Explained differences within the Scriptures themselves regardless of version

A fave KJVO tactic is to point out differences in the wording between various Bible versions of a given verse, a tactic based upon the circular reasoning that the wording of the KJV is always right & that any BV whose wording differs from that of the KJV is wrong. We shall now destroy that argument, using the KJV itself. We shall show some examples of where the Scriptures differ among themselves within the KJV.

2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto *Araunah*, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for **fifty shekels of silver**.

1 Chronicles 21:25 So David gave to *Ornan* for the place **six hundred shekels of gold** by weight.

Was his name Araunah or Ornan? And did David pay him with gold or silver?

2 Kings 24:8 Jehoiachin was ***eighteen years old*** when he began to reign...

2 Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was ***eight years old*** when he began to reign...

Well, just how old was Jehoiachin when he began his reign??

From the NT:

Matthew 27:44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Here, both thieves verbally abuse Jesus.

Mark 15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

Mark does not record anything the thieves said.

Luke 23:32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

Luke records the story of the thief whom Jesus saved.

John 19:18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

John did not record what the thieves said.

Luke 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

Luke says the authorities forced this Simon to bear Jesus' cross.


John 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

John said Jesus bore His cross Himself.

There are many such examples in both Testaments, but these should suffice for this post. Although we took them from the KJV, they're found in all valid BVs.

Now, is there an explanation for these apparent contradictions? Yes! As a policeman, I often had to obtain written statements from several witnesses to the same event. In a case I once worked, there were four witnesses to a traffic accident.(besides the drivers of the vehicles involved) These witnesses were all intelligent, honest people, willing to help.

When all the witnesses finished writing their accounts, I had four different accounts. They didn't agree what color the traffic signal was, how fast each car was going, nor what evasive action either driver took, including hitting the brakes. Each driver claimed he had the green light. What I had to do was see where the witness accounts agreed, where the drivers' accounts agreed, & the physical evidence such as skid marks & the pattern of damage to each vehicle, as well as the details from each account not found in any other account. One witness said, "Well, just before the wreck happened, I had the walk light & had started across the street when I saw that car in front of me not stopping & it hit the other car broadside." the physical evidence bore that statement out & helped me establish how the wreck occurred & who was at fault.

Now, did that mean that any of the witnesses were being dishonest or badly mistaken, besides the driver at fault? NO! They were four different people with four different perspectives, four different lavels of memorization, four different levels of writing ability, and four different sets of life experiences that made certain details stand out to each one of them differently from the others.

The various penmen of the Scriptures each had different sources of info, and different perspectives. For example, the man who recorded David's paying Araunah fifty silver shekels may not have been close enough to have heard all that David & Araunah said, and the man who recorded the same event may have written in a different language from the writer(s) of Samuel, thus, he called the Jubusite Ornan rather than Araunah, and seen only part of the transaction. Or, both men could've been writing secondhand accounts. What we know by taking both accounts under consideration is that David bought a threshing floor, oxen, & all the auxiliary equipment from a Jebusite king variouslt called Araunah or Ornan, for the fair market value.

Same with the thieves crucified with Jesus. Maybe Luke was present while one of the thieves asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom, but didn't hear both of them rail at Him earlier, while Matthew was up close only long enough to have heard them both verbally abuse Jesus, while Mark & John weren't close enough to know what the thieves said. Also, each man wrote his Gospel years after the events, and each of them remembered only what Jesus wanted them to remember. Same with the accounts of who bore Jesus' cross. Maybe only Luke saw Simon forced to bear the cross. We must remember that at this time the disciples were frightened & confused because Jesus hadn't yet "opened their eyes" so they'd understand all the things happening to Him. Although they wrote their Gospels AFTER JESUS HAD "ENLIGHTENED" THEM, it's very doubtful if their "mental engines" were "hitting on all cylinders" while Jesus was being crucified.

If such discrepancies among the basic Scriptures exist, then it stands to reason that the mss from which various BVs are translated should differ among themselves. After all, we don't know to what power that the extant mss are copies; they may be the 100th copy of an autograph, or not have ever, in the line of any given ms, been copied from an autograph. Who's to rule out this possibility: that Paul wrote a letter in Greek to the church at Corinth, which had a Hebrew-writing member who translated it into Hebrew & sent his work to a friend in Jerusalem? That Hebrew-language copy would be worded slightly differently from Paul's Greek original. Now, let's say this citizen of Jerusalem had some Arab friends who were of the families of the Magi who'd come to see the baby Jesus. He could've had a scribe render his edition of Paul's letter into Arabian and sent to those Arabs, who could've taken a copy to Alexandria. And on & on. However, through all this, God has made His Scriptures appear to the readers in any language AS HE CHOSE. They may not be worded all the same, given the vast number of translations that were made, but I believe God has presented them to us as He has chosen, and we have no right to reject a reading that doesn't agree with one's "pet version".

To me, it's quite significant that the same Almighty God who chose to preserve many structures from ancient Egypt, and many Sumerian writings far older than the Scriptures, chose NOT to preserve the original writings of His words for mankind. I believe He did that to head off the exact thing the KJVOs are now doing-trying to limit Him to just their fave version.

I believe that history and the Scriptures themselves, for the reasons shown above, as well as other reasons, have proven Onlyism to be completely false. The Onlyist simply CANNOT point to any BV or any mss, & truthfully say, "This is IT!"