Exhibit A - Baptist Pastor Comparing the NIV against the King James Bibl

I almost apologize for posting this to my blog ... if you can handle nine minutes and 52 seconds!! But this is a teaching illustration.

Ok. If you made it through that painful video you may have the gift of patience!! Some one pointed me to this video and I watched it and found myself with raised blood pressure by the end. Let me suggest to my readers that our pastor is exhibit A of why we need to read a book or books that help us understand and interpret the Bible.

First, the whole KJV only thing is based on pure ignorance. This is painfully evident in this video and I honestly feel sorry for the poor folks who had to endure such tripe.

Second, the pastor goes on and on about the "word" and how we need to value the "word" and how the Gospel of John stresses the "word" by beginning with "Word" and has Jesus testifying to the "word." Well I am on record as loving the "word." We agree on the importance of the word. His attack on the NIV or NASB however is totally unfounded. Since he is a KJV only guy I limited myself to the The Greek Text of Stephens published in 1550 which is the base text for the King James and the Textus Receptus. It is quite true that the NIV does not read "when Jesus had spoken these words" but rather "when Jesus had finished praying." I was "shocked" after all that rhetoric to find that the KJV did just as much paraphrasing in John 18.1 as the NIV. The word "word" does not occur in John 18.1. Rather the text reads tauta eipon ho Iesosous ekelthen sun tois mathetais auton ... which quite literally says "having said these THINGS Jesus went out with his disciples."

Third, how big is the Kidron Brook in John 18.1? The pastor suggests that Jesus and his disciples took a BOAT across it! There has to be water because it is a brook. I almost chocked on my Dr. Pepper when I heard this. You might be able to put a canoe on the Jordan but unless it is a battery operated boat for the tub there will be no boats on the Kidron Brook. The Kidron is a seasonal wadi. A wadi is a word used for many "rivers" in Palestine that flow only a few months of the year during the rainy season (winter). For those of us in the desert we might call it a "wash." When the rain comes there is water ... no rain no water.

If we claim to respect the word of God ... which does not equate to the King James only ... we will take seriously its context. If we don't take that seriously we can spend nearly 10 minutes talkinga about how a version is wrong when the one your looking at is "wrong" too. But neither the KJV nor the NIV is wrong. Jesus did finish saying these "things" that is the words in chapter 17. And the NIV is quite right too. Jesus did finish his prayer. And Jesus did cross the Kidron Valley but did not use a boat. He used a boat on the Sea of Galilee.

If we respect the word of God we will respect its historical context. We will learn (be disciples) as much as we can about that context, setting and the like. And finally if we respect the word of God we will know that Jesus did not speak Jacobean English!

Again sorry for the video but it illustrates the point so well ...

Shalom,

Bobby Valentine

P.S. for the record I did not come up with the title "Baptist Pastor ..." that is how this gentleman has himself put it on YouTube. Just so you know I am not picking on him here ...