Reading through the Bible in a year

So I committed to read through the Bible this year and I have a confession to make. I'll most likely be done with this "year" by tax day next year. I am allowing myself the grace to miss a few days here and there and at this point, I'm a week behind, but that's OK. I have a choice - I can either give up (which leaves me with not having read through the entire Bible finally) or to just keep going and allow myself to read the Bible in 15 or 16 months. So this year, I'm choosing the latter rather than the former. :) I'm reading through the Bible this time chronologically and it's SO cool to see the different parts of Scripture that happened at the same time. While reading through 1 Samuel, I read the Psalms that David wrote when being chased by Saul - and it makes so much sense. I know what he was going through at the time he wrote it so it gives new meanings to his words. It's very cool! Thanks, Michelle, for turning me on to that! I don't remember the site that has the list that I'm using, but I'm sure if you look up "chronological bible reading" or some such, you'll find it. :) I can highly recommend it!

Just stuff

So just a few things for today. I'm feeling migrainy so my mind isn't too clear - don't want to make TOO many statements. LOL DH and I did have a bit of a theological talk today and it was great, though. He just got back from a conference called Together for the Gospel and he was under the teaching of some awesome men of God - John Piper, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney, RC Sproul, Ligon Duncan and Al Mohler. It was for pastors and church leaders - and was a very "heady" week according to him. You can get the MP3s of the messages if you wish to listen to what went on - I have Sproul's message on CD to listen to in the car over the next few days - I heard it was amazing.

So then DH came in with the bag of books that were GIVEN to all 5500 men who were at the conference. JEEPERS - it will take us a good year to read this stuff! There are books like The Truth of the Cross by Sproul, The Gospel According to Jesus by MacARthur, Pierced for Our Transgressions by Jeffery, Ovey and Sach, Culture Shift by Mohler, The Future of Justificaiton by Piper and a ton of others. VERY cool - I've got my reading list for a long time. :D

We also heard from the second college for my daughter - and got a smaller scholarship offer. So now it looks like the college of her choice will be it - if we can figure out how to raise $15,000 a year for it. SIGH. So we have a new prayer request - for provision for her to be able to go to this college. I do think this is the best place for her and if God agrees, we'll be able to do it. :) God is able, and I trust Him.

So today we're going out shopping. Daddy and son are on the boat and the girls will go shoe shopping and possibly pick up a few clothes for the teens. Thank heavens that long shorts and long t-shirts are the new style! It's nice to be able to shop easily for some clothes for them without having to turn down most everything out there.

Lastly, I just wanted to address something about the KJVO post. I'd challenge anyone who thinks that the modern versions are "perversions" or in grave error to send me any doctrine that the modern versions leave out. I'm not speaking of the times where the name of Jesus Christ is changed to Jesus - or the Spirit is written instead of Holy Spirit. I'm speaking doctrine. Where the modern versions take out the doctrine of grace; the doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God; the doctrine of the inspiration of the Word of God. Remember context of verses, and the other times the same word is translated in different ways. So, just a little study to do on your own. :) Oh - and if there are any famous theologians who also followed the belief that the KJV is the only inspired Word of God for the English speaking people, I'd love to know their names. I haven't been able to find any myself.

Just adding in this great article by someone who was once KJVO and it tells of his story in no longer being KJVO. It's a good read - very interesting: http://www.fredsbibletalk.com/fb019.html

What is the best Bible?

I was talking to my husband about this the other day. We've both grown up using a variety of Bibles from the Living Bible to the KJV. Of all the different Bibles I've used , probably my favorite right now is the English Standard Version. While its a new version, its a very solid one and is faithful to the original texts. We've also used the NIV, KJV, NASB, Young's Literal and even the Living Bible. I've been really enjoying using my Reformation Study ESV as my primary Bible although I'm still doing my reading through the Bible in a year in an old NIV I have.

What makes me sad is something that I had never experienced before being on the web - the idea that the King James version (the KJV) is the only perfect Bible for the English speaking world - even going so far as to say that the KJV was double inspired meaning inspired in the originals AND in the translation. There are many who have made a cult of the belief and have therefore deny that God continues to work in the world today and His being able to preserve His Word through further translation into the common language. . Even the translators of the KJV stated clearly that it is of utmost importance to have a translation in the common language. (Interestingly enough, many cults accept the KJV as the only right Bible and refute the other versions.)

