400 years of The King James Bible 1611: A Tribute

 Shown above is my King James Bible (a study Bible).

It would be a great blunder on my part if I let this year go by and not mention this Holy Book that guides me everyday, succors me in times of need, reprimands me befittingly in transgressions and ultimately reveals God to me.

The King James Bible AV 1611.

This year marks the Holy Bible's 400th anniversary of having been completed in the English language. Completed from the Textus Receptus (Received Texts) with the original Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament, the history of this Book's realization is dipped in blood of martyrs and defenders of the Faith. In the end though, the grace of God prevailed when after the prayer of William Tyndale before his death, King James I's eyes were opened and 54 scholars painstakingly and with reverence translated (not created - as Wikipedia states) the Bible in 7 years from its original languages (Old testament in Hebrew; New Testament Greek).

Why the King James Bible one might ask? to illustrate a few, I point out I John 5:7, a verse which chronicles the oneness of the Holy Trinity, also in Revelation 1:12 where Jesus is identified as "Alpha and Omega" and in John 10.30 where The Lord reiterates that He and The Father are one; in other versions these verses are either altered to mean differently or are blotted out completely, but this is not so in the King James Bible. And even in a material point of view; among the versions present today, only the King James Bible matched as the highest with the discovered Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 by 95%, again with Hebrew in the Old testament and Aramaic (ancient Greek) in the New Testament.

The illustrations can go on for hours but I do believe by faith and with conviction that this is the Word of God in English. God himself promised that He would preserve His words for all generations (Psalm 12:6-7) and that He will not leave us without council. This is where a Believer's authority rests.

A popular argument against the Bible is always "This is only based on man's interpretation." To which I plea that before one discredits it, read it all first please, then find out:  Who the subject of the whole Book is and what the subject is about. For in the end, one will plainly see that it's about God (Elohim), His relationship with man (His beloved creature) and the redemption of man in Jesus Christ. Additionally, in 2 Peter 1:20 - 21, it states: Knowing first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

If there is an effort to persuade a person about the Book, it's merely to convey that God created man to be with Him for all times and that can happen through His Son. His Son who came as promised (in the books of Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, among others), died and resurrected for us all. This was to set a sort of visual example that if we trust in the Resurrected one, after we perish (in our mortal coil), we also will be resurrected like He was.

Before I end this piece may I just say also, that I am not blogging with a halo on my head, I do fail as a Believer, mostly because I fail to look upon the Lord's face, to follow His will for me or to meditate on His Word. It is my prayer and hope that each time I fall I will remember that this Book can be personal for me, as if written just for me; God's love letter to me for a companion and as a teacher, and perhaps to you also, if you so desire.

 (Could not resist taking this pic inside the chapel in Windsor)