Part 4 - Revision
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(New page: In chapter Four of Mr. Norris' book, ''The Unbound Scriptures'', he addresses an important issue and tries to build his case for what I would call The Uncertain Bible. Mr. Norris raises...)
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In chapter Four of Mr. Norris' book, The Unbound Scriptures, he addresses an important issue and tries to build his case for what I would call The Uncertain Bible. Mr. Norris raises the question of Revisions of previous English versions and of the King James Bible itself.
Mr. Norris states: "KJV-only advocates imply that believers must not take any view that acknowledges the the KJV needs updating because it will put us on a slippery slope that leads to liberalism. Clearly, there is no logical connection between updating archaic words, correcting any incorrect translation of words, correcting spelling or grammar, AND OTHER TASKS OF PROPER REVISION on the one hand and the completely different evil of corrupting God's Word. The slippery slope fallacy depends on the assumption that all change is bad, leads to evil, and involves a conspiracy to corrupt God's Word...KJV-only advocates often fail to explain precisely what they think consitutes "correcting" or "corrupting" the Bible. Is their evidence for their KJV-only view so weak that they have to tear down all other translations in order to build up the KJV?"
First of all it should be noted that I and many other King James Bible believers would not have a problem with updating certain archaic words ("conversation, prevent, let"), nor of modernizing the spelling of a few words here and there. What we do see as a serious departure from Truth is to change the underlying Hebrew and Greek TEXTS that underlie the King James Bible, and THE MEANING of those texts as found in our English Bible.
We believe that God has Providentially guided the men behind the production of the King James Bible and that the TEXT itself is SETTLED FOR ALL TIME. Call us foolish backwater hicks, but we actually believe God has kept His promises to preserve His inerrant words in a place where we can find them.
What Mr. Norris' view would have us embrace is a variety of very different, unsettled, and constantly changing TEXTS and contrary MEANINGS found in a multitude of conflicting bible versions. The result is uncertainty, doubt, confusion, and a lack of reverence for God's holy words.
As for the slippery slope into liberalism and several clear examples of what we mean by "corruption" I strongly recommend you read my article What Happens If You Are Not KJB Only?. There you will see how others with whom I discuss this topic view the Bible and some objections they have to the King James Bible. I think you will find it very interesting.
The Bible itself warns of those who corrupt the word of God. "For we are not as MANY, which CORRUPT the word of God" - 2 Corinthians 2:17. "For ye have perverted the words of the living God" - Jeremiah 23:36.
Satan has not ceased his efforts to cast doubt about what God has said. The very first question recorded in Scripture is the devil himself asking: "Yeah, hath God said...? "But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." - Mark 4:15.
The Bible itself predicts a falling away from the faith in the latter days. "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" - Luke 18:8.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves (self-esteem?)...Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof...ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." - 2 Timothy 3:1-7.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy..." - 1 Timothy 4:1.
"Now we beseech you, brethren,...that ye be not soon shaken in mind...as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man decieve you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..." 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3.
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12.
What do some of the men behind these modern versions actually believe about the Bible itself? I'm not talking about their character or their doctrinal stance on "the fundamentals", but what they actually believe about the Scriptures they are forming and translating into the modern versions.
The beliefs of Westcott and Hort have been well documented, so I will only mention in passing that never once did either of these men profess a faith that the Bible was the inspired word of God.
Westcott wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Old Testament criticism, March 4, 1890: "No one now, I suppose, holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history ... I could never understand how any one reading them with open eyes could think they did" (Westcott, Life of Westcott, II:69).
What about some of the men who are alive today and are responsible for the modern bible versions? Bruce Metzger is one of the chief editors of the Greek text of the United Bible Society, which is the basis for such versions as the NASB, NIV, Holman Christian Standard, and the ESV. What are his views of the Bible itself?
Bruce Metzger wrote the introductions to each of the books of the Reader's Digest Bible, and questions the authorship, traditional date, and supernatural inspiration of books penned by Moses, Daniel, and Peter. Consider some examples:
Genesis: "Nearly all modern scholars agree that, like the other books of the Pentateuch, [Genesis] is a composite of several sources, embodying traditions that go back in some cases to Moses."
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus: "Judging by differences in style and vocabulary from Paul's other letters, many modern scholars think that the Pastorals were not written by Paul."
1 Peter: "According to tradition, the apostle Peter wrote the letter from Rome, perhaps after the outbreak of persecution by the emperor Nero in A.D. 64. But this is questioned by some modern scholars, who prefer to date the letter nearer A.D. 100, with authorship unknown"
2 Peter: "Because the author refers to the letters of Paul as 'scripture,' a term apparently not applied to them until long after Paul's death, most modern scholars think that this letter was drawn up in Peter's name sometime between A.D. 100 and 150."
