Part 17 - Final Thoughts
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Some final thoughts in this Response to the book, The Unbound Scriptures, by Rick Norris.
I want to thank Mr. Norris for writing his book; not because I agree with his premise or his conclusions, but because it has caused me to think more carefully about this extremely important and crucial topic of the Bible version issue.
I have had to re-evaluate my whole position and examime why I believe what I do about God's words. It has also been very good for my prayer life, since I have had to continually ask our heavenly Father for wisdom, faith, and understanding; and this is always a good thing.
The basic beliefs of Mr. Norris are summed up at the beginning of his book by James D. Price Ph.D, one of the NKJV translators, who states: "Norris demonstrates that the doctrine of inerrancy can be successfully applied ONLY to THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS, but not to any translation, including the KJV ... Norris shows that the doctrine of preservation can be applied properly ONLY to the text of THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS."
I hope that I have demonstrated in my Response that the only logical conclusion of this premise is that you end up with no inspired Bible, no Final Authority, and Preservation is reduced to a cloudy concept of hoping we have a general idea of what God wanted to tell us "out there somewhere".
I am sorry to see the church of the Lord Jesus Christ divided over this issue of the Final Authority of the Inspired words of God, but the Scriptures themselves teach us that both Satan and men corrupt, pervert, and wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.
I do not believe we KJB defenders will turn this thing around and get every English speaking person in the world to go back to the King James Bible. I have had way too much personal contact with modern version promoters to ever believe that they will change their minds. No matter what evidence or arguments you present, they continue to affirm that KJV-Onlyism is a man-made myth and that only the originals were inspired. Either they hold the "originals only" position, or they masquerade their unbelief by saying "All reliable versions are the inspired word of God", in spite of the fact that they differ from each other in literally hundreds of verses in both underlying Greek and Hebrew texts, and meaning.
As I understand the Scriptures, there will be a falling away from the faith before the glorious return of our Lord and Saviour. It is prophesied to so happen and nothing will change it. "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8.
However, God will always have some of His people who believe His promises to preserve His words are literally true and that we have them today. As our Lord so often said: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
The authority of God's inerrant words is being undermined today as never before. This will inevitably lead to a weakening of the faith of many of God's people. In spite of numerous "easy to understand" bible versions, or perhaps more accurately, BECAUSE OF the multitude of conflicting and watered-down bible versions out there today, we live in the most Biblically illiterate generation in America's history. We are a mile wide and an inch deep.
There is much about God, His word, and His ways that I do not understand. I don't know why Mr. Norris in on one side of this issue and I am on the other.
I can't explain why Christians who love the Lord believe so many different things about the Bible and what it teaches. Maybe one of God's ways of dealing with our pride is to humble us in the dust at that final Day when He reveals to us just how much we got wrong.
"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day." Isaiah 2:17.
As Job said when God finally opened the curtains and revealed Himself to him: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:5-6
I firmly believe that if we know anything that is true or do anything that is right, it is solely by the grace of God. Without Him we can do nothing.
"Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Corinthians 4:7
I hold the conviction that God has in fact preserved His complete, inerrant and inspired words in the Book we have today called the King James Bible. I believe this conviction comes from God, not because I am smarter or more spiritual than other Christians who hold a different view, but solely by the grace of God.
If I am wrong about this, then God will reveal the truth either in this short life on earth or definitely when I stand before Him on that coming Day. In the meantime, by God's grace, I will cling to His words, believing what is written in His Book.
"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." Jeremiah 15:16
"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law."
"Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it."
"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."
Psalm 119:126,140, 152, 160. May God encourage and guide each of you as we together "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18
Will Kinney
