Satan has been at work virtually since day one to cloud Godly simplicity with man-made intellectualism. Urging Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, he promised that her eyes - and Adam's - would be opened, and they would be as Gods, knowing good from evil. Eve bit into that morsel of falsehood, and thus began man's unending quest for knowledge, and for equality with God. The goal, and the "daily labors" of philosophers, are concisely summed up below:
"The seething contest of popular opinions engaged all minds. The market place was the forum. Discussion came naturally to the Greeks, who were continually vying with each other, body with body, and mind with mind. The contention did not always aim at practical mastery, the play of ideas yielded intrinsic satisfaction" (The Great Philosophers, pp 7-8).
Their goal, in reality, is to "keep the questions coming, and the discussions flowing," avoiding any conclusions which would lead to fewer questions, or even - heaven forbid - final answers! That explains the philosopher's greatest claim to fame, which is that he ever ponders questions, never finds answers, and never solves any problems. "Philosophers" and "ancient Athens Greece" are practically synonymous terms; Paul refers to them a time-wasting deadbeats Acts 17:21: "(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)" Paul warned Timothy about getting himself entangled with such intellectuals. "Neither give heed to fables and endless geneologies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do" (I Tim. 1:4)

When philosophers do manage to motivate certain men to action, the result generally is not good. Hitler's ideas for building the "Master Race" originally came from such sources as Plato's Republic. Socialism and Communism are the outgrowth of similar scatterbrained intellectualism. Down through history, philosophers have meddled in just about everything, their first major accomplishment was spawning the theories of evolution. Anaximander, sixth century B.C., proposed that,
"The vapor drawn up from the earth by the sun descends as rain. From the evaporated moisture spring up living things of various sorts and shape, according to their nourishment. Men sprang from some fishlike animal. Different species of animals and plants thus came into being and pass away, and likewise all finite worlds..." (IBID p 12).
This wonderful nugget of wisdom came to us by way of one of the wisest men in the world! That was some two and a half centuries ago. Unfortunately, after so many centuries of "philosophical-scientific inquiry," the basic ideas haven't changed much. Pea-brains paste muscle and hairy skin onto ape bones presumed to be skeletons of our ancestors, and gaze in wonderment at the unfathomable genius of "natural selection." Classical science in action...
It was inevitible that they would soon turn to religion, where they could carry on debates and discussions till doomsday without the danger of settling anything, because, from the standpoint of man, nothing in religion can be proved or disproved. Philosophers are still having a field day. Indoctrinating potential "Christian ministers" with what they think should be the Word of God is the great current endeavor...

WE HAVE NOT YET ESCAPED THE PIN-HEADS OF GREECE
Let a man spend four years in a Bible college, give him about a year of training in the Greek language, and he is ready to go out into the world and slay the dragon, that "archaic, outdated, error-filled" Bible translation known as the King James Bible. Somehow, he feels he has a moral obligation to free "sincere worshippers" from the clutches of such "enemies of the Church" as the King James Only Cult. He works tirelessly to expose all the faults of the King James Bible, and topromote the works of more modern Bible translators, thus saving Christ's Church from certain destruction from within by an unruly class of people who choose to believe the one Bible, and reject all others. This "one Bible cult," which prefers the KJV only, has followers who are "splitting congregations and wrecking churches" today. One such "intellectual" anti-KJV activist is Dr. James R. White, who writes this: "Responsbility must be laid at the door of the KJV Only camp for the destruction of many Christian churches. Church splits have taken place as the direct result of the influence of KJV Only materials on deacons, and other influential members."(Page V, Introduction, The King James Only Controversy). That's a heavy charge to make against people whose Bible has been around a great deal longer than Dr. White himself. Whether Dr. White realizes this or not, or whether he will admit it or not, the churches in America have been getting along just fine with the King James Bible for years. There was no "splitting" or "destruction" of churches until the modern croud began trying to force upon them the modernist's idea of what the Word of God ought to say.

Dr White further writes, "...I am not in any way seeking to stop those who use the KJV from reading that venerable translation. This book is not against the King James Version. I know many fine Christian people who use the KJV and for whom the translation works just fine." (IBID p VI). That is true. Dr. White is not opposed to anyone reading the KJV, his voice of condemnation is directed against all who would read the KJV exclusively. The program of the Anti-KJV Only camp is to persuade all Christians to buy and read as many different translations as they can, and to exclude none. But if any is to be excluded, it should be the King James Bible.

Among the new translations Dr. White endorses as vastly superior to the KJV is the New American Standard Version. This translation is also preferred above the KJV by the well-known Bible expositor, author, and TV commentator, Hal Lindsay. Based on his adored modern translation, here is how he interprets Romans 5:20: "...The Law was given to make man sin more: 'And the Law came in that the transgression might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.'" (The Road To Holocaust, p 151) Of course, even Hal Lindsay can hardly believe his eyes. He adds, "Now I realize that it sounds almost blasphemous to say that God gave something to man that would make him sin more. But that is exactly what the Scriptures say." (IBID). Mr. Lindsay is correct in one respect; it does sound almost blasphemous. We can go a step further, and safely assert that it IS blasphemous. How can anyone even think that God gave something to man to make him sin more?

If anyone ever had any lingering doubts that this translation is a perversion of the truth, its rendering of Romans 5:20 ought to be the "straw that breaks the camel's back." Here is a translation that is totally in opposition to everything we know of the holy God of heaven, of whom we read that, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1Tim. 2:3-4 KJV) "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:"(James 1:13 KJV) God is holy, and His Word is holy. The Law was holy, and holy things do not cause man to sin: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good" (Romans 7:12 KJV)

If Mr. Lindsay had not chosen the NASB over the KJV, he would not have made this awful mistake. And if Dr White truly understood the Word, and tried to learn the English language of the King James Bible, he might not have been so eager to condemn the KJV, and endorse something as ungodly as the NASB. Here is how the real Bible presents Romans 5:20: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound, But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" To understand what Paul is saying, we must determine the possible meanings and applications of "offence." The word, "offence" in this context is not the actual sin committed, but the effect the sin has upon whomever the sin is committed against. The dictionary gives a couple of examples. "to give offence," is to offend, or to cause anger by some wicked act. "...that the offence might abound..." means that the Law entered so that the offensive nature of sin might be more fully recognized and understood. The modern translators have totally missed the point. Paul, as if anticipating that someone might misunderstand what he was saying, added verse 6:1, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid..."

A number of Christian Bible scholars have been taken in by the mistique of modern intellectualism. Dr. Stewart Custer of Bob Jones University states, "As much as Fundamentalists have loved and defended a great translation like the King James Version, they must remember that the court of last resort in doctrinal matters is not any translation, but the wording of the original Greek and Hebrew texts." (The Truth About The King James Version Controversy, Introduction).

It is general knowledge that the original Greek and Hebrew texts do not exist. There are only handwritten copies, and copies of copies, all of which are suspected of having errors. But guess who are the experts in determining what those errors are, where they are, and how to eliminate them. Modern Greek and Hebrew intellectuals! They also have appointed themselves the "court of last resort in doctrinal matters." But seeing how they erroneously translated Romans 5:20, and how it was interpreted by a highly respected Bible teacher, emphasizes the terrible tragedy of heeding and following these modernists in any way.



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