Thursday, October 27, 2016

Why King James

The King James Version of the Bible has plenty of flaws.  I recently had someone criticize the D&C because it was written in King James English.  Its true enough that God's language wasn't originally Old English, but that was the common in Joseph Smith's day.

It is sometimes held to be a flaw that our scriptures are in King James English, and often seen as weird that we pray in old English.

God, at times, has spoken to me in frank, modern English, but other times, in a mix of that and, you guessed it, King James English, oftentimes subtly misquoting scriptures.  He turns them and reconstructs them to give them the meaning I need at the time. 

In fact, we have a King James Version of the Book of Mormon.  There aren't other translations, of course, but if there were, they might very well be more linguistically accurate to the plates, but here's the clutch: it is more valuable to God that the scriptures harmonize than to be accurate in a literal way.

There are certain key phrases with developed meanings in Mormonism found in our Old English scriptures, things about priesthood and eternity and progression, which are utterly lost in other translations, even though such translations may be more technically accurate.  The temple ceremony as well, matches this structure.  Using another translation risks missing those precious harmonies. 
Studying from another translation may prove profitable to historical and technical details, and often supports LDS theology better than the KJV, but God has given the KJV special purpose in our day.  There is a special power in the language because of this.  A special power in our scriptures.  I testify.

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