Setting KPI For God

For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans - that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. (Habakkuk 1:6 BSB)

Men love to set KPI. They even set KPI for God on how a perfect God should be like. Did God accept the KPI?

Crime and Punishment
When Israel sinned, God ought to use a more righteous nation to punish Israel or punish Israel Himself. But God raised the cruel Babylonians to punish Israel (Habakkuk 1:6). And then God later punished the Babylonians for punishing Israel (Jeremiah 25:12).

Word Transmission
Until heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass away from the law (Matthew 5:18) but in the course of transmission of text of the Bible, there are some minor changes in the jot and tittle. It is less than 0.01%, but still, it is one missing jot or one additional tittle. But the KJV-only believers cannot believe that the almighty God could not preserve a perfect original text for us. God would fail our KPI for Him if He cannot do that. In fact, He did more than that. He even divinely inspired the KJV translation. God passed our KPI for Him with flying colours. Did God really care about our KPI for Him?

Word Accuracy
It is appointed for man to die once (Hebrews 9:27) but Lazarus died twice (John 11:43). Did the Bible contradict itself? Is the mustard seed the smallest of all seeds (Matthew 13:32, Mark 4:31)? If Jesus was to be in the grave three days and nights (Matthew 12:40), how do we fit those between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Did Bible meant it to be 72 hours exactly because God is very precise? Three days and nights must be 72 hours because God is perfect to the jot and tittle. Are we celebrating Good Friday and Easter Sunday wrongly? Or are we interpreting the Bible more strictly than God Himself?

Christian Witness
The Bible recorded that God use holy men like the apostles to spread the gospel. But in our days, God chose to use the colonialist, the slave traders and drug traffickers to spread the gospel. Africans were enslaved, taken from their home and sold to Christian lands to be given the opportunity to hear the gospel. Opium traders humiliate China to bring the gospel to their land. Shouldn't a perfect and holy God do better than that? Maybe He should roll out the red carpet to welcome the Africans and Chinese into the Kingdom of God and today, there will be no Black Life Matter movement and there will be no Chinese Communist party harping on the century of humiliation by Western imperial powers. Looks like we have better ideas than God.

World Creation
Then the ultimate KPI, the favourite of unbelievers and atheists, why can't the perfectly good, almighty and all-knowing God create a world without sin? Then Jesus would not need to come to the world to die for sin. Atheists use God's failure in this KPI to prove His non-existence. If God exists, why are there evil and sufferings in the world? Why can't the One who knows the end from the beginning think ahead?

What are you going to do with a God that fail your KPI?

From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. (John 6:66 BSB)

So Jesus asked the Twelve, "Do you want to leave too?" Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6:67-69 BSB)

Why Did King James Support A New Translation of the Bible

Why did King James I of England decide to embark on a new translation of the Bible? Below are two articles about the motives for the king.

The following was paraphrased from "The Reformed Reader introduction to the Geneva Bible for the historic Baptist faith".
BEGIN
The sole intent of King James support for a new translation of the Bible was to deny the people the marginal notes of the Geneva Bible. The Puritans, the Calvinists, and the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock, would never use a King James Bible even if it had been given to them free. The King James Bible was, and is for all practical purposes, a government publication. The Geneva Bible annoyed King James I because it does not support the "divine right of kings". Since a king's power came from God, the king then had to answer to no one but God. The Geneva Bible had marginal notes that simply didn't conform to that point of view. Those marginal notes had been, to a great extent placed in the Geneva Bible by the leaders of the Reformation including John Knox and John Calvin. Knox and Calvin could not and cannot be dismissed lightly or their opinions passed off to the public as the mere dithering of dissidents. First, notes such as, "When tyrants cannot prevail by craft, they burst forth into open rage," (Note i, Exodus 1:22) really bothered King James. King James disapproved of the Geneva Bible because of its Calvinistic leanings. He also frowned on what he considered to be seditious marginal notes on key political texts. A marginal note for Exodus 1:9 indicated that the Hebrew midwives were correct in disobeying the Egyptian king's orders, and a note for 2 Chronicles 15:16 said that King Asa should have had his mother executed and not merely deposed for the crime of worshipping an idol. The King James Version of the Bible grew out of the king's distaste for these brief but potent doctrinal commentaries. He considered the marginal notes to be a political threat to his kingdom. In 1604, shortly after his own accession to the throne, King James I commissioned his own version of the Bible, that would later come to be known as "The Bishop's Bible" or, more commonly, the Authorized Version. James' motive for promulgating his own version was simple: he did not want the people to have in hand a Bible with all the marginal notes that the Geneva Bible had. This version was first published in 1611. A later king (Charles I) would take the first steps toward suppression of the Geneva Bible toward the end of his reign. In 1644, the Geneva Bible went out of print and would remain out of print for more than four hundred fifty years.
END