Bruce Metzger co-edited the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV (1973), with Herbert May. It first appeared in 1962 as the Oxford Annotated Bible and was the first Protestant annotated edition of the Bible to be approved by a Roman authority. Mr. Metzger wrote many of the notes in this volume and put his editorial stamp of approval on the rest. Consider the folowing from the notes to this version:
NOTES ON GENESIS:
"Genesis 2.4b-3.24 ... is a different tradition from that in 1.1-2,4a, as evidenced by the flowing style and the different order of events, e.g. man is created before vegetation, animals, and woman. ... 7:16b: The Lord shut him in, a note from the early tradition, which delights in anthropomorphic touches. 7:18-20: The waters covered all the high mountains, thus threatening a confluence of the upper and lower waters (1.6). Archaeological evidence suggests that traditions of a prehistoric flood covering the whole earth are heightened versions of local inundations, e.g. in the Tigris-Euphrates basin."
NOTES ON JOB:
"The ANCIENT FOLKTALE of a patient Job circulated orally among oriental sages in the second millennium B.C. and was probably written down in Hebrew at the time of David and Solomon or a century later (about 1000-800 B.C.)."
NOTES ON JONAH:
"The book is didactic narrative which has taken older material from the realm of POPULAR LEGEND and put it to a new, more consequential use."
Notes from "How to read the Bible with Understanding":
"The opening chapters of the Old Testament deal with human origins. They ARE NOT TO BE READ AS HISTORY... These chapters are followed by the stories of the patriarchs, though THEY CANNOT BE TREATED AS STRICTLY HISTORICAL. ... it is not for history but for religion that they are preserved ... When we come to the books of Samuel and Kings ... Not all in these books is of the same historical value, and especially in the stories of Elijah and Elisha there are LEGENDARY ELEMENTS ... We should always remember the variety of literary forms found in the Bible, and should read a passage in the light of its own particular literary character. Legend should be read as legend, and poetry as poetry, and NOT WITH A DULL, PROSAIC AND LITERALISTIC MIND."
Gleason "scribal error" Archer is one of the Hebrew scholars who worked on both the NASB and the NIV translations. He reveals a great deal about his own personal beliefs regarding the Bible itself in his book titled Bible Difficulties. This book is highly recommended by Hank Hannegraff.
Mr. Archer's book is full of statements such as these: "the Masoretic text has lost the number that must have been included in the original manuscript." (p.171); "the eye of the Hebrew scribe unfortunately jumped passing over 26 Hebrew words in between, but the LXX supplies us with all the missing words" (p. 40); "a word has been lost in the received Hebrew text. Sometimes this omission occurred before the third century B.C., and so not even the LXX can retrieve it for us" (p. 40); "probably a scribal error"; "in the course of transmission the notation was miscopied. The accurate preservation of statistics is notoriously difficult, and 1 Samuel has more than its share of textual errors." (p.173).
Mr. Archer recommends several "lost readings", including whole verses, that not even the NIV or the NASB adopt, but they are found in the more liberal RSV. All of these versions, the NASB, NIV, RSV, ESV depart scores of times from the Hebrew texts and often not even in the same places as the others.
In the Scofield edition of the NIV we read these faith destroying words in a footnote at 1 Chronicles 11:11. "mistakes in numbers sometimes occur. Many disagreements between numbers in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are alleged. Actually, out of the approximately 150 instances of parallel numbers, fewer than one-sixth disagree...God gave us a Bible free from error in the original manuscripts. In its preservation, He providentially kept is from SERIOUS ERROR, although He permitted a few scribal mistakes...Some say that Chronicles has exaggerated numbers so as to enhance the reputation of ancient Israel."
Notice these words from the NEW KJV 1982 on page 1235: "It was the editors' conviction that the use of footnotes would encourage further inquiry by readers. THEY ALSO RECOGNIZED THAT IT WAS EASIER FOR THE AVERAGE READER TO DELETE SOMETHING HE OR SHE FELT WAS NOT PROPERLY A PART OF THE TEXT, than to insert a word or phrase which had been left out by the revisers."
These footnotes in the NKJV generally have to do with the 3000 -5000 words that have been omitted from the New Testament in such versions as the NIV, NASB, ESV. The NKJV editors are of the opinion that THE AVERAGE READER can DELETE something he FEELS is not part of the text.
The actual Greek texts of the modern versionists continues to change from one edition to the next, and the various bible versions themselves often do not agree among themselves. For a factual study of such examples see my articles about the true nature of this so called "science"
http://brandplucked.webs.com/scienceoftextcrit.htm
http://brandplucked.webs.com/sciencetextcromrev.htm
I am reminded of the Scripture at the end of the Judges - "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Judges 21:25.
