How I Respond to King James Only Christians

This is just one question from a long interview I did for the moderators of the r/Bible subreddit. They asked their subreddit to send me a bunch of questions and I spent a lot of time preparing so that I would be able to offer the best answers I could. I'll be posting these answers as individual videos so keep an eye out for the rest in the set.

I'm Mike Winger and my goal is to help you learn to think biblically about everything!

I go live every Monday and Friday at 1pm. Monday is usually a vs by vs teaching and Friday is a live Q&A where I take questions from the live chat on YT.

[MakingChristKnownMedia]

I use King James a lot, but I reference other versions. It bothers me that Christians focus so much on minor things and let them divide us.

[JontheBerean]

Some of my closest brothers are KJV only. I was for a while too.

One dear brother in Christ, who died a few years ago, used to hate the New King James 😅. We used to argue over all sorts of biblical ideas, but we loved each other dearly.
He helped me in many ways and I miss him so much. But I know we will be together again one day
♥️✝️🙏

[Bane_questionmark]

Part of the reason I use KJV is actually because it's "harder" to read. I have ADHD and though I've always loved to read I tend to accidentally skim and otherwise lose focus on the actual words on the page and what they're saying. At least when reading less familiar passages, the fact that the language takes effort to read properly and understand (I also read out loud so I don't skip over words) makes me take my time and absorb the meaning of what is written. This plus it's a study bible (so I pause after most verses to read the notes) helps a lot.

[philipwatters]

I am not a king James only person, but I do prefer it and I do believe it is a good English translation.

[nicholasdibari]

I only use the KJV but I am not a KJV onlyist…there’s a huge difference!

[introvertedchristian]

I had never even heard of KJV Onlyism until one day I was buying tires, and I ran into a guy who started telling me the KJV was the only legitimate translation. At the time, I thought he was just a guy with a really peculiar point of view. I had no idea it was a whole movement or that there were whole churches that were that way until years later.

[middlegroundlogic]

I like the KJV because it's an uncommon word usage to us that makes it easier to memorize for me. I have about 300 verses or more memorized in KJV but when I read ESV or NLT it tends to just wash over because it's so commonly worded

[NewCreationInChrist]

1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”

[ohifonlyx]

It's one thing to pick a translation for your preaching to keep people on the same page. It's another to condemn someone to hell because they arrived at the same Gospel you did by reading John 3:16 in NIV instead of KJV. But the first thing I learned when I took a year of Greek was "no such thing as a perfect translation exists"

[Studioofficial]

I am KJV only and I have no issue fellowshipping with others who are not, but I am always skeptical and have to double check everything someone says from the modern (inaccurate) translations.

[raptureready]

I am good with any translation as long as it is not a paraphrase like The Message. It has so many distortions as paraphrases can easily become someone's ideology.

[biffbiff]

I like the KJV because it is simply the most beautiful, consistently pleasing translation.

[gerrardthemagnificent]

Studying Greek has shown me that even though the KJV is in no way perfect (imperfect manuscripts and issues due to changes in the English language since 1611), it is very honest in its translation. The Greek word order is very strange, but the KJV translators did their best to preserve the word order, which is why there are some Yoda-sounding sentences in the KJV. It is more literal than even the older NASB issues and I must say that even though the KJV is not perfect, the translators working on it were very commendable in their incredibly literal approach.

[johnharris]

Its KJV for me. Probably because I'm 69 and I'm used to it, and I luv the beautiful language of it.

[markjay]

God bless you, Sir Mike. Your impact had reached the Philippines 🇵🇭.

[hartfartpoptart]

I knew a missionary from Mexico that went on deputation in the States to raise money for his mission, and a KJV-onlyer came up to him and said "I will give you a massive donation for your mission, but ONLY if you use the KJV." My friend then replied "Well, the Mexican people don't speak English, they speak Spanish, so... that's not really an option."

[lani]

Started with king James and didn’t need to change personally 🤷🏾‍♂️ not a major issue either way

[christopherc]

My favorite quote I heard recently was "I recommend any Bible that they will actually read!". Great wisdom from that statement.

[Shardalon]

Man. I was begging the guy to stop asking the question and let Mike answer. That was a minute and a half question that needed maybe a third of that to adequately ask.

[jonathansoko]

As an ex taunch KJV only so called hebrew isrealite i am ashamed of the things i used to say to people.