top of page
  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

King James conspiracy


I've said it before, and I will say it again: The King James Only controversy is the dumbest dispute in Christianity. There are a number of reasons for this, but one of many is that it's a conspiracy without conspirators.


The most commonly accused conspirator in modern translations is the Catholic Church. Yet, at the same time, the most common errors they charge modern translations with are decidedly anti-Catholic. Of all the wonky ideas in the Catholic Church, support for homosexuality and denial of the Deity of Christ are not among them. Therefore, if the Catholic Church were going to corrupt the Bible, that would not be what the corruption looks like.


Furthermore, even translations that are quite demonstrably Catholic often remain the word of God. In fact, as you'll notice if you read any of my outreach material to Catholics, I often switch to the NABRE. This is because this translation is just as powerful (arguably more so in some areas) against the Catholic religion as any other translation, simply because it is a translation.


And that really is the point. A translation, as even the translators of the KJV themselves vehemently affirmed, is a translation: "Now to the latter we answer that we do not deny--nay, we affirm and avow--that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English set forth by men of our profession (for we have seen none of theirs of the whole Bible as yet) containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God: as the king's speech which he uttered in Parliament, being translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin, is still the king's speech, though it be not interpreted by every translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, everywhere." (Original preface to the KJV).


So are the KJV translators suddenly in on this Papal conspiracy to remove the Deity of Christ and insert homosexuality into the Bible? Or is it more likely they would tear their clothes if they knew how much they have been deified by many modern Christians? If the translators of the KJV were alive today, they would rebuke the KJV Only position in a heartbeat.


But not the KJV itself. Indeed, most users of other translations wouldn't. More than that, some users of the KJV aren't even KJV Only. The KJV is by far the most popular English translation even today, yet KJVOnlyism is a fringe minority. Only the KJVOnly movement produces venom against what the KJV translators would affirm as the word of God. The rest of the faithful, no matter what translation they read, will gladly affirm that the KJV is the word of God. Watch:


THE KJV IS THE WORD OF GOD.


Well that doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation, does it? It sounds rather conclusive, I affirm that the KJV is a faithful translation of what was inspired. I don't think it is word for word accurate to the original, and I certainly don't presume to say it's better than the original, but it is a faithful translation of the word of God, taking the message from one language and transmitting it in another, and therefore it is the word of God, carrying as much authority as the originals.


So who's the enemy here? It's not the Catholic Church, otherwise they're doing a pathetic job of it. The same applies to the gays and the anti-Trinitarian heretics who wouldn't get on well as co-conspirators with the Catholic Church. It's not the users of other translations who affirm the KJV. So who is the real enemy in the KJVOnly conspiracy? The conspiracy theorists themselves! They divide the Church based on trivial things. They bash the translated word of the Living God. They change the Gospel from "confess Jesus as Lord" to "confess the KJV as the only inspired Bible", and "believe God raised Him from the dead" to "believe God preserved the KJV translators from error, even though they never believed this". I'm sorry, but if you're running around bashing your fellow Christians, slandering faithful scholars, degrading the word of God, and questioning the salvation of anyone who does otherwise, you are the heretic.


And so I repeat, the KJV Only conspiracy is the dumbest division in the modern Church. If you wish to study the KJV, even if you wish to study it exclusively, I not only wouldn't want to stand in your way, I actively encourage it. But the moment you try to force that translation choice onto your brethren, you are dividing the Church, and are worthy of Godly rebuke.

12 views
bottom of page