“I wouldn't dare treat the Bible, God's holy, infallible, inspired Word this way!”
By David Otis Fuller, D.D.
When we handle God's Holy Word, we are fully
persuaded it is different from any other book ever written. It is a
supernatural Book, a Book that our Sovereign God has written through His
inspired servants of old. Thus we should have the utmost reverence and respect
for it. This is our Infallible Guide through a dark world. It is the Anchor of
our souls in a world of storm.
We have every reason to believe that Dr. Kenneth Taylor, the author of the Paraphrased Living Bible, is a true Christian, but we cannot possibly keep silent when such unwarranted liberties are taken with the Holy Word of God. Our earnest prayer would be that these and other changes might be made. Such language that is used in a number of paraphrased verses we have pointed out, shocks the Bible believers and Bible lovers over America and the world.
We will let you, reader, be the judge as you compare the KJV and TLB. We make this comparison because we have the strongest kind of proof to show clearly that the King James Version is nearest to the original manuscripts. Again we would gladly challenge anyone to produce better or more proof that there is another version that is nearer to the original autographs than the KJV.
* KJV (Lev. 3:13) "And the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood thereof upon the altar round about."
TLB "The priest shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar."
* KJV (Num. 25:11) "Phine-has...hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel."
TLB "Phinehas has turned away my anger for he was as angry as I." (Who could ever be as angry as God?)
* KJV (Num. 27:1) All the names of the daughters of Zelophehad are found here.
TLB These names are omitted, and all of verse 2, yet in (Num. 36:10) all the names are given, and also in (Josh. 17:3). Why the omission here?
* KJV (Judges 7:20b) "And they cried, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon."
TLB "All yelling for the Lord and for Gideon."
* KJV (Judges 19:2) "And his concubine played the whore against him."
TLB "But she became angry with him and ran away."
* KJV (1 Sam. 20:30) "Thou son of a perverse rebellious woman."
TLB "You son of a b___."
* KJV (2 Sam. 16:4b) And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, My Lord, O King."
TLB "Thank you, thank you, sir, Ziba replied."
* KJV (1 Kings 18:27) "Cry aloud: for He is a God: either He is talking or He is pursuing."
TLB "Perhaps he is talking to someone or else is out sitting on the toilet."
* KJV (2 Kings 21:6b) "He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger."
TLB "So the Lord was very angry, for Manasseh was an evil man in God's opinion." (God does not hold opinions!)
* KJV (2 Chron. 26:4) "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah die."
TLB "He followed in the footsteps of his father Amaziah and was in general a good king as far as the Lord's opinion of him was concerned." (Again we say, God does not hold opinions. Only men hold opinions.)
* KJV (Job 3:26) "I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet: yet trouble came."
TLB "I was not fat and lazy yet trouble struck me down." (The majesty and accuracy of the KJV is certainly missing here.)
* KJV (Psa. 34:20) "He keepeth all His bones: not one of them is broken."
TLB "God even protects him for accidents." (There are no accidents with God.)
* KJV (Ezek. 2:1) "And He said unto me, son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee."
TLB "And he said unto me, Stand up, son of dust and I will talk to you." (All through Ezekiel this phrase `son of dust' is used in place of `son of man'.)
* KJV (Zech. 2:8) "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye."
TLB "For he who harms you sticks his finger in Jehovah's eye."
* KJV (Zech. 13:6) "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
TLB "And if someone asks then, what are these scars on your chest and your back, you will say, I got into a brawl at the home of a friend." (The note at the bottom of this page of the Living Bible is as follows: "That this is not a passage referring to Christ is clear from the context. This is a false prophet who is lying about the reasons for his scars." We would like to know where Dr. Taylor got his authority for saying this.)
* KJV (Mark 9:29) "And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."
TLB "Jesus replied, Cases like this require prayer." (Where is the authority for changing this version this way?)
* KJV (Luke 5:8) "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
TLB "When Simon Peter realized what had happened he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, O sir, please leave us. I'm too much of a sinner for you to have around."
* KJV (Luke 23:42) "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."
TLB "Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Where does Dr. Taylor get the authority for leaving out `Lord'?)
* KJV (John 1:17) "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
TLB "For Moses gave us only the law with its rigid demands and merciless justice while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well." (All through the Old Testament you will find the love and mercy and grace of God demonstrated.)
* KJV (John 2:4) "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come."
TLB "I can't help you now, He said, It isn't yet my time for miracles." (His hour was Calvary.)
* KJV (John 3:13) "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."
TLB "For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again."
* KJV (John 6:69) "And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
TLB "And we believe them and know you are the holy Son of God." (Where is the authority for omitting the name of Christ, and the son of the Living God?)
* KJV (John 13:26) "Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon."
TLB "He told me it is the one I honor by giving the bread dipped in the sauce." (Was the Lord Jesus honoring Judas here?)
* KJV (Acts 9:5) "And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
TLB "Who is speaking, sir, Paul asked. And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and await for further instructions." (Where is the authority for the omission here, or using `sir' in the place of `Lord', or using `Paul' in the place of `Saul'?)
* KJV (Rom. 5:1) "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:.."
TLB "So now since we have been made right in God's sight by faith in His promises we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us." (There is a vast difference between `we have peace with God' and `we can have real peace with Him.")
* KJV (1 Cor. 16:22) "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."
TLB "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Lord Jesus, come." (Where did Dr. Taylor get the authority to omit Jesus Christ from the title of our Lord?)
* KJV (2 Cor. 5:21) "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
TLB "For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then in exchange He poured God's goodness into us."
* KJV (2 Cor. 8:9) "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."
TLB "You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus was:..." (Where is the authority for omitting the name Christ?)
* KJV (1 Tim. 2:5,6) "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
TLB "That God is on one side and all people on the other side, and Christ Jesus Himself, man, is between them to bring them together by giving His life for all mankind."
* KJV (1 Tim. 3:16) "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,..."
TLB "It is quite true that the matter to live a godly life is not an easy matter, but the answer lies in Christ who came to earth as a man."
* KJV (1 John 1:7) "...and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
TLB "...the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin." (Where is the authority for omitting the name Christ?)
* KJV (Rev. 6:17) "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
TLB "Because the great day of their anger is come and who can survive it?"
There are passages in the Living Bible that we feel have made the meaning a little clearer, but we only wish, and sincerely so, that Dr. Taylor had not sacrificed so badly the majesty and accuracy of the King James Version. We do not publish this pamphlet in any divisive sense. The one reason for so doing is because we hold a jealous regard for God's Holy Word, and we cannot keep silent when it is being tampered with.
If the reader will but stop and think of how the prophets and apostles and patriarchs of old treated the Holy Word of God with such reverence and adoration, it can clearly be seen that we need to adopt the same attitude, and more in particular when God Himself tells us, "Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy Name." And when the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, had in such deep reverence and respect the Word of God, we certainly should act in the same way.
