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Happy Birthday King James Version of the Bible


Kit Sober
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Happy Birthday King James Version of the Bible -- From May 1611to May 2011!

From Christian Breaking News:

Congressional Resolution on the King James BibleJason Georges (April 22, 2011) "The King James Bible deserves to be recognized for its contribution to American society. It really has been the vehicle that formulated our language and programmed our thinking for centuries. There is no equivalent piece of English literature." -Doug Levesque

(Washington, DC)—The 'Old King James' is turning 400 years old in May of this year. This popular translation of the Bible has endured for centuries now and is still gaining strength. A national expo will be held in the Nation's Capitol on May 2-3, 2011 to honor the influential book that some believe to be the Word of God to the English speaking world. A concurrent resolution has been entered into the House of Representatives by the bipartisan team of Republican Representative Aderholt, from Alabama, and Democrat Representative Rahall, from West Virginia.

kjvonmallx.jpg

"The King James Bible deserves to be recognized for its contribution to American society," says Doug Levesque, of the Bible Nation Society, a sponsor of the event. "It really has been the vehicle that formulated our language and programmed our thinking for centuries. There is no equivalent piece of English literature."

This particular translation of Scripture is the best selling, most purchased, and most distributed book of all time. All but one President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, is believed to have placed his hand on this version of the Bible while taking the oath of office. Its well known prose has instilled itself into the every day vernacular even in the 21st century.

An excerpt of the resolution reads:

Whereas many national leaders, have paid tribute to the surpassing influence of the Bible in the United States development, among them the words of Democratic President Andrew Jackson, calling it "the rock upon which our republic rests";

Whereas Republican President Ronald Reagan also said of the King James Bible, "Indeed, it is an incontrovertible fact that all the complex and horrendous questions confronting us at home and worldwide have their answer in that single book";

The entire resolution and information about the King James Bible Expo can be found at KingJames400.com. The Resolution will be read on May 3 from the Capitol Building at a rally at 5 p.m., along with an historical ceremony. This event is free and open to the public.

Source: Bible Nation Society

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Here in the UK there have been all sorts of celebrations.

For local celebrations, one church in my city had a read-through which I think took nearly a week, being read aloud 24 hours a day - by people who just went in and volunteered to read a few verses or chapters or for a period of time.

Other churches have been handwriting the whole KJV - again, shared between all the congregation and anyone else who cares to come along.

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A few years ago an author of a book about how the King James Version was written was on C-SPAN.

He said that the King James Version's English was old-fashioned English at the time it was written and by using language that was a few generations out-of-date the writers were following the tradition of Wycliffe and the Latin Vulgate.

It's still my favorite version.

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Egads.

Can they not find better prose than this flat pancake of a paean to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible?

"The King James Bible deserves to be recognized for its contribution to American society. It really has been the vehicle that formulated our language and programmed our thinking for centuries. There is no equivalent piece of English literature."

Really? Seriously, that's it? A hideously passive clause, followed by valley girl conjecture, followed by a full body slam? Really? Seriously?

Egad.

There must be at least 400 GSC'ers who can produce better prose than that for this august occasion.

My celebration of the 400th anniversary began in January this year, when I purchased a replica of a first edition from greatsite.com, which advertises itself as the world's largest dealer of rare and antique bibles. Originals, as you can imagine, sell for megabucks; this replica was a few hundred dollars. You should see this replica! Oh my. It weighs about 30 pounds and stands about 18" tall. Each page was photographed from an original and printed on linen paper, then bound in birch boards and finally covered in red leather. Oh my!

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That's pretty cool Operabuff.

It's very cool, Human. I have no shelf big enough to hold it, so it's sitting on my bedroom floor temporarily. To give you a visual on the size, here's a picture of one that I copied from the greatsite.com web page. Bibles this size were sometimes called pulpit Bibles; they were often chained to the pulpit to prevent theft.

kjv.tiff

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You can get a 1611 version at amazon.com. I have given away a number of them to such people as an intellectual agnostic who appreciated the "historical significance" and I give with the hope that God's goodness will ooze from the pages and seep into his heart. The full "introduction and preface is especially precious to me.

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