OK I just can't resist this. Did you hear the one about the preacher that was burning Bibles, oh wait it's not a joke this one is real.
My wife and I moved to Asheville to start a church two years ago. As I would invite people to our services one question was prevalent in the responses I got. "What version of the Bible do you use?" This usually lead them to say well if it's not King James then I'm not interested. This statement would come from those who went to church and those who didn't. This seems to be a classification here in Western North Carolina; if you don't preach from a King James 1611 then you're a heretic. There is even a WKJV radio station here in Asheville. Every pastor that preaches from the KVJ has to translate his text it for anyone to understand it. Does their use of stories and illustrations make them a heretic for not only preaching scripture or in a manner befitting of the Kings English? Sorry I'm off the point.
Jesus came to break down the barriers between us and God and yet even today we, as Christians, put the same barriers up in the path of those who need to hear it. Are we worshiping a version of the Bible? If so it is a stumbling block to the world around us. The best translation of Gods word is how you live it each day. It's the story of how your life has been changed because of His word working through you and in you. And just because you don't look like me, dress like me, talk like me or read like me doesn't make you less capable in Gods eyes. KVJ, NASB, NIV, HSB or YOU and ME. Gods word lives in those who believe in Christ through faith. Everyone has a story to tell, some about heaven and some about hell but everyone has a story to tell.
Don't be angry or discouraged by the misguided attempts of man to reach to God, trust in the one way and that is by faith. What is comes down to is this. Ask Jesus into your life, and let him make you into the kind of person he wants you to be.
