King James Bible... Why do we put our faith in it?

King James was a tyrannical, witch-burning, homosexual nut job. Why do we trust his Bible?

Obviously, King James was biased towards having a subservient pauper class to rule over. Distorting the message of the Bible to make people fearful that they will be dammed to hell if they do anything against the will of the higher authority was in King James' best interest.

Why do we place the bedrock of our Christian faith on a tyrant's twisted interpretation of Christianity? Can't we get a distilled down version of the scriptures that are translated by folks who have our best interest in mind, not a tyrannical king's interest? I want to read the true scriptures and understand their true intent. Not a perverted, twisted, mind-controlling version of what a monarch from the middle ages wants me to believe. Am I wrong here?

James VI and I - Wikipedia

 

I prefer original text translate one time if need be.

 

Well, it has been translated numerous times and edited probably even more; however, I have always considered the bible to be more common-sense guide to how a person should live their life and with good examples. I mean, I don't consider it a true book of history or some hard, fact based, book of rules/regulations or historical archive. Why? Because it was written by man, with all of man's errors, tainted biases and fallacies. It can't be. However, in general, I think it does a pretty good job of getting its points across, given its thousands of years old and rewritten lots of times.

As far as the King James version - well - I think you would have to be more specific. What parts actually upset you? Can you name a few?

 

Didn't realize there were so many editions. It's interesting to look at the history of the NRSV, which is the basis for many English-language Bibles today. From an article I saw:
"The NRSV is the modern Bible translation with the widest support by academics and church leaders. The translation committee comprises thirty men and women representing top scholarship from Protestant, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish faiths."

 

Someone on another forum asked me to "substantiate" my accusations. So this was my response:


I am not really trying to substantiate any accusations. I'm just "wondering". I saw a video on infowars.com called "What the Hell is Hell?" And the speaker started to suggest that there is no hell and there is no heaven, based on Bible passages. Then he said he LOVES the King James Version of the Bible. Then I started to wonder... and question... It's kind of important whether or not there is a hell and a heaven. It is the foundation of a lot of Christian belief and modifies their actions on this planet. (Frankly, it modifies my own actions on this planet, to be honest.) So, therefore, it's kind of important that the Bible is as close to the original word of God as we can get. Then I started to wonder, can we really trust this "King James Version". Then I started to wonder, who the heck is "King James" anyway? So I read about him on wikipedia, and I didn't like what I read about him. That's my thought process, in summary.

I'm not trying to prove or disprove a point. I'm exploring new territory here. I'm certainly not a Biblical scholar. I took CCD and went to Catholic school. That's the extent of it. I know the basics. But I also took Philosophy Club in high school, and Philosophy Club taught me to question. I learned about Socrates through Plato. So, I see that it's kind of universally accepted that everyone reads the "King James Version" of the Bible. I'm just asking "why". Once I gather more information, I'll make up my own mind about whether the King James Version of the Bible is a good source of information or whether it has been distorted.

 

Interesting. I had never heard of NRSV. New Revised Standard Version.

I wonder how this all progressed anyway. Do we still have the original documents.. the scrolls... that we're translating from? Or is this it mostly conjecture, 5 times removed.

I guess what I'm really interested in is whether God says that there is a heaven and a hell.

This is the video that I was watching. To be honest, I didn't watch it in its entirety because the man speaking seemed to be contradicting himself at certain points. In his defense, he may be contradicting himself because he's talking about the Bible, and the Bible contradicts itself constantly, in my experience:

https://banned.video/watch?id=6465501aa9ffe2a55aab2879

He seems to suggest that God says that there is no such thing as heaven and hell. He says that God says that the human is essentially from the dirt, and to the dirt you will return.

He says that Satan tells man that there is an afterlife, and if you're not good then you will go to hell, and if you are good you will go to heaven. He does this to modify people's behavior.

If God says there is no heaven or hell, then does it really matter whether you are righteous on this planet? Moses provides the ten commandments. Why should we follow the ten commandments if there is no heaven and hell? I guess the reason to follow the ten commandments if there is no heaven and hell would be the consequences of karma?

In any case, I think it's essential to follow the thread of God's word concerning whether or not there is a heaven or hell, because we base so many actions on this earth for fear of God's wrath. If there is no heaven in hell, why would we fear God?

 

I'm not upset about any specific parts of the KJV of the Bible. But, I guess I want to trace the thread back to the origins of whether God says that there is a heaven or hell.

On Memorial Day someone from my town gives a speech about a pastor in my town. He was pastor during the Revolutionary War. The soldiers, who were devoutly religious, had a moral conflict. Is it alright for them to go to war against the British, and kill British soldiers, if the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill." The pastor said - "oh.. ya, ya, you shouldn't kill and all that, but in this case, you're forgiven."

It really only matters if there is, in fact, a heaven and a hell. If you kill someone, and there is no heaven and hell, then you don't have to worry about eternal damnation, and/or going to heaven. If you are simply gone when you're dead, then really, all the morals that you've lived by your entire life have been an exercise in futility, with the exception of a belief in karma.

