Retiring the KJV

I have and use many translations, but a bone to pick with those that say the KJV is hard to read or that language has changed.

If you have a high school education, it should not be hard to read. If it is, and you have that diploma, you might want to work on some remedial reading. Your comprehension skills and reading ability might just be well below high school level.

Shakespeare is written in the same form of English--don't hear a lot of folks advocating rewriting him to be easier to read.

Use the version you want, for the reasons you feel important.

But hard and non-understandable should not be a reason for someone who can read well enough to finish high school to avoid the version that is most often alluded to in literature.

 

Ah yes, and we have evidence of the one part of this conversation that bothers me the most.

I'd like to see who is denying any of this. Saying something isn't as accurate in its translation as another is one thing. You are taking their (justified imho) criticism of the dated scholarship and language in the KJV (which is a fine translation) and accusing them of them of something they haven't done.

 

This isn't directed to me but I wanted to use it mention that in my top 10 list of Bible translations I use in study and scholarship the KJV is at the bottom of the list. It isn't that I don't like it, but rather there are better translations for my needs out there. Though I can't think of 20, I certainly can think of eight or nine with better scholarship and wording for the present day.

 

I work in a college in South Texas and I do not know the percentage but I would wager that over 50% of our freshmen have to take a Developmental Reading/English course upon entry. KJV English is a foreign concept here.

 

And therein lies the problem. Instead of educating young people properly, we just dumb down everything they might ever have to read. Pathetic. If it continues this way, eventually we'll have no language at all and we can just grunt at one another.

 

How do you know they have better scholarship?

 

God did not give us the KJV as a standard for English for all time to come. That just isn't/wasn't the purpose.

The English language has changed and unfortunately the KJV has not kept up with it.

 

First, this is not an interesting morsel from the S.B.C. but, it is an article from a sight called the S.B.C. Voices. They also are not an official voice of the Southern Baptist Convention. The OP was very dishonest in the way this post was offered. This is the opinion of the author, Dave Miller, and the S.B.C. Voices say that all articles are only the opinions of the writers.

This blog is not the voice of the Southern Baptist Convention (which, IMHO, it would not agree with this article). The OP evens admits to "standing well back", knowing no good would come from this.

P.S. Why is this poster posting in the Baptist only section?

By the way, I use the KJV but only as a secondary resource. The Holy Spirit has not let me down when I earnestly want to know what He meant when the Word was Authored.

 

Thank you, but I would prefer you use the 'report post' button as a reminder.

Thread closed accordingly.