Why I Use the King James Bible

Part 2 

In my previous post, I shared some background as to how I became interested in the "which Bible?" debate, and the conclusion I ultimately reached. Namely, that the King James Bible is the pure, perfect, and preserved Word of God. In this post, I will examine one of the biggest questions I had when studying the issue, and the reasoning which led to my conclusion.

Does there really need to be only one true Bible? 

To answer this question, it is necessary to first consider the purpose of the Bible. As our Creator, God needed a way to communicate with man, and throughout the ages He has mainly done so through the written Word. In the Bible, God reveals to us who He is, what He loves and hates, what He is like. It reveals the history of mankind, what God has already done, and what He will do in the future. Furthermore, as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows, the Bible is essential for salvation, sound doctrine, and instruction on how we are to live and believe as Christians.

The problem with having multiple Bible versions is that they can’t all say the same thing. They will inevitably contradict each other, as shown in my previous post. What do you do when this happens? If one version says God was the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and another implies that Joseph was his father, how can you know for sure? What do you do if one version teaches the Trinity of the Godhead, and another one doesn’t? Or if one version teaches that salvation is a process, and another says it is complete with belief in the Lord Jesus?

Why I Use the King James Bible

Part 1

As a child, I always preferred the King James Version, but was ignorant of the significance of it compared with other versions. My family mostly used the KJV, but we also had some NKJV’s, and Dad would occasionally pull out a different one such as the Amplified Version to use when preaching. Like many pastors, he also really liked his “Greek”, and would sometimes use it to correct the Bible.

During one period, I read through the entire New King James Version (NKJV). I learned some things from it, but it felt different- like something was missing. I wasn’t sure what it was, and attributed it more to the language difference. Because, for me, contrary to contemporary complaints of the KJV, it was actually the so-called “archaic language” that I loved about it. In my eyes, it gave the KJV an old-fashioned beauty, majesty, and superior feel to other versions.

A bit later on, shortly after leaving home, some friends introduced me to the idea that the KJV was God’s true Word, and that all other “new” versions were flawed. I was a little skeptical, but it sparked my curiosity on the matter, and I began to dig in to learn more. The first two books I read on the issue were “The Language of the King James Bible”, and “In Awe of Thy Word”, by Gail Riplinger.