First of all, I want to thank each of you for responding and making the issue a little clearer for me. I will continue to look into this issue in the future.
My chief concern has been wether or not the fact that a document is inspired implies that it is perfect. Does the fact that God inspired the translators mean that they were above the error that is prone to the human nature they possessed.
The application of infallibility to the KJV is somewhat puzzling to me because for many years there has been one verse that has always given me a chuckle because, I believe, it is an obvious mistranslation (an error). While I accept the obvious inspiration of the KJV I have a hard time with the concept of infallibility being applied to it. The verse that I have found humor in is Acts 12:4 which reads in the KJV
"And when he had apprehended him, he put [him] in prison, and delivered [him] to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."
What has humored me is the fact that the greek word pascha is incorrectly translated as "Easter" instead of the correct word "Passover". Without going into the history of Easter I believe most of you will agree that it didn't exist as a holiday until much later in Christian history. I haven't seen that translation used in any other Bible and the NKJV has removed the Easter reference and replaced it with Passover.
Now, I have not studied much into this issue and am still forming my position. Currently, I do believe God has preserved his inspired Word for us. However, I'm having trouble accepting the inpiration = infallibility position or that the preservation of God's word stopped with the KJ version.
I'm not trying to be argumentative and my mind is open on the issue so your thoughful responses are greatly appreciated.
<< What has humored me is the fact that the greek word pascha is incorrectly translated as "Easter" instead of the correct word "Passover". Without going into the history of Easter I believe most of you will agree that it didn't exist as a holiday until much later in Christian history. I haven't seen that translation used in any other Bible and the NKJV has removed the Easter reference and replaced it with Passover. >>
I've got so much stuff defending the use of the word "easter" that you wouldn't have time to read it.
First of all, most of the pre-1611 English Bibles DID use easter, rather than passover. The English Bibles before the KJV also used the word Easter, so it is not a mistake of the KJV. In fact, the word Passover was invented by William Tyndale. If Passover was the proper word here, the guy who invented it would be the top authority on that - and Tyndale used Easter in this passage!
Second, passover proper is the first day of the celebration, the rest of the week is called the days of unleavened bread (although rarely the entire feast was referred to as pascha). But using the predominant scriptural definition, in this verse the passover had ALREADY HAPPENED (they were already in the days of unleavened bread), so if Herod was going to wait until "after pascha", he was going to have to wait a long time.
Third, easter was a reference to a pagan holiday, not the OT passover or the NT easter. Herod would have been more likely to be concerned about a pagan holiday than a biblical one. Easter was not originally a Christian holiday - it was a pagan holiday celebrating the goddess of fertility and the rites of spring, also called Astarte, Asteroth, Oester, and Ishtar. The Jews were pleased to see the Christians (James) killed. Herod would have had no reason to wait for a Jewish holiday - they killed Jesus during a Jewish holiday! He might have waited till after his own pagan holiday, however.
Fourth, ask any living Greek to wish you a happy easter, and they will respond "Kalee Pascha!"
Fifth, it is entirely possible that the early Christians did indeeed already celebrate the easter resurrection. A good article asserting that claim is at
http://www.lamblion.net/Articles/ScottJones/easter_or_passover1.htm Easter is not a mistake, it's the correct word.
What has humored me is the fact that the greek word pascha is incorrectly translated as "Easter" instead of the correct word "Passover". Actually, the one who coined the term 'passover' Tyndale, translated it as 'Easter'
If you look at the modern Greek you will see that the word for Easter is-pascha!
There are number of explainations of why the King James used Easter and not passover.
The King James 21 used Easter also.