The following was quoted from "A Puritan's Mind » The Proposal of John Reynolds - by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon".
QUOTE
Three reasons prompted King James I to make a new translation.  One reason was the "back to the Bible" movement trying to recapture the true meaning of scripture as a result of the Reformation, and the King desired to ride that soap box as a way to "identify with the people" as best he could.  The second reason was the scholarship which was beginning to become prominent during the Renaissance. Being a King during the reign of scholarship was always something that has been noted in history. It was another way King James would be "remembered." Thirdly, the King detested the current bible.  The most beloved bible was the Geneva Bible.  It was the favorite of Puritans and almost every home had one. But the Geneva Bible had something the other bibles had not previously had - extensive notes reflecting reformation thought. This was dangerous to the King because of his immoral lifestyle. (He was a very corrupt king, and a sodomite as well.) The Geneva Bible extensively spoke against corrupt kings. King James did not favor this at all. So he desired a new translation without notes.
What ancient texts did they work with? They had the Complutensian Polygot of 1517, published at Complutum, now in Alcala de Hanares, Spain, and they had the Antwerp Polygot, 1569-1572. These gave the Hebrew and Greek texts with versions in other tongues added. Of course they had the Latin Vulgate, though that was suspect because it was popish and uninspired. With some fragments of early church scrolls, they had countless comments by the early church fathers and ancient scholars. Often they referred to Saint Chrysostom, (347-407 A.D.), whose works Sir Henry Saville had begun to edit, with the help from Andrew Downes and John Bois. Another reference authority was the Geneva scholar, Theodore Beza, (1519-1605 A.D.).
The outcome was not a bible literally translated from the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, but a redaction of the Geneva bible (20%) and the Bishop's Bible (80%) but all without notes.  Some of the more difficult passages were translated from the original, but most of the Bible was cutting and pasting from the other sources. 
After the final draft was completed by the fifty-four scholars, a concluding committee of twelve reviewed what the lower committees had prepared, and then Bishop Thomas Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith added the finishing touches. By 1609 the whole revision was ready for the public. Though the King contributed no money to its production, and though no record of an official authorization of the finished product survives, if such were ever given, the Bible became to be known as the King James Version.     Miles Smith, Canon of Hereford, later to be known as the Bishop of Gloucestor, and Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester, saw it through the press, and Miles Smith composed the informative preface, "The Translators to the Readers."     The title of this new translation was: "The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament and the New: Newly Translated out of the Original tongues, with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by his Majesties speciall commandment. Appointed to be read in the Churches. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie. Anno Dom. 1611."   The New Testament Bore a different title: "The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Newly translated out of the Originall Greeke; and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised, by His majesties speciall Commandment. Imprinted at London by Robert Baker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie. Anno Dom. 1611. cum Privilegio."    
Though the King James Bible was never "authorized" by King James, it was called the authorized King James Version nevertheless.     "Many stood up against the King James Version. Dr. Hugh Boughton, a distinguished scholar recognized by John Lightfoot, said "The late Bible...was sent to me to censure: which bred in me a sadness that will grieve me while I breathe, it is ill done. Tell His Majesty that I had rather be rent in pieces with wild horses, than any such translation by my consent should be urged upon poor churches...The new edition crosseth me. I require it to be burnt."  Even John Lightfoot, in 1629, objected to the Apocrypha being placed in the canon.     The King James Version went through fifteen printings in the first three years. It seems many disagreed with its translation and the committees were forced to revise it over and over again.     The first major revision being some months after the 1609 version and the authorized version (1611) came two years after.
The King James Version underwent a flutter of minor revisions until a final revision was brought about by Dr. Benjamin Blaney in 1769.  This revision was not authorized. Not until 1881 was an official revision done.
UNQUOTE

