Do “ONLY-isms” serve a purpose?

Like many, as a child and teenager, I had done Sunday-school type Bible readings, using the KJV (after all, wasn’t it ‘the’ Bible). In my late teens, I read Good News for Modern Man (NT), which was much easier to read. While out of church, over the intervening years, I attempted several times to read-thru (hopefully) my old KJV. Each attempt failed. I could certainly ‘read’ it well enough, however I found ‘understanding’ much more difficult. I realized at the time, it would probably take a significant investment in study-aids (i.e. dictionaries, commentaries, etc.) if I were to make a serious effort. Regrettably, in my circumstances, at the time, my motivation would soon wane and I would find more ‘enjoyable’ ways to spend my free time.

Then, several years ago, I was seriously ‘lead’ to read the Bible. I thought maybe what I should do was to get a modern version (MV). Which one? It didn’t really matter, since I really didn’t know one from another. I would just get one that wasn’t the KJV, in hopes that I could overcome my previous difficulties.

Well, I picked an inexpensive, large-print MV. I read it cover-to-cover in about 3 weeks. Of course, much I read for the very first time. I was thrilled, blessed and fascinated. An eye-opening experience! Praise the Lord!

Out of curiosity, I searched the net for information on my new NIV Bible. Amazingly, I found out that it was the #1 best-selling Bible. Cool! I also found it was, a New-Age ‘perversion’, blatantly ‘corrupt’ and spawn of the devil!!! WOW!!!

I like to think of myself as a rational, thoughtful and objective person, though, admittedly was a bit scared and perplexed by some of the scathing information I had found. I didn’t want to believe it, but I needed to find out for my own peace of mind. A person just can’t, in good conscience, read a demon inspired bible! – Now I’m MOTIVATED – Over the course of months, I read huge portions of several BV’s, including the KJV. I compared several BV’s verse-by-verse to the KJV and to each other (not the whole Bible, but at least thousands of verses). I read several commentaries. Naturally, I read lots of information pro and con on the KJVO debate.

The Bottom-Line: I am persuaded that KJVonly-ism is false! However, I don’t think I would have been so motivated to read, learn and study God’s written Word if not for KJVO! The Lord had me overcome my years of stupor and I returned to church, where I belong. Our church uses the KJV, which I have come to love to read! There are some in our church who are probably, at least, borderline KJVO. They are sincere, loving Christians whose allegiance to the KJV is born of tradition. Of course I also love to read the ESV, NKJV, NASB, KJV, NIV and NLT (probably in that order).

Forgive me for being so long-winded. I just needed to get this off my chest. Hopefully this is the forum to do that.

Michael