Authorized vs. the "Modern Bibles"
Most people believe all Bible versions teach essentially the same thing. Most preachers tell us that the newer versions are nothing more than just some "harmless updating of words" designed to make the Bible easier to understand.
Nothing Could be Further from the Truth!
One of the clearest verses in the Bible proclaiming the deity of Jesus Christ (that Jesus was literally God in the flesh) is 1 Timothy 3:16. Read it in the King James Bible:
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God Was Manifest in the flesh. . ."
The King James says, clearly, "God was manifest in the flesh".
The "modern versions" all say, "HE appeared in a body".
These modern versions all change the noun "God" to the pronoun "HE." Think about it for a moment: "He appeared in a body"? When you think the matter though clearly, the statement is absurd! Everyone appears in a body to everyone else. When you compare the King James Bible translation to the "modern versions" it becomes clear, even to the casual evaluator that the meat of the verse has been removed.
An Attack on the Deity of Jesus Christ!
In Philippians 2:6, The King James Bible clearly declares the deity of Jesus Christ:
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
The new translations completely re-word the verse to deny the deity of Jesus Christ! The NIV, RSV, NASV, NRSV, NKJV(1979 ed.), etc. read,
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped."
At a minimum, these "modern translators" have confused what should have been a very clear statement. Again, the diction and grammar leave much to be desired. Clearly, in our "dumbed down" society, we can make trash of our very language without anyone questioning it. Unfortunately for us, God does take His Word Seriously . . . Therefore, if you are serious about God, using the King James Bible is a necessity, not just an option.
They Attack the Virgin Birth!
In Luke 2:33, The King James Version reads as follows,
"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him."
This is considered one of the most standard statements of Christianity. But our "modern translators" could not leave that one alone. The "modern translations" all read,
"The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him."
The "CHILD'S FATHER"? The "Child's Father" is God Himself! Since God was the author of our faith, He would not "marvel" about something He did! The implication of this statement though, is that Joseph was the child's father, and if Joseph was the Child's Father, then Jesus is not God. He is just another good man, and we all believe in vain. At least, that is what the "modern translators" imply with their "translation" of this verse. The King James Bible translators knew better and made it so in their translation.
Jesus Christ was born of a virgin because His Father was God. He is the "only begotten Son of God." The only reason Joseph did not put his wife away (as would have been required to by Jewish law) was because God showed him that He was the father of his wife's child. At that point, Joseph knew that he had a divinely-ordained role to perform as the male head of the new household.
The line of lies and deceit in the "modern versions" goes on from this. To "cover their tracks" on the virgin birth issue They attack and trash John 3:16! So the "modern translators" changed it to read,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
They removed the critical word "begotten"! Suddenly, where does that put the Christian? The King James Bible states:
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God : therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
If Jesus was "the one and only" then what happens to the wonderful promise to believers that we have just read. If we follow the teachings of the "modern translators," we are nothing more than "believers in the Christian Religion." Using their understanding, we are no different than "believers" in Islam who say "Allah (the moon god) is God and Mohammed is his prophet," Buddhists who "believe" that by following a certain set of "pathways" they can become "enlightened" and be like God, or a believer in any other religion. But then, that may be by design. We will talk about that later.
One of the more shocking changes the "modern translators" made to the newer Bible is the removal of all the passages about the Blood of Jesus Christ. Totally ignoring the concepts of the Torah, God's basic law, the translators did not think it important to retain the Blood of Jesus Christ in their "modern translation" as if the antiseptic translation would somehow be more "appealing to a modern generation." Such statements and interpretations have done more to harm the cause of Christ than anything the persecutors ever did. With all the blood and gore we see on the streets and on television, removing references to the Blood of Jesus Christ to make the Bible more appealing to a modern generation suddenly sounds highly absurd.
We must remember that God did not elect to be "modern" and does not adjust His concepts to adapt to every generation as the Roman Catholic Church and other church organizations insist upon teaching. His concepts transcend the simplistic ideas of man, and teach truth, which if embraced by any man regardless of their place in history, will lead them to Salvation in Jesus Christ though His Blood.
The Apostle Paul summarizes the Torah's concept of sacrifice as follows:
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Hebrews 9:22)
If Jesus did not shed his blood on the cross, then we are still dead in our sins. Read Colossians 1:14 in the King James Bible:
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins . . . "
The "modern translators" shred this verse and make it read as follows:
"In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
The omission is clearly inexcusable because the words are in most Greek manuscripts. The only manuscripts where this is not found is in ones generated by the Roman Catholic Church, who want to take the place of Jesus Christ and do their own sacrifices, week after week via the mass.
As we have reviewed these changes, it is becoming apparent that fraud and deceit are the integral trademark of the modern translator. If the modern translator does not like something, they change it and make it suit their own core beliefs. Suddenly, the users of the modern translations are believers of someone's ideas (or theology, man's study of God) rather than what God would have us to believe.
Our next section will dig deeper into the lies, fraud and deceit, which our modern translators have engaged in, with the changes they have made to their modern versions of the Bible.