Fortunately, I'm not alone in my feelings about this. The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship said in their news bulletin for July/August, 1984 "We reject as heretical the concept that any translation of the Bible is given by inspiration, which has in our generation fostered a cult. We believe firmly that inspiration ceased upon the closure of the canon of Scripture in the original autographs. We likewise reject the practice of exalting any version or translation to the position held uniquely by the original writings." I say "Amen" to them.

Peter Ruckman, a man who is one of the most vocal KJVO supporters wrote a book, THE ALEXANDRIAN CULT. In it he says, "Every recognized church historian and Christian scholar is a member of the cult. This cult is the Alexandrian Cult of North Africa, and its tentacles stretch from Origen (184-254 AD) to John R. Rice and the faculty members of every recognized school in the world." By "Alexandrian Cult" he meant those who recommend using other versions besides the King James. How foolish is that? To declare all historians and scholars from the second century to Dr. John R. Rice and the faculty of godly schools as "cultists"?

The texts that the KJV is based on is what is known as the "Textus Receptus" or the "Received Text". Erasmus prepared the Greek text that later became known as the TR, yet there are many errors in his translation. He had very few manuscripts to work from and even used the Latin Vulgate to translate some of his Greek text. The Stephanus text was then a revision of the Erasmus text and it is what the KJV is actually based on. However, the Stephanus text differs from the TR in 287 places! So the KJV is supposed to be perfect because it was translated from the TR, yet it differs from it in 287 places! Regarding the majority of manuscript evidence, it differs 1838 places!

The historic Fundamental stand on the Bible is not that the KJV is the only infallible translation and all others are in error. To say so is to build on a doctrine where there is no historical or Scriptural support. Even the KJV translators themselves would not defend this stand (as is seen in their writing in the beginning of the KJV). .The KJV is a wonderful version and one worthy of being respected and used but to raise it to the level of inerrant and doubly inspired, is what is considered a heresy in the history of the church.

As my pastor said, would you rather get a prescription that's 100 years old or get a prescription that is current according to the research that's been done in the last 100 years. There is no "conspiracy" looking to take the deity of Christ out of the Bible in the "modern versions". There is no "agenda" that they had to make the Scriptures say what they say. There are slight errors in all the versions - because a langage that's different than ours cannot be perfectly translated into the current langage without changing some things.

Here are some good resources:

http://www.kjvonly.org/index.html
http://www.bible-researcher.com/kutilek1.html

Here is the KJV translator's notes to the reader: http://www.kjvonly.org/robert/joyner_appendix_a.html

What is the bottom line?

Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, the pre-eminent British authority on New Testament manuscripts at the turn of the twentieth century said, "We may indeed believe that He would not allow His Word to be seriously corrupted, or any part of it essential to man's salvation to be lost or obscured; but the differences between the rival types of text is not one of doctrine. No fundamental point of doctrine rests upon a disputed reading: and the truths of Christianity are as certainly expressed in the text of Westcott and Hort as in that of Stephanus." (Frederic G. Kenyon, Handbook of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (London: Macmillan and Co., 1901), p.271.)

Praise God that even with the textual differences and many, many years of interpretation and translation, God has preserved His Word to us. While it is not the exact words that were penned thousands of years ago, we know without a doubt that God has preserved the doctrine and theology that is encased between the covers of the book that we know as the Bible. So I reject the idea that the KJV is the only perfect Word of God for the English speaking world. That is wrong doctrine and one that is to be rejected by all true believers.

So, what is the best Bible? The best Bible is the one you read. :)

Here comes the rain

Rain - There's just something wonderful about it, isn't there? It's been beautiful these last few days but today is cloudy and drizzly. It makes me just want to stay home, cook, be with my family and kind of hibernate. I love the sound of the rain in the summer and the smell after the rain is finished. In reading Deuteronomy this past week, I read how as long as the Israelites follow God's law, He will bless them with rain on their crops - meaning success in their lives. Without their crops, they would perish. They also would have nothing to offer the Lord since part of that harvest would be given as an offering to Him.

God has given me so much in my life - blessed me in so many ways and I thank Him for all of it. I have a wonderful, Godly husband, 4 beautiful children, a home that's paid for, a church family who is truly family and best of all, a relationship with the God of the universe - who gave Himself as a payment for MY sins. God has watered my life (good AND bad), and I thankfully give Him all that I have and all that I do as an offering to Him.
Thank you Lord!

Deuteronomy 28:2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God."