But it is adding to the Word of God, is it not??
No, it is not, it is absolutely necessary to do this when translating from any language to another to give the full understanding.
See now, you are REMOVING words from the Word of God in the NIV. You do notice the footnote marks in the verse you copied, do you not? Let's take a look at what the NIV truly says when we include the footnote:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother [fn]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, [fn]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
*22 some manuscripts brother without cause
First, I wrote neither the KJV or NIV, I am removing nothing from either. But to argue that a footnote would be considered scripture by the average reader is unrealistic.
And you know, this is what made me study this issue many years ago. When I was a teen I owned a KJV and a RSV my aunt sent me. I immediately noticed a difference between the two and was confused over which was the accurate word of God. There were footnotes and comments in the RSV that said things like "better manuscripts omit vs. 37). Now, how is a new Christian supposed to understand that? According to the RSV, my KJV was full of errors and was inferior to the RSV. What was I supposed to believe? If these biblical scholars are saying the KJV is inferior, maybe I shouldn't be reading it.
So, I became very confused over which bible I should be reading. I just wanted to know the truth, the true word of God.
But I believed the word of God existed because of Matt 4:4.
Matt 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Everybody knows this verse, but I think many people do not really give serious consideration to what Jesus is saying. Jesus says we are to live by "every word" that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That word "every" really stuck with me. I had to ask how God could possibly expect me to live by every word unless he provides it. If all the versions of scripture are full of error, it hardly seemed just or fair for God to expect me to live by every word.
So, you see, there is more to this verse than meets the eye on first impression. There is an implied promise that God will provide every word for us so that we are able to live by every word.
But this is faith, I have no absolute way to prove it, and if I could I would not be living by faith. I simply believe God gave us his word so we could know and understand him and be saved. I believe God is truth and not the author of confusion. So, he is going to provide his inerrant word. And after study I came to believe the KJV is that inerrant version.
I have said many times, if a person does not believe the KJV the inerrant version of God's word, fine, just show me which version is the inerrant version.
And this is exactly what Amy said, because she only studied the NIV at the time, she felt guilty of sin whenever she was angry at another person, even when that person gave her a legitimate reason to be angry.
I don't know if Amy saw and read the footnotes or not, but she said the NIV caused her confusion, because she knew Jesus got angry.
Yet we see it doesn't give a different understanding and that no verses have been changed. Oh, and we don't use the KJV as the measuring stick because that has been proven to be imperfect too. Instead we use the manuscript evidence and the Holy Spirit.
How can you say it doesn't give a different understanding when Amy testified it did give her a different understanding?
But that is just one of many verses. Look at 1 Timothy 3:16
KJV-
1 Tim 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Now look at this verse in the NIV-
1 Tim 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He [fn] appeared in a body, [fn] was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
The KJV identifies Jesus as very God and says he was manifest in the flesh. The NIV simply says "He appeared in a body". So what? I appear in a body and so do you. But saying God himself was manifest in flesh is a fantastic statement about Jesus. I don't see how any sincere person could not agree this is a monumental change in the understanding and meaning of this verse.
Yes, the footnotes in the NIV for vs. 16 say, "Some manuscripts God" and "Or in the flesh", but again, I doubt most people give footnotes the same weight and authenticity as the scriptures themselves.