is to preach the Gospel (which according to 1 Cor. 15:1-4 is the message of Christ's atoning death and resurrection, not the word of God which Bibleprotecter tried to define the Gospel as earlier in this thread). Not only that, but as Bro. Dan Haifley pointed out (Bro. Haifley, you and I have never met but we have mutual friends in the ministry and I salute you in the Lord. Thank you for your ministry, your stand for the KJB, and for what you do for the cause of worldwide evangelism) the example of the Apostles themselves in the book of Acts demonstrate that God's way of getting the Gospel to the world is in the language of the people. That is the Bible way. That is God's way. Bibleprotecter's way and God's way doesn't match. I'll stick with God.

God bless.