Question:
OK, you state that the KJV is the ONLY version in English that is ok. I know for a fact that some of the translations in KJV are not correct. They are no big deal, and fall under the category of ” A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”. The fact is any translations will have some general problems in perspective. Where one word in Greek may mean something CLOSE to something in English, but not quite. Example, in the KJV they use the word Charity for the Greek word agape. Now, charity in this day and age means something altogether different than it did when KJV translators used it, but it still didn’t come close to what Agape means. Get my meaning? Whether you read KJV or the NIV you are still reading God’s inspired word, but the translations may differ slightly. God does preserve his word, but there isn’t ANYTHING wrong with a pastor explaining what the original Greek/Hebrew was/is and explaining what the feelings are. That is, after all, what a pastor is for. NO translations is completely like the original text, it’s impossible. Even the KJV has variances from the original, yes it’s true. Translate the new testament!! See for yourself.
Answer:
Concerning the use of the word “charity” in passages such as I Corinthians 13, it is a much better word to use than the word “love.” What does “love” mean to most people in the English-speaking world? Selfish, sensual pleasure. Someone gratifying their flesh. Is that what the Bible meaning of love (agape) is? No. The Corinthian people were selfish in so many ways. Zealous to serve the Lord? Yes. But also zealous to be in the limelight. That is the best word to use, in that passage, to show that true love is one that gives and cares about others first.
When people think of the word “charity,” they think of helping others — with no repayment. Is that not the highest love of which the Bible speaks? Luke 6:35 says, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”
No honest Christian can call the NIV the Word of God, because its translators have taken words and portions of verses right out of the Bible (that are in the originals). Please see the gospel tract on this site called “HIV—NIV.” To say that the NIV is just an update of language, is a very deceptive lie of the devil. As you will see in that gospel tract, who does not understand the word “blood?” But that is the exact word that the NIV translators removed from the Bible. Once you accept the removal of even one word from the Bible (and there are many more than that removed in the NIV), then where are you going to stop? The Bible has a very clear warning about that very thing in Revelation 22:18,19, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Satan has never changed his tactics since his first successful temptation of mankind. He said in Genesis 3:1, “Yea, hath God said…..? He put doubt in Eve’s mind as to what God really said. That is exactly what the multitude of Bible translations has done — put doubt into people’s minds as to what God has really said. All of the modern Bible translations have been done based upon the Westcott and Hort theory and that underlying Greek text. Which means that all of the modern Bible translations are based upon two unbelieving modernists.
Any pastor that thinks it is his job to get up and correct the Bible by saying, “The best manuscripts say ………” is not helping his people to grow, but helping confuse his people, and causing them to doubt and to wonder what God really did say. I had Greek in my Bible College training, but most of the people in the pews have not had it. It means nothing to them. The fact of the matter is that 2 or 3 years of Greek does not come near to making a pastor an expert in Greek — and no where near the caliber of the translators of the King James Bible. What the people need to hear is something that they understand — English. The pastor’s job is to give the “sense” of what the Bible does say — not cause the people to wonder what it really does say. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”
If you are serious about wanting to know the truth about this subject, then you need to visit the following Web Site, “http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud/fbns/versfbns.htm”.