Hello again DHK
And thank you for your civil response.
You said........
“It is true that these MSS have disappeared. Maybe that's a good thing seeing man's propensity to worship relics, and how he is prone to idolatry.”
This is an interesting idea; We all know what happened to the brazen serpent.
But I am not convinced that the same thing would have happened to the New Testament MSS; Because they would have only been revered by the Church......
1 Corinthians 1:22-23
V.22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
V.23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
As you can see, the Jews had this problem, because of the way God had dealt with them, but we can also see the problem the Gentiles are said to have.
I believe this “problem”(seeking after wisdom), is at the heart of these whole issue of desiring to get away from the KJB.
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Next you said.......
“But he promised to preserve his word. There is a difference between inspiration and preservation.”
You are right, there is a difference between inspiration and preservation, but the two are joined at the hip.
I think where we are in disagreement, is what we believe has been preserved.
You believe that “the message”, is what needs to be preserved, while I believe that it’s the Words that must be preserved.
And I have the Bible on my side.......
Matthew 5:18
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
and
Matthew 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.”
Now I know that jots and tittles, only apply to the original language, but “verbal inspiration”, is clearly what the Lord is talking about.
But simply preserving the message, is not verbal inspiration.
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You continued.....
“God has preserved his word. We have the preserved word of God today.”
Now this is interesting.
I agree, we have God’s preserved Word today, but I believe that it has already been found and is contained in two documents.....the TR and the Masoretic Text.
When you talk about the preserved word, you are most likely talking about “all” the MSS that are available to us today, and the never-ending “search” for which words are God’s Word, by the use of higher critical study.
On this point we can respectfully disagree.
But, God’s intent for His Word, was for every individual Christian, to be able to hold a copy of His Word in their hands, for his personal study.
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Your next point was stronger, so my response will have to be stronger.......
“No, that is a false statement. In fact the very opposite is true. It was never made an issue until the KJVO people brought it up.”
I try very hard, not to make “false statements”, and when I do, I fess up to them.
This is not a false statement.
In my response I mentioned BB Warfield, and although I got the date wrong, the fact is up until 1893, Christendom saw the accurate copies as inspired, until Warfield went about to re-interpret the Westminster Confession of faith(THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY AND ITS WORK by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield).
In this document, he forever changes the landscape of theological study, by declaring that the copies are no longer to be considered inspired.
But the misinformation of today, goes about to change history, by making this out to be a KJBO idea.
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Your next question was........
“You mean you don't care about other people? The country that I am a missionary to has only one Bible, and it is a Bible similar to the ASV, translated from the critical text. Most foreign countries are like that. The Wycliffe Bible Translators and others who have done extensive translational work in the field have done it from the CT, and not from the TR. Organizations like the Trinitarian Bible Society and Bearing Precious Seed have hardly made a dent in the world compared to these other organizations.”
Of course I care about other people and praise the Lord people can be saved by any valid Bible.
Although it is a shame, for anyone to use the “wrong” MSS for translation work, but I would not call it a waste of time.
Once they get saved, you can teach the finer points of Bible Doctrine, using whatever version you believe to be God’s Word.
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You conclude by saying........
“If God sent you to such a nation what would you do? Does the nation in which I am working in have a Bible or not? It is not the KJV, so then what is it? You can't avoid the question by simply stating I am only talking about the English. That is a cop-out. The Bible, God's Word, is for all the world, just as his message is--the gospel.”
I suppose, that I would have learned to speak their language.
Therefore when I preached or witnessed to them, I would use Scripture, translated from the KJB.
I have met some foolish Ruckmanite missionaries, who’s first task was to teach the people English, so that they could read the KJB.
(I laugh at this, but it breaks my heart.)
As you can see, this is not a question that should be avoided, but I have not been called to a foreign field, as of yet.
But to make the distinction that the KJB is for English speaking people only, is not a cop-out; It is a necessary proclamation, because of foolishness of Ruckmanism.
