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Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Lockman Foundation Logsdon Statement

I contacted the Lockman Foundation with some specific questions about the Foundation, Dewey Lockman, and S. Frank Logsdon, etc. I did not get direct answers to the questions, but receive this in an e-mail.
Here is our official statement regarding Mr. Logsdon:

Logsdon was not a co-founder of the NASB, nor was he a translator. We don’t know why anything he says would be relevant to the NASB. The NASB stands on its own merits, apart from any individual, as an accurate and trusted translation.

The Lockman Foundation strictly adheres to the fourfold aim that guides all of its translation work:

These publications shall be true to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
They shall be grammatically correct.
They shall be understandable.
They shall give the Lord Jesus Christ His proper place, the place which the Word gives Him; therefore, no work will ever be personalized. (Our work is a symphony, not a solo, because many have had a part.)

In His Service,
Carole Holdinski
The Lockman Foundation
This e-mail is dated Thursday, April 15, 2021. It is different from the official statement posted on the website of James R. White.

The questions I asked were:
  • Is this (i.e. the statement posted on the website of Alpha Omega) an official statement?
  • If so, by whom was it made? (For example, Board, President, etc.)
  • When was the statement made?
  • Is it possible that someone misread and/or misunderstood the referenced letter from Logsdon to Lockman stating he was moving to Florida in 1973?
I also e-mailed back and asked whether the statement in the e-mail to me should be considered a replacement of, or an addition to the statement which James White has posted on his Alpha Omega ministries web site. Carole Holdinski replied on April 19th, “The statement I sent you is the official replacement statement.” I suppose the Lockman Foundation has no interest in or advantage from helping anyone find the details and truth of this matter.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused... in the end, is it a myth or is it truth?

R. L. Vaughn said...

Anonymous, in my opinion, both sides have perhaps misrepresented some things to their advantage. What is known is that Logsdon and Lockman were friends, and Logsdon was involved in with Lockman in getting the rights to the ASV. Have you read this piece:

https://baptistsearch.blogspot.com/2021/07/lockman-and-logsdon-no-urban-legend.html

Anonymous said...

It makes little sense what is written that Logsdon said. How could anybody who was a co-founder of the NASB not know for himself whether he trusted Westcott and Hort's Greek text. And, how could a co-founder of the NASB not see every stage of development of the NASB and then be surprised when he got his copy. What would have been really helpful for Logsdon and KJV onlyists would be to list every place with verses side-by-side in each translation to show the "obvious corruption".

R. L. Vaughn said...

Anonymous, part of the problem understanding it could be reading or hearing what Logsdon said versus what people say Logsdon said. Have you read or heard what he said?

You can find comparisons of the KJV and NASB in different verses. As far as verses "side-by-side" you can get a parallel Bible for that. Most of them have more than two translations, but you can find them that have both the KJV and NASB. For example there is this New Testament (which differences are mainly what is being debated):
https://www.christianbook.com/parallel-versions-testament-translation-american-standard/9781781393147/pd/393147?event=Bibles|1003482

If you don't want to buy one, you can compare it online. This one has five versions, and the NASB and KJV are right side-by-side.
https://www.parallelbible.com/

Anonymous said...

Yes, I heard the recording. In response to the question "Where did Erasmus get his manuscript ?" Logsdon said "Erasmus didn't have to have a manuscript..." !!!! He continued "...holy men of old were borne along by the Holy Ghost ...". Saying Erasmus was borne along like the old Testament writers and New testament writers ... !!!! Like the KJV is a re-inspired version since the 1st century.

That is heresy ! Sounds like something Joseph Smith would have said.

I know how to compare two English translations. I was saying it would be useful for a KJJV onlyists to list side-by-side all the verses that they think the NASB got from a corrupted source.

R. L. Vaughn said...

Anonymous, it appears you are changing the discussion from the point of my posts about Logsdon. Let me bring it back. Both sides of this matter, in my opinion, are less than honest and have misrepresented the facts. Fact is that Frank Logsdon was a friend of Dewey Lockman and helped him in obtaining the rights to the ASV, which was used by the Lockman foundation as the basis of the Amplified Version and the New American Standard Bible. The Lockman foundation has obfuscated about this. Logsdon was not directly involved in the translating of the NASB, as some have claimed. Some KJV-Onlyists, in trying to bolster their point, have made various inaccurate affirmations about Logsdon that Logsdon himself never made. The major takeaway is only this -- someone who was involved in the groundwork of and was in favor of the NASB later turned away from and rejected it. It really does not prove anything else.

Anonymous said...

Friend, I am not changing the discussion from the point of your posts about Logsdon. I responded to your comment "Have you read or heard what he said?". I said "I heard the recording" and then I made a comment on what was in that recording.

Secondly, I clarified what I said about it would be useful to list side-by-side "all the verses" they think the NASB got from a corrupted source. I was not talking about a side-by-side parallel of two English translations of "every" verse in the Bible.

I do agree with your thinking -- more is written about Logsdon than he actually said to bolster some KJV-Onlyists points. Yet, some of what I did hear Logsdon say about Erasmus really breached on heretical. Things I don't believe Erasmus would agree with.

Cheers !

R. L. Vaughn said...

There are two companion posts about Logsdon, Lockman, and the NASB. Asking whether you had read or heard what Logsdon said was within that context (and which is transcribed in the other post), not about other things he may have said. An anonymous someone posted there, but since the post is anonymous, I do not know whether it is the same person (you) or a different person. As far as what he said about Erasmus, I probably heard it 2 or 3 years ago, when I was working on this, but I do not remember it. I do not have the time or interest to look it up at the moment, therefore do not intend to comment on something I do not remember what was said or the context in which it was said. Ultimately, whether Logsdon's views breached on heretical do not affect the fact of whether or not he worked with Dewey Logsdon on obtaining the rights to the ASV and being in on the groundwork of what the Lockman foundation was doing with it. Your comments have reminded me that I collected a little other historical data on this that I have never posted and need to do so. Thanks.