If the Apostle Pau used it, it is good enough for me

I have blogged about this before, but I've been thinking about it lately, and felt like blogging about it more.

My church still uses the King James Version of the Bible. It is the one I was raised on, and the one that I memorized verses from. It is still the one most people will quote verses such as Psalm 23 and John 3:16 from. I'm not knocking the version, and I think it is good for one version to be used at church, as it makes it easier to read along.

I still carry the KJV to church, whether an actual copy or on my Kindle, but I rarely use it at home. Thing is, we don't talk like that. "Lovest" and the like.... no one talks that way anymore, and I don't see anything wrong with reading versions of the Bible that have updated language.

I have met people, and some of them are in my church, who are horrified at the idea of using anything but the KJV. Any other version is heresy and no good, even the New King James Version, which simply removes words like "lovest, thou, thee" and similar words. These people act like the Apostle Paul read the KJV.

Ironically, the KJV we use today is the same thing that the NKJV is.... a modern revision of the former. No one alive would be able to understand the original KJV of 1611. It can still be bought, and in my opinion, if people are going to be so extreme about the KJV, they should buy that version, otherwise they are being hypocritical and doing just what they rail against - using a newer version. Harsh? Not really. Just using their own words against them.

Not every version out there is good. There is one who removes all masculine references, even to God. There are some that try so hard to modernize the language, that it sounds like a gangster version. Here are a few I like and use:

The New Living Translation. The Living Bible was a paraphrase. This is an actual translation, and is my favorite version to read from.

The New King James Version. This sticks closer to the KJV, only changing old words we don't use to ones that we do.

God's Word. This version is still new to me. I don't own a regular copy of it, but do have the Names of God Bible, which puts the original names of God back in that were taken out and replaced with "God" and "Lord", etc. So far, I like it pretty well.

The Common English Bible. This one is still fairly new to me, but I am liking it so far.

The Message. This isn't a favorite new version, and I personally think it is too modernized, and seems more of a paraphrase than a translation, but I do like to look up a passage occasionally in it to get a different perspective, and since I got it for $5, I don't have much invested in it.

The Bible is the most important book there is, and we are encouraged to read and study it often. I believe using different translations and versions can help with that. When reading familiar passages, it is so easy to skim over it if you are used to the same old version, whereas using different ones can make you slow down a bit and think more about what you are reading. It does for me. And it helps clear up passages that are a bit unclear due to the old English we don't speak and use anymore.

We shouldn't just grab any version out there, but there are many that are good and can be a help as we read and study God's Word. I can find no proof that God prefers it over any other version out there, and at one point, it was new and people considered it heresy. And one other point for the KJV only crowd: the work on it was organized and ordered by a very corrupt king. Not by God.