The King James Version Controversy
Fairhaven Bible Chapel permits any believer or study group to use the version of the Bible which they prefer. We do not mandate and do not wish to mandate any version.
If any person wishes to advocate a different policy, that one is free to come to the elders and make his or her arguments to them. We do not want anyone introducing this controversy among the believers or in a church sponsored study. In most cases they are not qualified to pass judgment on a highly technical matter. In any case, the right procedure is to first go to the elders and abide by their decision.
The evangelical mainstream has carefully considered the relatively small but highly vocal and aggressive group who promote controversy about their idea that only the King James Version (preferably) or one based upon the Textus Receptus Greek manuscript which the KJV people used (New KJV). In the main their narrow view has been rejected, with respect for their right to believe as they wish. What cannot be respected is the harsh, accusative attacks on those who wish to use other versions. These include phrases like "corrupters of the Word of God", "conspirators to deny the deity of Christ", "faithless to God's Word", and worse.
No version is perfect, including the KJV, which many of us still use and love. Only the English language has the KJV. The majority of world translations do not even get into textual arguments and are even more imperfect. Nevertheless, the translators labored to do their best and God's Word triumphs, with or without the KJV. The simple issue is whether it is permissible to add very small emendations of the Textual Receptus (used by KJV translators in 1611) which were made available to later translators by discoveries of manuscripts even older than those upon which the KJV manuscript was based. This issue is one which at best can not be settled by one who is not a student of what is called textual criticism. In any event, and despite all that is said and written, these changes are exceedingly small in relationship to the entire N.T. We do not believe there is any conspiracy, or threat to the Christian faith or to our proper understanding of God's Word in any so-called modern language or other translations made since 1611. We think it is wrong to charge their efforts as corrupting the Word of God. We think it is wrong to introduce this controversy into our congregation. We do not want this and say so plainly.
We maintain materials in our library which criticize the KJV. We don't wish to suppress investigation. We have books which examine all versions with various advantages and disadvantages. We doubt that anyone in our congregation, including the elders or DITP faculty, are experts on textual criticism. We study the issue and make our best judgment based on what is available to us. Having said thus, we do not wish any faction or controversy on this issue, which has divided many churches, in our congregation.
The Fairhaven Elders