Comma Johanneum

1 John 5:7-8
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (KJV)
For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (ESV)
For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (NASB)
For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood - and these three are in agreement. (HCSB)

The Comma Johanneum, also known as the Comma Johannine, is a textual variant in 1 John 5:7-8. The word comma simply means "short clause," and Johanneum means "pertaining to John."

This is the short clause: "three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost".

This only occurrence where God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is counted like discrete objects and assigned numerical properties of the natural number 3.

The Bible has always been very careful to present God as one, and that He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. While God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is often seen simultaneously, interacting with one another, God is one.

In the Bible, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is always named distinctively, but never grouped or numbered, for example, like, "2 of the 3 persons of the Godhead" or "All the 3 persons of the Godhead".

Because of that, we can be sure that the Comma Johanneum is not part of the Bible, but inserted by theologians, who wanted to present God as 3-in-1, like some kind of coffee mix.

In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me." (John 8:17-18 ESV)

Quick And Alive

I always believe that the Bible should be translated into a language we use daily. But there are always those who believe in King James Version.

Let us look at this verse in KJV:
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 KJV)

For those who do not know, the word "quick" in the passage in the times of King James means "alive".

Let say a user of KJV Bible whose knowledge of Jacobean English is not good enough, when doing Bible study would have use the modern meaning of "quick", which is "fast". Then he would think that the speed of the Bible is very fast. Then he may link up with another word regarding speed, such as Isaiah 64:24, and come up with some wrong interpretation.

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24 KJV)

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NASB)

Dynamic Equivalence In KJV

God forbid! There is dynamic equivalence in KJV!

Easter for Passover
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. (Acts 12:4 KJV)

Diana for Artemis
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. (Acts 19:28 KJV)

God forbid
By the way, "God forbid" is not found in the original languages of the Bible. Is it found in KJV? May it never be!

KJV's Gift to English

According to the National Geographic Magazine, the KJV translation introduced 18 classic phrases and made famous more than 240 more from earlier translations. Here are some of the phrases listed in the magazine in order of popularity:
From time to time (Ezekiel 4:10)
Stand in awe (Psalm 4:4)
The root of the matter (Job 19:28)
Suffer little children (Luke 18:16)
Get thee behind me (Luke 4:8)
A thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7)
As a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7)
How are the mighty fallen (2 Samuel 1:19)
A still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)
Unto the pure all things are pure (Titus 1:15)
Know for a certainty (Joshua 23:13)
A man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14)
East of Eden (Genesis 4:16)
No small stir (Acts 12:18)
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20)
Beat their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4)
Fell flat on his face (Numbers 22:31)
Much study is a weariness of the flesh (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
Set thine house in order (Isaiah 38:1)
Pour out your heart (Psalms 62:8)
To everything there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Be horribly afraid (Jeremiah 2:12)

