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In his book, ''The Unbound Scriptures'', Mr. Rick Norris reveals a great deal about how he views the doctrine of the Preservation of the words of God.


On page 207 he says: "Most defenders of the KJV refuse to name any certain Hebrew or Greek manuscript as inerrant and pure or any one certain printed text as inerrant."


This seems to me like the pot calling the kettle black. Mr. Norris has repeatedly referred to "the original Hebrew and Greek texts" knowing full well that there is no such thing on the face of this earth. He hasn't given us any certain Hebrew or Greek manuscripts either.


Most King James Bible believers I know do not name any specific Hebrew or Greek text as being the inspired, inerrant, and complete words of God because we do not believe this is where they are preserved. We have no problem with the Hebrew and Greek texts that underlie the King James Bible, but there is no ONE single Hebrew text or ONE single Greek text that is like any other.


We believe God has promised to preserve His pure words on this earth till heaven and earth pass away, and that He has done so, both in the past and in the present. Today, and for the last almost 400 years they are found in the King James Holy Bible.


Mr. Norris asks: "If the KJV translators could use their reason, scholarship, or other fallible means to pick out any errors in the differing manuscripts they used, then translators today must also be permitted to use these means to do the same. Since the manuscripts and the various old translations they consulted had some differences, how did the KJV translators determine which reading was the providentially preserved one?"


What Mr. Norris fails to see here is the Providential guidance of Almighty God. He sees only the natural, limited talents of sinful man and assumes that the preservation of God's words depends on man's fallible reason and scholarship to determine the true readings. It is a totally humanistic and naturalistic point of view.


If God is providentially behind the multitude of conflicting and contradictory bible versions that keep rolling off the presses, then this God is very confused about what He said or didn't say, and what He meant when He said it.


I do agree with Mr. Norris when he says on page 239: "By acknowledging the positive degree and admitting that other imperfect translations such as the earlier English Bibles and Luther's German Bible are good, KJV-only advocates are also admitting that some other present day translations in various languages including English may also be good while imperfect."


Yes, we do not deny that God can and does use imperfect Bibles in both English and other languages. Where we differ from the Bible of the Month Club promoters is that we believe there is one perfect, complete, inerrant, pure Holy Bible on this earth right now.


God never promised to give every nation or every individual a perfect Bible in their language. The Scriptures tell us that the gospel would be preached to every nation and that God will have a great company of the redeemed out of "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" - Revelation 7:9. Every imperfect bible I am aware of has enough of God's true words in them to bring people to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. They all contain the gospel of salvation through faith in our crucified and risen Lord. We do not dispute this but affirm it.


We repudiate the idea that ONLY those who read the King James Bible can get saved or serve God in any way.


However we do believe the promises of God regarding the preservation of His words have been literally fulfilled. The Bible cannot be clearer concerning it's preservation.


Isaiah 40:8: "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."


Psalm 12:6-7: "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."


Psalm 100:5: "For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."


Psalm 33:11: "The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations."


Psalm 119:152, 160: "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever. ... Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.


Isaiah 59:21: "... My Spirit that is upon thee [Isaiah], and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever."


Matthew 24:35: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."


1 Peter 1:23-25: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."


John 10:35: "... the Scripture cannot be broken."


Mr. Norris brings up the common argument about why should we think that only the English translation of the King James Bible is the pure words of God and not the Spanish Reina Valera or Luther's German. Isn't it a form of sinful pride to think that WE have the pure word of God and others do not?


First, let me say that I firmly believe in the sovereignty of God. "He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" - Ephesians 1:11. God could have placed His pure words in Spanish, or German, or Swahili if He had wanted to do so. As Rick says on page 273: "The issue of Bible translation is not about what God COULD DO but about what God HAS ACTUALLY DONE."


I am an American, but I do not consider any American bible (ASV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, etc.) to be the pure words of God. The pure word of God is an ENGLISH Bible from England. Before 1800 the Bible had been translated into only about 40 languages world-wide. God alone sees the end from the beginning and He knew what He would do with the English speaking people and the English language, which in 1611 was spoken by only about 2% of the world population.


Previous English bibles were good but not perfect. They contained minor theological errors and were not textually complete, but they were far better than the modern ones being used today. We believe God providentially preserved His perfect words and placed them in the Holy Bible, which later became known as the King James Version. Once it became firmly established as THE Bible of the English speaking people, who by the late 1700's had spread the influence of the British empire to the far ends of the globe, God raised up primarily English and American Christians to carry out the great modern day missionary movement. From the late 1700's to the mid 1950's the Bible was translated into hundreds of foreign languages and they were all based on either the King James Bible itself or the general Hebrew and Greek texts behind it. This is the sovereignty of God in action and what He ACTUALLY DID.


