I've finally got around to do what I've been meaning to do for ages - register to vote on the Internet Movie Database . I've got a fair bit of catching up to do, though - there are hundreds of films to vote for!
The statistics they have for the breakdown of votes is fascinating. For example, "The Return of the King" has obtained an average of 9.0 votes, but for females under 18 the average goes up to 9.6; "Gettin' Square", (which contains some virtuoso acting by David Wenham) averages 2.6 among US users and 6.8 among non-US users...
I read Don Carson's "The King James Version Debate: A Plea for Realism" over the last couple of days. It's an older book, published in 1979 - just after the NIV came out, but before the NKJV. You don't see that many KJVs around these days - you kinda have to move in the right circles. But there are still one or two specimens of what Douglas Wilson calls 'Glassy-Eyed Defenders of the KJV' - even if they're a dying breed.
The thing is, I've always preferred the textual tradition behind the KJV, (for folks in the know, called the Byzantine Text), which is why I've generally read the NKJV over the past ten years. But you know what? I think I'm in the process of changing my mind The book was pretty convincing - I'm not going to go into the topic here, but email me if you want to know more.
I don't usually change my opinion over-night, and I guess I've had doubts forming about my previous position for some time. I started wondering a couple months ago whether Mark 16:9-20 ought to be jettisoned from the canon.
Anyway, I think changing your opinion is often a good sign. I remember Peter Adam talking about this at the Tasmanian Club 5 conference last year - he had asked some 3rd and 4th year Theology students when the last time was that they shifted their position on a theological issue, and they said they hadn't done so since first year! That's really sad I think, and I had resolved to try to keep an open mind throughout the duration of my time at College.
One more thing: Carson points out that the KJV is badly translated anyway, quite apart from textual issues. Consider Romans 8:26 - the KJV refers to the Holy Spirit as an 'it' rather than a 'he'! How bad is that? And yet you don't generally hear people go on about the heresy and irreverence in the KJV. The afore-mentioned Glassy-Eyed Defenders keep real quiet about that...
Of course, in Greek 'spirit' is in the neuter gender - the KJV translators obviously went overboard on translating literally. An excellent example of the important distinction between being literal and being accurate!!
| ← Previous day | (Calendar) | Next day → |