Others include:
Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12)
What comes out of the mouths of babes (Psalms 8:2)
A house divided
A law unto themselves
A stumbling block
A thief in the night
All these things must come to pass (Matthew 24:6)
All things to all men
And the word was made flesh
Apple of his eye
At their wit's end (Psalm 107:27)
Be fruitful and multiply
Born again
Bottomless pit
By their fruits ye shall know them
Charity shall cover the multitude of sins
City set on a hill
Crumbs which fall from ... table
Death, where is thy sting
Den of thieves
Dreamer of dreams
Eat, drink and be merry (Luke 12:19)
Eat the fat of the land (Genesis 45:18)
Eye for an eye
Fallen from grace
Fatted calf
Fell by the way side
Fell on stony ground
Fight the good fight
From strength to strength
Give up the ghost
God forbid
Heart’s desire (Psalms 21:2)
Holier than thou (Isaiah 65:5)
Honour thy father and mother
In the twinkling of an eye
Land of Nod
Left hand know what thy right hand doeth
Let my people go
Let there be light
Love thy neighbour as thyself
Milk and honey
Money is the root of all evil
My brother's keeper
New wine into old bottles
No room for them in the inn
Out of the mouths of babes (Matthew 21:16)
Physician, heal thyself
Propitiation
Put words in his mouth (Exodus 4:15)
Put the words in her mouth (2 Samuel 14:3)
Reap the whirlwind
Scapegoat
See eye to eye (Isaiah 52:8)
Seek and ye shall find
Set thine house in order
Sheep's clothing
Suffer fools gladly
Take root
The blind lead the blind
The last shall be first
The leopard [change] his spots (Jeremiah 13:23)
The lost sheep
The powers that be
The quick and the dead
The signs of the times (Matthew 16:3)
The skin of my teeth (Job 19:20)
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41)
They know not what they do
Thou shalt not bear false witness
To give than to receive
To the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:10)
Turn to him the other [cheek]
Turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6)
Two are better than one
Two-edged sword (Proverbs 5:4)
Vengeance is mine
Wandering stars
White as snow
Woe is me

Queen marks 400th anniversary of KJV

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5 KJV)

The Queen marks 400th anniversary of KJV on 16th November 2011. The following is taken from BBC:

QUOTE
A new translation of the Bible had been proposed in 1601 at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at Burntisland in Fife.

King James VI of Scotland, who went on to also become James I of England, attended the Assembly and three years later he commissioned what became known as the King James Bible at the Hampton Court Conference.

It was the work of 54 scholars working in six translation committees - or companies - based in Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster.

The Abbey event highlighted the book's impact on English language and culture throughout the world.

Expressions from the King James Bible such as "the powers that be", "the apple of his eye", "signs of the times" and a "law unto themselves" are still part of the English Language."

A trustee of the King James Bible Trust, Professor Pauline Croft, said: "People are always surprised how much of the language they use without thinking."

It's just the genius of the language, they were contemporaries of Shakespeare, they could have walked over to the Globe and asked him what he thought."

Speaking before the service, the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said the Bible's impact was not immediately recognised: "It took some time to establish itself. It wasn't really till the reign of Charles the First that it became universally used. "

But for the 350 years, certainly till about 50 years ago, it was the only translation of the Bible that everyone who spoke English knew. And it's been the biggest-selling book in history."
UNQUOTE

When KJV Becomes an Idol

He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4 NASB)

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8 NASB)

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. (John 3:14-15 NASB)

The bronze serpent was made by Moses at the command of God. but when it became an idol, King Hezekiah broke it to pieces.

When a translation becomes an idol, it is declared to be perfect. Then it becomes God. Then it has to be destroyed.

The Son of Man is the real Word, not the KJV.

Who Killed Goliath in your Bible?

I came across this question in a website today. We all know, but let us look at 2 Samuel 21:19 and its parallel verse 1 Chronicles 20:5.

We shall see 2 Samuel 21:19 in various versions:
(KJV) And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
(CUV) 又在歌伯与非利士人打仗，伯利恒人雅雷俄珥金的儿子伊勒哈难杀了迦特人歌利亚。这人的枪杆粗如织布的机轴。
(ESV) And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

We shall see 1 Chronicles 20:
(KJV) And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.
(CUV) 又与非利士人打仗。睚珥的儿子伊勒哈难杀了迦特人歌利亚的兄弟拉哈米；这人的枪杆粗如织布的机轴。
(ESV) And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

The website seized this text as an example of error in modern translations and declared that "Translators love money more than God, so they copy each other's errors to protect their jobs and keep new versions coming every year. This verse was correctly translated 400 years ago in the King James Version, but translators would have to get a real job, if they endorsed the KJV."

If you look at 2 Samuel 21:19 in any KJV Bible in print, you will see that "the brother of" is in italics. That means it is not found in the original text, but supplied by the translators. But the King James worshippers, who love King James more than King Jesus, choose to endorse the action of the KJV translators, ignoring the warning of the Word of God not to add to or subtract from it (Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:6, Revelation 22:18-19).

As for the harmonising of the two verses, there are many explanations offered and you can easily google for them.