KJV Onlyism - Why?

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Why is this a belief/commonly held practice among Protestants?
 
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They believe that the KJV is based on better and more ancient manuscripts that are no longer available. Some also believe that modern Bibles have been deliberately mistranslated to obscure doctrine.
 
It may be seen as a continuing sign of protest against the Catholic Church. In much the same way, Douay Rheims only-ism may be seen as a rebuttal to that. I suppose that some in both groups genuinely believe that their translation was divinely inspired.
 
Thom18 said:
It may be seen as a continuing sign of protest against the Catholic Church. In much the same way, Douay Rheims only-ism may be seen as a rebuttal to that. I suppose that some in both groups genuinely believe that their translation was divinely inspired.
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KJV-onlyism and DRV-onlyism have one common denominator: the adherents believe that the translations are based on better manuscripts. The DRV-onlyists claim that the Vulgate was based on older manuscripts available to St. Jerome. They also claim that the Septuagint is more accurate because the Jews deliberately altered their scriptures to undermine prophesies referring to Christ e.g. the word “Virgin” in Isaiah is now “young woman” or something like that. I think both positions are wrong and trust modern scholarship.
 
Brittany said:
The church I attend is KJV-Only.
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Why do you attend a Church that’s KJV-Only? I mean no disrespect, but you seem intelligent in your other posts and I’d never have perceived you to be a KJV onlyist. I have no issues with the KJV - in fact, I think it’s a beautiful and very important translation. But I don’t think the KJV only position is justifiable.
 
Brittany is a teenager. She wants to become Catholic, but, as witnessed on other threads, it’s problematic with her family.
 
Maximilian75 said:
Brittany is a teenager. She wants to become Catholic, but, as witnessed on other threads, it’s problematic with her family.
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Ok that makes sense. I didn’t think she’d believe in the KJV only theory. I think its good that she listens to her parents. Obedience is an important virtue for teenagers.
 
Maximilian75 said:
commonly held practice among Protestants?
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It’s not.

Never even heard of it until Steven Anderson was banned to enter my country.

Not all Protestants are English so the mere question as to why it is a common practice does not make sense? Some do it. And I am willing to bet a very small fraction.
 
Oh yea since that time I did all my research regarding it. It doesn’t make sense at all.

This seems to be purely an American thing and the rest if the world’s Protestants have no clue about it.
 
Brittany said:
“if you have a bunch of different people recite the same verse from a bunch of different translations at the same time, it doesn’t make sense, but that can’t be right, since God is not the author of confusion. Therefore, we must stick to one single Bible translation; this translation is the KJV!”
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Seriously?

I guess whoever made that “argument” didn’t carry the thought all the way through - couldn’t a group of people all recite out loud from, say, an NIV?

😵
 
Brittany said:
The church I attend is KJV-Only.

I think the main reason this belief is held is because they want to believe they have a perfectly impeccable Bible that can guide them in everything. I think it comes from the desire to have an authority to lean on. Remember, most Protestant churches see Scripture as the sole authority. So, I think the reasoning is something like this:
  1. The church must have an authority.
  2. This authority must be infallible.
So, instead of having a magisterium (you know, because that would be too Catholic)…
  1. This authority is the Bible.
  2. Since the church’s authority must be infallible, the Bible must be infallible/impeccable.
  3. Since there are different versions, there must be one correct version.
  4. The KJV is falsely thought to be the first English Bible, so it’s commonly thought to be the most accurate (or, in some cases, 100% accurate with no errors).
I’ve also heard that any Bible translations coming from the Alexandrian line of manuscripts are corrupt, since Alexandria is in Egypt, and bad things happened in Egypt. Therefore, anything from Egypt is cursed.

Instead of a sermon one week, my pastor had us go to a back room and watch an hour-long documentary on why the KJV is the only acceptable translation. I zoned out pretty fast, but aside from the Egypt thing, I also heard that the KJV was superior because “if you have a bunch of different people recite the same verse from a bunch of different translations at the same time, it doesn’t make sense, but that can’t be right, since God is not the author of confusion. Therefore, we must stick to one single Bible translation; this translation is the KJV!”
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It was probably one of Sam Gipp’s videos…
 
Spyridon said:
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deMontfort:
Sam Gipp’s
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You know a guy named Sam Gipp espousing KJV onlyism can be trusted… Definitely seems legit.
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LOL…He’s a disciple of the late Peter Ruckman…
 
I reiterate what was stated earlier that this seems to be an Northern American ‘thing’ (and I’m pretty sure the translation is slightly different from that used in the UK). I love the poetry of the KJV and the DRV but there are modern translations which still manage to retain the beauty of language and make it accessible. The fact is the KJV went through different revisions just as the DRV did. Those revisions were also responding to the stylistic preferences of the times and further research.
 
A pointer for you- make sure there’s a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), St. Paul’s Outreach, or good Neumann Center at your college.
 
You can usually google ‘xyz university Catholic students group’ or any of the groups I mentioned and find something.
 
Better than nothing. And, there are most likely Catholic students there which you can hopefully find 😃
 
Maximilian75 said:
Why is this a belief/commonly held practice among Protestants?
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Its the language that the KJV is written in, its a lot different than standard English and its set apart for what the adherents see as a holy purpose, the worship of Almighty God. By keeping the language of KJV, and the otherwise obsolete words like verily and cometh, it also provides religious stability as the meanings aren’t changing.

You’ll see that as pretty common in a lot of religious faiths. They tell me that the Arabic of the Koran differs a lot from what you’d hear on the streets of Cairo, example given.
 
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