Part of me wants to say "Let the chips fall where they may, and let him
in the pew who has ears to hear be open to coming into the light in an
area in which prejudice and ignorance formerly reigned." Yes, I know all
the arguments that can be made for ministering to the people and not
offending them in "minor" issues so they will hear your "real" message -
but the KJV-only prejudice is often an indicator of ignorance or
prejudice in other areas, and someday someone ought not to shy away from
speaking from what they know, risky as it may turn out to be. Otherwise
the young ones in the pews are doomed to continue in the ignorant ways
of their forefathers (many will anyway) - if they never hear
differently. Is it worth it? I don't know. But I don't know if "worth
it" is always the issue.
It reminds me of the book recently written (I can't recall the title,
but these details are basically right) by a man who returned to live
among the people he came from - a snake-handling, pentecostal holiness,
KJV-only church - where women "obviously" couldn't be ministers - and
before he left, he preached on the resurrection. He got hearty "Amen"s
from the people and the pastor as he made each point and read each verse
and asked if he was "In the Word." Then he asked the question: "Who was
the person Jesus first appeared to and told to go preach the message of
His resurrection?" The knee-jerk response was "Peter" or one of the
apostles. So he read that it was to Mary Magdalene, a WOMAN, that Jesus
first appeared - that AWOMAN had been the first one called to preach
the gospel. He got shut down by the pastor at that point
EVENTHOUGHTHEIRVERYOWNKJV BIBLE which he was preaching from said as
much - but not before a 90+-year-old woman in the church whose spiritual
giftings were well-known and obvious to everyone there (but of course,
she couldn't be a "preacher") gave a hearty shout and "Amen" - so
SOMEONE needed to hear the truth, and SOMEONE had to say it.
How does this relate to B-GREEK? I guess in the sense that when I share
from the Greek, I don't try to parade my learning (as little as it is) -
but I make no apologies for trying to read and learn from the Greek
text, and if something I say might stimulate someone to think "Hey,
maybe I'll check out another translation" or "Maybe I ought to try to
learn Greek" - well, I can't say that I haven't at times hoped to get
that response. Fortunately the "other translations" issue isn't a
problem at our church. I'm still hoping a few will decide to learn
Greek, though!
-- "Eric S. and Karol-Ann Weiss" http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm