LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

How many comparisons could we make between how things were in 1611 vs. how they are today- 2006? In 1611, there were no cars, no planes, and no computers. Only the privileged could read. Copernicus had passed on startling information about our universe to Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton was yet to be born. We were just beginning to come into some deep understandings about how the universe worked. And before much of what we knew today had been discovered, King James was telling 54 men that they needed to get a Bible put together that printing presses could make thousands of copies.

Desiderius Erasmus had earlier thrown together the textus recptus that King James would use as his translation. While it was eloquent prose and poetry, it’s still a 1611 version of how people saw Jesus. And guess what, the world has changed greatly since then; however, there are many people that still want to stick with the old, outdated stuff of 1611.

Why?

We now know the earth is not flat, the sun can’t stop in the sky, it doesn’t evolve around the earth, and the earth is more than 6,000 years old, among a thousand other things. Carbon dating in 1949 told us the world was much older than we thought. Dendrochronology (can you say tree rings?) gave us more historical insights.

Additionally we’ve had archeological finds that have confirmed some things and denied others. The Dead Sea scrolls have given us insights to the time of Jesus that reveals much. The recovery of ancient manuscripts, both Biblical and not have shed new light on how ancient cultures lived. Language advances, redaction criticism, and source criticism have further allowed us to refine our thoughts.

As a result there have been a plethora of new translations.

We know far more about Jesus, the Bible, and the times in which He lived. Not everyone is happy about such advances. Tell someone that the King James Bible is full of errors and you’ll encounter a fight- or a quick flight. Tell people that King James screwed up royally (no pun intended) and you’re in trouble! Tell a person that the old man translated words such as sheol (a place of the dead- without torture), Hades (the Greek version of Sheol- without torture), and Ghenna (a physical dump outside Jerusalem) wrongly by interpreting them as HELL in some places and something entirely different in other places and you’ll be dismissed as a liberal.

Being a liberal is bad you know! Ask any conservative and they’ll tell you so.

If you can’t believe King James, who can you believe? Who indeed! Or should I ask, who are you believing? And are you believing in belief: do you have faith in faith? Or is your faith in Jesus. Lots of questions here, and one of them has to do with the year 1611 versus 2006.

Happy Thanksgiving- Be Safe- Shop Early!