Why do so many people on here call the KJV the original Bible?

Question

when there were many earlier bibles and the KJV wasn`t even a translation of the original text .It was written to merge all the contradicting Bibles used at the time into one orthodox Bible for the English Church
( i`m not being derogatory the writing in the KJV is beautiful and a work of art in its own right )

Sorry to disillusion you odds 10to1 but i get my information from undisputed and well documented English history .the type that is taught in English history lessons at school here.

The furthest the writers referenced back was the Erasmus translation for the Catholic church (written in Latin )

Answer 1

Thank you for asking this. It's quite interesting to see the difference in answers between your question and mine. I have to admit, I've learned quite a lot this morning on such an apparently "easy" question. :-))

Personally, I feel they think this way because someone, sometime in their past, has told them this, and they never had any reason to question the authority of the answer. I think it's appropriate that we should correct the error whenever we tactfully can.

I personally love the KJV. I think formal English is one of the most beautiful languages ever developed. Somehow, I think you're correct in calling it a work of art.

God be with you.

Answer 2

In essence, you are correct. Most of the bibles at that time were in Latin and they wanted one in English for a variety of reasons. The only glaring omission was removing God's name about 7,000 times. It has a few errors as does any translation into another language will always.

As to why people call it the only one, they are usually the ones who believe when meeting someone of another language, JUST TALK ENGLISH LOUDER!!!! They have truly never thought the prophets spoke anything but "thees and thous".

If you tell them there are about 50 translations which are good plus those versions translated into around 300 languages, they will still swear the KJV in English, is the only real one.

Answer 3

Many Centuries ago, people did not read the Bible for themselves for numerous reasons: Few Bibles written, few people could read, Church did not want them reading/interpreting for themselves, etc.

Scroll forward in time to massive acceptance (Protestant) of one particular version of the Bible (KJV) and acceptance that a good, literate person could read and get 99 percent of the meaning correct without help from anyone else.

So the KJV is wrapped around this belief that they do not need a Pope or Priest like person; just reading the Bible and applying ones goodness and intellect, that they could be a good Christian and get it pretty right.

And a fair number of Scriptures support this thinking, and a Scripture that says the Words of God should be preserved as written (interpreted as meaning KJV).

Then compound this with it happening to the baby boomer generation, and their parents, and at the start of mass communication (TV and Radio).

So for lots of Baby boomers, KJV is IT. Not ones previous , not ones after.

Oh , and Ronald Reagan said KJV was THE one also. How do you fight that?

I suppose Catholics might use the New Mexico Penitentes as an example of lay people going astray without "divine guidance". But that is a discussion for a different question.

Answer 4

Because they are obsessed with the 400 words that King James ordered to be changed in his Bible. (it even has "unicorns" where no other Bible dose) and a lot of the words have a totally different meaning. So they can distort it to mean what they want it too. I have seen church leaders obsessed with that lust. And don't teach truth.
King James only wanted the Latin bible in England. But he could not stop the other English Bibles from being smuggled in. So he ordered his made wrong and without note/facts at the bottom too.
The pilgrims and most others saw this and did not use it. It took a long, long, time for it to become popular.
But what has it so popular is this distorting. Like religions like the Mormon's and the Jehovah's Witnesses require that only the King James is aloud to be used.

Answer 5

The only other insight I can offer, in addition to those who have given sensible answers, this this: was the KJV of the Bible the first major revision of an English language bible performed under a Protestant monarch?

If so, it would make the KJV the first English Protestant bible and hence, to some, the original bible.

Answer 6

It is a well known fact among devout Christians that the ancient Hebrews spoke medieval English which they learned from God.

But seriously, KJV was and is the most popular translation, the most widespread and that is what counts. Other people invented light bulbs earlier, but Thomas Edison invented the first commercially viable light bulb, so he gets all the credit.

Answer 7

The first complete Bible in the common language was the Latin Vulgate translated by St Jerome. (Latin was the common language of the Empire in the 4th century.)

Between 390 and 405, St. Jerome gave all his attention to the translation of the Old Testament according to the Hebrew, but this work alternated with many others. Between 390-394 he translated the Books of Samuel and of Kings, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Esdras, and Paralipomena. In 398, he completed the revision of the remainder of the Latin version of the New Testament, and about that time commentaries on chapters 13-23 of Isaias; finally from 398 to 405, completion of the version of the Old Testament according to the Hebrew.

As for English translations, portions of Bible were translated as far back as the 10th century, giving lie to the assertion that the KJV was the first English translation: It was not. In fact the Catholic Dhouay-Rheims Bible (still available today - I bought one recently) was printed before the KJV.

Answer 8

You are absolutely right that the KJV was based on much older translations (Especially Tyndale)
For many people it is the one they were first taught so it is the 'original' to them.
Actually the original was in Hebrew, Greek and some Aramaic.
Compared to that 1611 is fairly modern!!

Answer 9

Your question is a good one and worthy of answering.

God never called anyone to follow a TRANSLATION...He calls us to follow the MESSAGE contained in His Word.

Many folks have gotten on the bandwagon of thinking that they have the ONLY Word of God written to the English speaking people. What they fail to realize is that this "errorless" Word of God has been REDONE many many times to correct textual and spelling and even word errors.

Its a shame that instead of focusing on the Message IN the book, that they have made the "translation" one uses a point of pride and division in the Body of Christ. Its another tool used by Satan, our common enemy, to divide and conquer.

Many people own a KJB but have NO clue what it says or means. I would say thats the important issue, wouldnt YOU?

Actually, the KJV is a good translation, but its NOT the original text. It still has much value in that it is the Word of God to we who believe.

Answer 10

The reason God is allowing modern updated versions of The Bible to be written is that Bible scholars are slowly transforming The Bible back into the science book God originally wrote. Once The Bible is transformed from what we thought was a religious book into a science book mankind will be forced to reinterpret it's message into scientific text which will pretty much lead to eliminating all religions on earth and force mankind into a one world belief system based on God Yahweh's, (Who was Jesus before He came to earth in the flesh.), knowledge of science.