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GUEST
WRITER
WE CAN BE SURE OUR
TRANSLATIONS ARE ACCURATE
Some folks delight in destroying people’s faith in all other
translations except the KJV. Let me list some reasons below
which prove we have accurate English translations.
Scholars can compare old Greek
manuscripts and thus omit errors. For example, if two errors
exist out of 1,000 manuscripts of the same text, then when
they compare them all together, and they find in a certain
place, two are different from the rest. They can assume the
two are wrong and thus omit errors. In other words, they
can compare Greek manuscripts and those few which do not
agree with the vast majority can be assumed to be a copyist
error.
You can compare translations.
There are probably about 100 English translations today.
They are made by different scholars and groups of scholars
in different places and at different times. So when they
all come up with translations that teach the same things,
they must be right. All translations teach the same doctrines.
There will be places or verses that will be different. In
these places you can compare translations just as the manuscripts
discussed above. In other words, you can compare translations,
and the ones that are different from the majority, may be
assumed to be wrong.
Each person who can read Greek
can check translations to make sure they are right. There
are those who are continually doing this. Our translations
have been checked literally millions of times by these people.
If there are discrepancies or doubtful translations in some
verse, you can be sure scholars know about them.
A person can check the Bible
for himself if he is interested enough to obtain a STRONG’s
concordance. With this book anyone who can use an English
dictionary can check the meaning of any Greek word. Also,
there are books on word studies that have the meaning of
Greek words explained in English. Vine’s Word Studies is
a good example. Even a person who knows nothing about the
original languages, can check the meaning of any Greek or
Hebrew word and see if it is translated correctly. Many Christians
are continually doing this.
God guarantees to preserve His
word. By this we know we have God’s word with us today. He
does not promise to preserve His word perfectly in one particular
translation as some people claim. The Bible does not say
the KJV is God’s perfectly preserved word.
God has made it possible for
us to know exactly what He has said in His book. You can
check out any doubtful verse for yourself if you wish.
INTERESTING FACTS
Every translation is God’s word
in so far as it is translated correctly. Out of the 31,124
verses in the Bible, there are only about 200 or less that
are even questioned, regardless of what translation you use
or what family of Greek manuscripts you use. This means there
are over 30,900 verses that are God’s word. So in any translation
you use, the vast majority of it is the word of God. This
is why the KJV translators said, “The meanest translation
is the word of God.”
The differences between translations
has been grossly exaggerated by some. The differences between
families of Greek manuscripts have also been magnified and
blown out of proportion by Ruckman, Riplinger, Waite, and
others. These people make a lot of money appealing to the
ignorance of God’s people. The fact is, both the Textus Receptus
and the Alexandrian manuscripts set forth every doctrine
that God has inspired. There is no important doctrinal difference.
It is the same with the different English translations. Peter
Ruckman said he had problems with only 152 verses of the
New Testament (THE CHRISTIAN’S HANDBOOK OF MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE,
page 89).
Some people go to great extremes
to magnify the differences between translations and families
of Greek manuscripts. These same people go to great extremes
to play down the differences in the KJV and the Textus Receptus.
In II Timothy chapter two, I counted 55 changes from the
1611 KJV to the 1769 version of the KJV that we use today.
If you multiply 55 by 1189, (the number of chapters in the
Bible), you can see there are at least 50,000 differences
between the original KJV and the one we use today. The KJV
Only people scream about the differences between the KJV
and the NIV but excuse the changes within the KJV. They say
the differences in the five major editions of the KJV were
corrections in spelling, words, etc. The changes did not
affect doctrine, they say. This is also true of the changes
between the KJV and the NIV. However, the KJV Only group
magnify the changes in the NIV and minimize the changes in
the KJV.
The same is true when it comes
to Greek Manuscripts. The KJV Only crowd screams about the
differences in the families of manuscripts, but say nothing
about the differences in the 18 editions of the Textus Receptus.
Yes, there have been 18 different editions of the Textus
Receptus with no two alike (some say 30 editions). When they
say the Textus Receptus are the only inspired manuscripts,
which edition do they mean? Why do the differences in the
other manuscripts mean so much, and the differences in the
Textus Receptus mean nothing? It sounds like someone is abandoning
all logic and is trying to prove a point with no facts or
Scripture.
CONCLUSION
When you read the Bible, you
can be sure you are reading the word of God. Since God never
promised a perfect translation, you may have to occasionally
check some detail in the original or compare translations.
But this is the exception rather than the rule.
The believer should read his
Bible searching for blessings and to see Christ, not searching
for flaws. Let the textual scholars work these few problems
out.
Robert
Joyner
http://www.kjvonly.org/robert/joyner_we_can_be_sure.html
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