General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: what the bible says about abortion: [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)"lacuna" in a particular way. (I question the existence of an "accurate" way to fill in a lacuna anyway, but that is a different story). So, I don't know that your comment about the King James version applies to my post to Nye, though it probably applies in other contexts. Conversely, I don't know that that any translation of the Bible that is agenda free says a lot about abortion or inducing miscarriages, let alone about imposing a duty on believers to make sure the secular laws of the places they may live prohibit and contraceptives and abortion. Or the rhythm method.
I am not a Biblical scholar, but I have met at least one person who specialized in differentiating among various translations and people like him debate which translation is most accurate. So, accuracy of various translations is subjective, to a degree. And, since I'd have to take someone else's opinion on which version is the most accurate, I'd just as soon make my own choice. At least I can explain my reason for my own choice.
I understand the objections to the King James, but use it for a particular reason. I think most who produce a new "translation" of the Bible have one or more agenda. The same may well have been true of the King James translators. However, their agendas are probably mostly moot at this point, while more modern translators have more modern agendas.
For just one example, from a lay person, there are all kinds of variations and nuances that words and phrases have, so subjectivity enters in in many translation choices, even if you have no agenda. Moreoever, meanings and nuances change over time. "Don we now our gay apparel" can convey something today that it did not even hint at when the carol was first penned.
Only God knows (pun intended) what was in the minds of the first people to write down various things that we now consider part of the Bible. And who knows how many iterations existed in the original ancient Hebrew and Greek before the documents modern scholars work from.
So, for the reason stated above, I will stick with the King James.