I love the King James Bible, but...

Consider an outré approach to expressing belief about the Bible, that has exploded into the mainstream. Will Kinney has dubbed this the “praise and then blast” syndrome. This is especially popular when discussing the King James Bible. When I was a young preacher, honest detractors disparaged the KJV head on. Take no prisoners. Apparently that is not “PC” in our perpetually-offended culture. You have to play nice. Start with deference to the old man before you kick him to the curb. And so, we have gotten the perpetually pervasive putrid phrase “I love the King James Bible, but...” And watch out for those buts; some of them can be quite a doozy. I love the King James Bible, but... – then they proceed page after page to blast away at all the alleged “errors” they think they have found in this Bible they profess to love so much! If spouses preferred that approach, they might get slapped – a lot. “I love my spouse, but…”

The King James Version has with good reason been termed “the noblest monument of English prose.” Its revisers in 1885 expressed admiration for “its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of expression ... the music of it cadences, and the felicities of its rhythm.” It entered, as no other book has, into the making of the personal character and the public institutions of the English-speaking peoples. We owe to it an incalculable debt. Then they began to wildly whack away at the monument. By the time of the Revised Standard Version, the noble monument had “grave defects.”

“Yet the King James Version has grave defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was based, made it manifest that these defects are so many and so serious as to call for revision of the English translation.” (RSV revisers, 1971 edition)

In previous writings on my blog, I have mentioned this passive-aggressive “I love the KJV, but...” phrase. Today I post some such statements that I have collected off the internet for possible future reference/use. Many include complaints about “archaic words,” but it takes all kinds. Here are some gleanings. [Bracketed comments are mine.]

• I love the King James Version, but I fear it is filled with so many archaic words that I find it easier to read the passage in Hebrew. [Fortunately, biblical Hebrew does not have any archaic words, right?]
• I love the King James Version, but if you are just beginning, then I would recommend the New Living Translation, since it is pretty easy to read and it doesn’t have any “thous” and “thees” to make it confusing. [Yep, they use other things to confuse you.]
• I love the King James Version, but if that’s the only version you use, you’d better do some digging in the original languages. [So you would not recommend that folks using modern translations should do some digging in the original languages?]
• I love the King James Version, but it has some significant problems because the language has changed. [The more significant problems are likely your ineptitude of study.]
• I love the King James version but don’t read it because I’m thrown off by the THEE and THOU and THUS. [Yes, I can clearly see you are thrown off by the “thuses.”]
• I love the King James Version, but it has a few problems. This is why it’s good to use multiple versions of the Bible when we study the text. [Especially since these multiple versions have no problems?]
• I love the King James Version but sometimes the words used are not what we are accustomed to choosing in our daily conversation today. [I know thousands of words I do not use in daily conversation.]
• I love the King James version, but finally decided to make a change. I’m glad I did. [I am glad I didn’t.]
• I love the King James Bible, but it waters down the truth about obeisance to state power. [Huh? Dilutes deference to governmental authority?]
• I love the King James Bible, but it could also be made gender neutral / gender inclusive. [I think we’re good. Go find something modern if you want gender neutral / gender inclusive, and leave the KJV alone.]
• I love the KJV, but you have to read with your eyes open. [I usually do.]
• I love the KJV, but use the ESV while doing official church functions and such...for the sake of polity. [Sounds like you have bad church polity.]
• I love the KJV, but I can say the same of the NIV, NASB and NKJV. [You can say anything you want.]
• I love the KJV, but it is not the best for study. [It has been studied for over 400 years. That is a pretty fair recommendation!]
• I love the KJV, but I get more out of the 1984NIV. [Better hold on to it. The NIV committee is how many iterations away from that one by now?]
• I love the KJV, but I wouldn’t go over to China and give it to its people. [Yep, probably give them a Bible in Chinese, or whatever language they read, instead.]
• I love the KJV, but there are passages that are beautiful more than meaningful. [Actually, it is beautiful and meaningful. Fortunately, you cannot accuse most modern translations of being beautiful!]
• I love the KJV, but sometimes, it doesn’t convey the truth as it should. [IOW, how you think it should.]