Stupid comments on COG related sites never fail to amaze me. It's no wonder Armstrongism is looked upon with such derision by the world!
The King James version of the Bible is currently celebrating it's 400th Birthday. There are all kinds of official celebrations going on around the world. However, not so in Charlotte South Carolina where God currently dwells. In true hypocritical COG fashion, Bob Thiel points out that it is a sin to celebrate birthdays as the one and only true Church, the Living Church of God believes.
The King James Version, translation of the textus receptus into English happened four hundred years ago. Here is some of what Fox reported:
Happy 400th Birthday to the King James Bible– The Most Influential Book in the English LanguageFOX News – May 2, 2011The poetic power of the King James Bible is part of our heritage. Around the world people have been comforted by the words, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” They have been challenged by, “Be strong and of good courage.” They have celebrated with the proclamation, “Fear not . . . For unto you is born in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
The early 16th century was a tumultuous time in Britain.
Fifty-four scholars labored nearly seven years. In spite of its title page saying that the KJV was “newly translated,” the committees were instructed to follow the Bishops’ Bible when possible. Because the Bishops’ Bible depended on the work of Tyndale, more than 80% of the KJV is Tyndale’s wording. The KJV was published in 1611 and within 50 years it was the dominant English translation of the Bible—a position it held for 300 years. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/02/happy-400th-birthday-king-james-bible-influential-book-english-language/
Of course, early Christians never celebrated their own birthdays, but I kept the headline because the KJV Bible probably was the most influential book in the English language.
This one is a pretty good whitewash of King James, but still interesting.
6 comments:
Ah, the church of God which has a name that it is Living, but is dead.
Just think though, if it weren't for the King James Bible, that great liar and false prophet, Roderick Meredith wouldn't even be on the radar.
Happy birthday indeed.
I think not: It gave us Armstrongism. Indirectly. Collateral Damage, you know. Or maybe it was the beginning of freedom from the domination of the Roman Catholic in the Western World. Mixed bag, that.
This stupid doctrine about birthdays was borrowed almost word for word from the JWs. When I worked in Letter Answering, a listener sent in a copy of The Watchtower which had their article on birthdays in it. It was almost word for word the article we were distributing. Our article was a clear plagiarism.
This was the first doctrine I saw through, but at the time, I considered it rather inconsequential. Next, was divorce and remarriage. By that time, I was getting pretty disillusioned and the questions kept building up.
WOW! If ever there were opposing views, these two videos are an example.
Neither video indicated that King James had certain restrictions and or requirements (15 total) for those fabulous(?) translators. If Tydale did the bulk (80 to 85%) of their work, why did it take seven years? (Just wondering) One of the requirements by KJ was that the word ‘church’ would be used rather that the other translations use of ‘congregation’ or ‘assembly’. That is the reason we have the term “church” as in ‘Church of God’. Tyndale’s translation did not contain the word ‘church’. Tyndale used the English translation ‘assembly’ for the Greek word ‘ecclesia’. The Greek word has nothing to do with a formal organizational / governmental religious body. KJ, being King of England was also the head of the “Church of England”. Could it be that he wanted the common folk to recognize him as an instrument of God in order to have even more control? (That sounds somewhat familiar.) However, contrary to the second video, King James was not a religious man. (Maybe an in depth study of his lifestyle might be interesting)
An interesting side note:
The word kirk as in Captain Kirk from Star Trek is the Scottish word for church which is a derivation of the word ‘kirke’ or ‘circe’ which has as it’s root meaning, ‘circle’. Therefore, there is no correlation between the Greek ‘ecclesia’ and the English ‘church’. Ecclesia simply means ‘assembly’. If it meant ‘church’ then why didn’t the translators use that word in Acts 19: 24-41 when Demetrius “called together“ the silversmiths when he realized that their trade of making silver shrines of Diana was in jeopardy? (See vs 32, 39 & 41)
(Once again, just wondering)
As I see it, the translation doesn't matter. The whole book, old and "new" parts, is a gigantic fabrication. That has been abundantly proven by scholars and historians over the centuries.
That's why I no longer spend time on the Bible, except to occasionally look something up and be sure I cite it accurately in a blog or comment. By habit, and because I don't have the fincancial wherewithal or the interest to load my library with a multitude of translations.
Yes, Herb, wherever you might possibly be besides that graveyard, my Bible gets very dusty these days. I often wish I had burned mine early on. The world would have been far better off if it and the multitude of other "holy" books had never seen the light of day. Human ethics beats out religious ones any day or hour.
Allen, I agree with what you wrote. My point in my previous post was to share a couple of the many, many things I have learned during the past 6 years after being one of the best "sheeple" there was for nearly 35 years. Problem is, those that are still in their "box" will not even peek out of the box to gain better understanding of the "gigantic fabrication" foisted unpon them.
Glad you made it out, Homer. I wasn't trying to agrue with you, just stating where it stood.
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