Mr. Norris speaks of "the original Hebrew and Greek texts" and yet he cannot produce them for us nor tell us where to get a copy of this mystical Final Authority. What God did NOT DO, was preserve His complete and inerrant words in any single Hebrew and Greek manuscript Rick demands we name, nor which Mr. Norris himself can point us to.


There are two fundamental reasons I believe the true and pure words of God are found today only in the King James Bible - 1. the Sovereignty of God Almighty, and 2. something so simple and yet extremely profound - The Truth and nothing but the truth.


Only the King James Bible always gives us the Truth unmixed with theological, historical or factual error. Again, I suggest you read the article I put together called ''No Doctrines are Changed?'' and compare the examples of doctrinal error with the older English bible versions and especially with today's modern versions.


Some modern version promoters will admit that there are untrue or misleading statements found in their versions, but they insist we must compare all the verses together to get the correct doctrine. I believe God always tells us the truth in every verse of Scripture, and only the King James Bible meets this standard. "A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies." Proverbs 14:5. "Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right; and I hate every false way." Psalm 119:128.


I have noticed at various Bible clubs on the internet and from books like those of James White and Bob Ross, that many modern version promoters are Calvinistic in their theology. For those who are Calvinistic Baptists like C.H. Spurgeon, or the Baptist street preacher John Bunyan who also wrote Pilgrim's Progress, or believe in the doctrines of sovereign grace, as did John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace, or Agustus Toplady who wrote Rock of Ages, and as were most of the King James translators themselves, I suggest you read the article titled ''Calvinism and the KJB''.


If you are a Calvinist and are concerned about the truths of what you think the Bible teaches concerning these doctrines, then compare the King James Bible to your NASB, NIV, ESV, NKJV or whatever you presently use. All the modern versions water down or change the truth and even create contradictions with the rest of Scripture.


I personally am not much concerned if a Christian is a Calvinist or an Arminian, or what some like to call a Calminian. This is not my personal battle or main area of interest. I believe everyone who has repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as his only Lord and Saviour is forgiven their sins and will be in glory. When He appears, then shall we know even as we are known. In the meantime, we all "see through a glass darkly" and none of us has a complete understanding of all revealed truth.


Regarding the doctrine of the Preservation of God's words, Mr. Norris makes some statements that I find to be irrational and contradictory. He says on page 312: "Many KJV-only advocates seem to overemphasize the variations between existing Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. By exaggerating variations between manuscripts and the variations between translations, KJV-only advocates may unintentionally promote a feeling of uncertainty about the accuracy and preservation of God's Word. The accuracy of our present-day New Testament text depends on the multiplicity of the manuscripts."


That Mr. Norris could draw these conclusions is mind-boggling to me. We are not overemphasizing anything; we are merely pointing out to people what is blatantly obvious to anyone who would take the time to actually read and compare the different Bible versions. Rather it is the fact that there are literally thousands of words missing from most versions today and hundreds of verses have totally different meanings, that there is doubt arising about the certainty of preservation and accuracy of the New Testament as well as the Old. How in the world he can say "the accuracy of our New Testament text depends on the multiplicity of manuscripts" is a mystery to me. I confess I do not understand this way of thinking at all.


Mr. Norris tries to downplay the textual differences that exist by quoting Edward Goodrick who says: "If all the uncertain words were assembled in a 500 page Greek Testament, they would occupy only four-tenths of a single page." (Is My Bible the Inspired Word of God, page 57)


Now I ask any of you who are aware of the textual differences that exist between the King James Bible, NKJV, TMB, and Green's MKJV, which are generally based on the Traditional Greek Text, and those like the NASB, NIV, ESV which are generally based on the Westcott-Hort texts, if all the variants between these two types of bibles and the Greek texts behind them could fit on 20 or even 30 pages of a 500 page Greek N.T. The present UBS Greek text is 886 pages long, and only some of the thousands of textual variants are listed on its pages, yet numerous pages are a third or even half full of these partial variants right now. And this is not ALL of them!


Again, I would suggest that you look at this PARTIAL list of the missing verses, words and phrases that exist between the King James Bible and versions like the NASB, NIV, and ESV. Then try to put all that on four-tenths of a single page if you can. Be sure to see both sections.


== External Link ==

* [http://brandplucked.webs.com/unboundscriptures.htm Part 14 - The Preservation of the words of God] by [[Will Kinney]]

==Other Artilces by Will Kinney==
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