How to teach your children to read and understand the King James Version of the Bible

Fr. John Whiteford's News, Comments, & Reflections ^ | 06-09-2017 | Fr. John Whiteford

[RegulatorCountry]

Memorization without understanding is USELESS. The message/meaning is what is important, not rote memorization.

My nine and ten year old self would have agreed vigorously with you. I spent two fairly miserable years in a private Baptist school with daily Bible study and we did memorize the Bible. Seemed useless and pointless.

But, it stuck with me and it has stuck with anyone I have ever asked about it. Bible verses arise unbidden out of my mind in certain situations to this day. A fuller understanding came later, but the memory remained.

Don't knock it until you've tried it. There's more than meets the eye to that practice.

[RegulatorCountry]

I’m still perplexed and oddly amused that Catholics seem to think Martin Luther had a hand in the KJV Bible, even here on FR where it should have been beaten into their heads by now.

[Bodleian_Girl]

Sorry, meant to add that it seems to me that the NLT changes the meaning.

Jesus is referring to Hosea 6:6.

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Jesus is saying in Matthew, “*I* will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”

But the NLT changes it I want *you* to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.

That seems to be significant and illustrated what the other versions all have in common against the KJV, they denigrate the position and God-head of Christ.

[RegulatorCountry]

“Don’t memorize something if you want to remember it. Learn it. Memorization is temporary. Learning is permanent.”

It's not temporary.

[ravenwolf]

when there are easier reading and more literal translations available?

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Name them.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

New World (mis)Translation is ONLY used by the Jehovah's Witnesses. No Trinitarian church would get near it, it is considered “That” bad.
Another joke of a bible is the “Inspired” bible of Joseph Smith used mostly by the reorganized Mormon church. This is not the book of mormon.

[ravenwolf]

People think that the NKJV is only the old KJV modernized, but it is an entirely new and corrupted translation.

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That is true.

[piusv]

So which Bible do the Orthodox use?

[AppyPappy]

But all translations are just an opinion of what the Greek and Hebrew say so it is rather meaningless. There is no punctuation or chapter/verse numbers in the original text.

[Albion Wilde]

Just making it clear once again that I have never at any time endorsed the use of the so-called “New World” translation.

[Albion Wilde]

I posted the very scriptural translation you posted, so what was your point in reposting it without comment?

[Albion Wilde]

I agree. Memorization is unpleasant in many ways, but the verses come back to you later when you need them. I have used memorization not only for the Bible, but also as the only way for me to become rapidly proficient in several foriegn languages.

[RegulatorCountry]

The campaign against rote memorization sounds so literate and high-minded, but anyone old enough to remember memorizing multiplication tables knows how very useful it is. That knowledge is retained for life and it’s extremely useful. I don’t even have to think about the answer to 8 x 7, it’s 56. That retained knowledge arises when needed. The same is true of memorized Bible verses, they arise when needed and in my experience, it’s always the applicable ones to a given situation.

[Albion Wilde]

Pardon me, I just read your explanation. I disagree with your interpretation, which is apparently because you are working backwards from today's use of the verb "will"; however the scholars considered the use of the verb at the time the KJV was written, and translated forward.

Re the KJV original, consider this sentence I am writing as an example of the usage: A mother sees her kids playing ball inside and says, "I will not have this nonsense in my house!" That is the sense in which Jesus is saying "I will have mercy..." He is not merely stating what will happen in the indeterminate future by indeterminate persons, he is issuing a command to his followers. In this way the New Living translation makes the meaning clear who is to do what, and that they will do it because he said to do it. It will not occur by accident and he is not just foretelling its occurance in a crystal ball.

[Albion Wilde]

I agree. The (Methodist Episcopal) church I was raised in was not big on catechesis or teaching children to memorize, but its hymnal of those old days was full of lyrics taken right out of the psalms and gospels. So when I hit a bump in the road in later years, the songs came back with words I didn't even know I had effectively memorized. On realizing this, I set out to learn the Word thoroughly, starting with writing out the entire New Testament by hand. I'm moving on to the Old Testament next. I also participate in comprehensive Bible study classes. Life becomes so much more clear when you know the

Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth

[piusv]

Methodist Episcopal? That’s a new one to me.

[Bodleian_Girl]

I actually can agree with that.

[NRx]

The canon of sacred texts is affirmed by sacred tradition and also various decrees from the Quinisext Council which was not recognized by Rome but is considered a canonical element of the 5th and 6th OEcumenical Councils in the East. In general we accept the same books as those found in Catholic Bibles but we also recognize 3rd Maccabees (and in the case of the Georgian Church 4th Maccabees), 3rd Ezra (and in the case of the Georgian Church 4th Ezra), Psalm 151 and the Letter of Jeremiah (which in the Roman Church is called chapter 6 of Baruch).

The only English language edition that I am familiar with and that is Orthodox, is the Orthodox Study Bible.

[piusv]

Interesting. I knew that there were other differences, but I never knew that we used different bibles.

[Albion Wilde]

Methodist Episcopal was the largest mainstream church in the U.S. before the Methodists merged with the Evangelical United Brethren in 1968 to form the UMC. The liturgy was much closer to the traditional Anglican than the present UMC mess. You realize that John Wesley was an Anglican priest when he started Methodism, right?