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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The dry season

In life there are seasons that come and go. In my life, I have been in the rainy season where things just flow. I can be creative, I can write freely, my thoughts and theories seem to be in abundance. Right now I seem to be in a dry season. While I have outlines and ideas written down, the ability to develop them and really write them down seems to have left me. My blogs are becoming dry, short and virtually non-existent. My thoughts seem to be much more shallow, the pools of ideas have dried up into mud puddles. What was once deep enough for me to spend hours plumbing is now not enough to even get me wet. It's frustrating for me, but has allowed me to turn to some more physical pursuits. I have been working with my hands more, working on my shop, on my truck, and working with some wood. I don't know how long this dry spell will last, hopefully the ideas will flood back soon, and the rains will return. In the mean time, try to keep the dust out of your eyes.

Monday, October 4, 2010

KJV Only

So I have been looking at the KJV only thing for a while, and wondering why are people so set on this version. If you are KJV only be prepared, you may get upset. The KJV is not the best anything. It's not the first English translation, it's 1611, the Geneva Bible is 1560. It's not the most literal translation is the ASV. It's not the most accurate, it's not the most readable, and in my opinion, the ESV is a much better translation from the original text. So why focus so hard on the King James? I have a theory.

All false assumptions (like the KJV is the only Bible) start from a faulty root. For example, Evolution begins with the false assumption there is no God. Until you fix that assumption, you cannot tackle evolution. People will hold to things that make no sense because they have to deal with their foundational error. The KJV error is that the Catholic church has always been evil or corrupt. As a result, everything from the Catholic church is rejected, and there must be a way to legitimize the Protestant church before 1517. Thus enters the Trail of Blood. To further legitimize the Reformation, the KJV is seen as the move to give the Bible to the common man, and it's in contrast to the Latin Vulgate used in Rome, therefore it becomes the Bible of the Reformation. As the Protestant Bible, it's now seen as sacred.

Here is the deal. The Catholic church has always had a faithful remnant, the Protestant church started in 1517, not with John the Baptist (sorry Landmarkests). The Baptist church came from the Puritan movement and was started by a Separatist from the Anglican Church. Ana-Baptists and Baptists are very different. There is nothing more "holy" about tracing lineage back to the Apostles, if a new church starts in China or Romania or Africa because they picked up a NIV and read it and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they started a church without any missionaries, it would be a valid New Testament church, it doesn't have to "go back" to anyone. Just have to be focused on The Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is defined by who we are and who we serve, not by where we came from. Once we dispel that false assumption, I think the KJV controversy loses it's luster.