So with that said, it seems quite important to trace back that particular passage to the original text (or scroll) and see what it actually says. What does the translation mean. Who, do we think, originally wrote that scroll? Do we have any clue at all? Did that person have a direct conversation with God? How trustworthy is this information? If we're basing our actions and judgements on this earth upon this one line of text, these are important questions to get to the bottom of, from my point of view.

 

The KJV has been found to be an accurate translation from the Greek texts more than once. It has been stated in the NT that God’s word seems to be nonsense and foolishness to man’s mind. Try praying for understanding prior to reading The Bible, it works for me.
I believe God’s word is limitless and no matter how much we try, we will never completely understand The Word. God’s mind is not our mind, and we cannot understand Him. Imagine a grasshopper landing on a semi truck. Can that bug understand what the truck is, why it was built, how it was built, the economics, the mind of the driver, of the salesman, of the workers that built it, add nausium ? And this is a shallow inadequate and incomplete question to the matter at hand. I believe King David said it well; What is man to God?……..

 

"Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33:11

*I have no idea what that really means.

 

Good points.

 

You seem much more well versed in Bible study than I am. What's your opinion about whether God says that there is a heaven or hell?

This is the video that has got me mixed up:
https://banned.video/watch?id=6465501aa9ffe2a55aab2879

I never questioned that there was a heaven or hell before watching this video. I always assumed that was what the Bible said.

 

Check this out as well:
BibleGateway - Keyword Search: hell
You can pick the version of the Bible you want and search for keywords.

 

The Bible is mans feeble attempt to write down the words of God and to chronicle the life of Christ, so I take the writings with a bit of salt, same as the Church and it's leadership, I know and understand mans limits of understanding of those writings, so I follow my own "Church" in life! Beyond the that, I am Orthodox ( Russian) so we have our own version independent of the Vatican or other writings, and most would say, the most accurate, given the Orthodox founding happened long before Rome did their thing! Not saying it's the only true source, but it was written LONG before the others, and had a lot less agenda behind it!

 

I believe you'll find a lot of gaps in the text of the Bible, plus many incomplete answers to what you're looking for. This is where church doctrine and tradition attempt to fill the gaps, and you'll find disagreement. Of course every person is entitled to their opinion as well, and that's where I believe you'll find either genuinely well-thought out positions, or naysayers.
I think Jim2 said it well when he said,
"Try praying for understanding prior to reading The Bible, it works for me.
I believe God’s word is limitless and no matter how much we try, we will never completely understand The Word."
and just because we may not fully understand does not mean that we shouldn't put forth the effort to TRY to understand.

 

I guess what I'm wondering is, does it matter if we strive to be good people? Does our work towards trying to live a virtuous life matter, or is it all for not?

If it doesn't matter whether we are good people or not, then maybe we also don't have to abide by the ten commandments, and therefore we can kill our oppressors in this life, and not face eternal damnation in the next life, because the next life does not exist.

Therefore, if someone is acting as a tyrant and suppressing our ability to live our lives with freedom, we can kill that person without facing consequences in the next life, because the next life doesn't exist. When we're dead, we're dead.

 

I am am not qualified to teach The Word and do not wish to offend anyone, but after prayer, here goes.

There is a Heaven and Hell, and we will live in one of them forever depending on our choices. It is mentioned many times in The Bible. The Heavenly Father loves us all inspite of our wickedness and failures, and wants us all to accept His gift of Grace, and live with Him in Heaven forever. Israel was not following the 10 Commandments, and God wants them to turn to righteousness and away from legalistic sinfulness. For anyone to die and go to hell is not what God wants. He sent His only son to die for us so that we might live.

Christs blood atonement covers ALL sins, and we get counted as righteous even though we all commit sins daily. Think about it, ALL SINS ARE COVERED! All one has to do is accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and live forever in Heaven, you can’t beat a deal like that.

Yes, good works do count, and a lot. Just do them for God, and not man.

 

I guess the way I've always thought about it is, if you try to be good, then God will look favorably upon you. Even if you falter in your effort, but still had the best intentions, then God will look favorably upon you.

However, what if we are facing NWO Globalists who want to enslave us? Is it alright to kill them? Maybe it's only alright to kill them when they stick a gun in your face, and you can kill them in self defense.

But if you were a Jew in Germany and you knew Hitler had a strategic plan to kill you, but he was not the one sticking a gun in your face, could you have killed Hitler, even though he was not a direct threat? Or could you only kill the SS officer who put the gun in your face, because he was a direct threat to your life? Or maybe God doesn't really care either way, as long as you had good intentions of protecting your life and the lives of your family?

 

I'd suggest the 1941 movie called "Sergeant York" this weekend, fl4848. Gary Cooper playing Alvin York deals with a couple of the questions you've posed. It's on Amazon Prime, Apple, YouTube and others for a $2.99 rental. Great movie.

 

Cool. I'll check it out.

 

I think I'm due to re-watch it....I have it on DVD somewhere