I honestly have nothing against people who read from modern versions. Most of them misunderstand my perspective and my position. If you’re curious on my view, here it is written out, and you can judge for yourself if the reasoning is sound:
Modern versions function like textbooks to better understand the original languages: used for reference and general insight… but not something that believers trust and press into as the word of God itself.
With dozens of translations, each with a different translation philosophy, different wording, and often different meaning, the average Christian is taught that no single translation can be fully relied upon. Instead of one clear voice, there are many. Not a lamp unto my feet, but five or six of them.
This is the damage of using multiple Bible translations. In many places, they do not bear witness to each other (see kjvcompare.com). They contradict and confuse and conceal the voice of God.
The KJV came from the line of English Bibles which were faithfully trusted as the word of God. They were translated subsequently in a process of purification. They never claimed to be perfect. But the final Bible in that line has been recognized as such for several generations now by its readers.
Modern Versions, on the other hand, are born out of various places, all of them fragmented, each with their own innovations and nuances, each boasting of their own excellence. They never claim to be perfect either, and their readers agree with them.
Everybody who uses a variety of translations thinks they know what the Bible should say, but none can quite hold it in their hands.
I needed no man to convince me the KJB was perfect, nor did I know that people taught such a thing. I discovered that by reading it myself, and found out soon after that I was one among millions around the world.
After coming to this conclusion, I realized that there is a passage in the Bible that confirms the word of God will be contained in one book that is available to be sought out by all the world in the end times. See Isaiah 34:1,16. I have studied this chapter over and over again. It’s not referring to a Hebrew scroll or a Hebrew audience, nor is it referring solely to the immediate chapter at hand. It’s referring to a larger written record – God’s own book – that can be discovered and used to check the veracity of his word in the end times.
So many factors play into it, and I can’t express them all in one post like this, but I am convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that the KJV is that book, containing God’s words in perfect form. And everything equivalent to it in other languages, past, present, or future, is also the pure and preserved word of God.
Good question: Where was the “word” of God before 1611?
My answer: Everywhere and anywhere it was faithfully preserved and translated.
Better question: Where was the “book” of God before 1611?
My answer: The book described in Isaiah 34:16 didn’t need to exist (at least not in its final state) before 1611.
Now that we have the book, with so much fruit and infallible proofs, signed and sealed by Jesus himself, we have certainty of all the books and words that have ever belonged.
So it’s no offense to me if you use modern versions, but why would I ever reach myself for one of those bibles when I have exactly what God foreordained in front of me?
Especially since they greatly change the words and meaning of scripture in thousands of places?
I don’t want a partially correct / partially corrupt version of God’s book. I have found God’s pure words, and have tasted and seen that they are good. Please don’t misunderstand me: I do not bow down to paper and ink. The book is good because its words come from the Lord our God, maker of heaven and earth. And God is good! And the only reason I know that is because of his book! It’s quite circular. And it’s quite beautiful.
Thank you Lord for your light, for giving me a sword that I can use and depend upon in the battle.
KJV = Psalm 119:105, Jeremiah 23:29, Hebrews 4:12, Isaiah 34:16
Modern Versions = Judges 21:25, Isaiah 50:11
P.S. – Since 2023, I have been working on a massive video project with a singular aim of proving the KJB to be “the book of the LORD” in Isaiah 34:16. It is estimated to be 4-5 hours in length when finished. You can see a preview of it here, which includes a study on Isaiah 34 itself: