Which Bible?

Rating:
Summary: Fringe Adventist apologetics repackaged and not credited
Review: Almost half of this collection of essays is the sanitized writing of Benjamin Wilkinson, a Seventh-Day Adventist Theologian and College Professor who first published his beliefs in a book entitled "Our Authorized Bible Vindicated" back in 1930. I say "sanitized" because Fuller, publishing "Which Bible?" for fundamentalist Baptists, didn't want them to know that the biggest portion of it was by a man they would regard as a heretic and so removed references to Ellen White and other Adventist allusions.

It isn't hard to sniff out the difference between real scholarship (whether one agrees with it or not) and junk scholarship (again whether one agrees or not). Fuller's first obligation, if he had wanted anybody to be open to the case he made, was to have been open about his sources.

For this and other reasons that will become obvious to all who make the habit of reading every side of a controversy, this book belongs on the shelf with tracts that deny the holocaust or claim Apollo 11 didn't land on the moon.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy This Book
Review: Don't buy this book. It is a waste of good paper. If you are interested in Fuller's ramblings, buy Doug Kutilek's "Answer to David Otis Fuller: Fuller's Deceptive Treatment of Spurgeon Regarding the King James Version."

Fuller repeats the flawed arguments of KJV Onlyists and demonstrates that he is more interested in defending his ideas than his is in accurately discussing textual issues. Why do books like this ever get published?

Rating:
Summary: faulty reasoning
Review: How do we know what's the right translation? Does the King James version satisfy anymore. Why or why not? Aren't all other bibles just based on the Protestant King James Bible? The author of this book concludes yes before he wrote a word.

However there's nothing much else to this book but that argument that the King James came first so there. I got advice for anyone who wants to figure out what is the RIGHT interpretation. Avoid this book - learn Greek. And if you want to read the so-called "Old Testament" learn Hebrew. As Hebrew is a revived and modern language it shouldn't be too difficult. That way you can at least buy a Hebrew/English or Greek/English translation and check the notes.

This is simply a lot of padding to tell the protestant Christians that they are reading the right Bible even if it is written Shakespearean. Granted King James is the only Christian translation of the Bible that preserves the hemerroids story from 1 Samuel 5 (while it calls them emerods, all other Bibles wimp out and say "the plague") but no one Bible should be definitive for SERIOUS Bible readers. I recommend buying the Anchor Bible series, the Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox and a good Hebrew-English translation. Don't let these so-called 'experts' force you into reading Bibles that you don't understand. The Bible was written to be a simple text that was easy to read, not a lot of mumbo jumbo that's hard to decipher. This book comes out of the same need to control minds that got the first English translator of the Bible burned for his troubles.

Rating:
Summary: Which Bible Is The True Word Of God?
Review: I have been a Bible Student for some 35 years. After reading Dr. Fullers' book: "Which Bible?", I was glad that my Bible of choice has been the Authorized King James Version since my youth. Dr. Fuller, acting as Editor, has put together a marvelous exposition of Historical and Spiritual Truth relating to our Holy Bible. The information in the pages of this book isn't common knowledge among christians, even though it should be. Nothing is more important than Gods Word and with the factual and historical information given to us by Dr. Fuller, we can read our KJV Bibles with confidence, knowing that the same God who Inspired the Word, is able to Preserve the Word to all generations. I recommend this book to all students of Gods Word. It is without a doubt the best souce available for all those who are honestly seeking the truth on this subject. ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: faulty reasoning
Review: The author begins with the presupposition that the KJV is the best out there, and then goes on to seek evidence to justify the conclusion (which he probably reached before examining the evidence - hmmm.....). What is even more ridiculous is that he calls Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria Gnostics, which makes me laugh. The author is clinging to positions that he should not have ever embraced. Bottom line, if you want to know better the original texts, I would reccomend, like the reviewer below, to learn greek, and to pick up a UBS NT and a Septuagint for the OT, which is the greek translation of the OT. The apostles used the Septuagint, they quoted from it, and it's older than the Masoretic Text, which is the hebrew OT that we've got today.

Rating:
Summary: How do we know God's Word?
Review: The fight among the people of God over His Word is probably the single most important spiritual struggle going on today. Most (or at least, many) Christians don't even know it is being fought and yet it strikes right to the heart of their Faith, once delivered to the Saints. I had no idea of this struggle, thinking that the NIV and NAS were simply updated versions of the KJV. If I had paid more attantion to what I read, I would have known better so i really have no excuse, but it is an eye-opening experience to have a preacher get to the end of Mark and stop reading while you have 12 verses left. Are they God's Word or not? If so, why aren't they in modern versions (or if they are present, they are footnoted as "missing from the best manuscripts") and if they aren't, why have God's people believed they were for centuries? Did God really write His Word - and if so did He preserve it for us? If not, how can we know we have it? The bible says, "if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Our foundation, everything we know and believe about Jesus, God and our salvation - comes directly out of the Bible. It is either True or it isn't. One thing that isn't possible is that it be true AND false.

This is actually simple and Fuller makes it as clear and simple as any book I've read on it (though Dean Burgon's "Revision Revised" written when the RV first came out makes the strongest case and demolished the pretentions of the revising committee - it has never been answered, simply ignored - I recommend anyone interested in this to get it and read it and I can direct you to it if you want).

The straightforward situation is this - there are (basically) TWO greek texts of the new testament. One is the source translated into the KJV - the other is the source translated into every modern version. The second, known as the Westcott-Hort text, NEVER EXISTED ON THE PLANET UNTIL IT WAS COMPILED IN THE LATE 1800S. That should be enough reason for anyone to repudiate it. It is a text made up of an eclectic gathering of multiple texts and presenting a variety of textual readings that were NEWLY formed at the time. In other words, to accept the WH greek text, you must accept that God did NOT write His Word - at least not until the 1800s.

We know better IF we believe the Bible. From the garden of Eden when satan asked Eve, "yea, hath God said..." until now, God's Word is continually under attack and vigilance is our responsibility. Fuller's book helps the vigilant and equips them. Good reading. As God Himself says, "forever, oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven..." "The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth seven times. Thou shalt preserve them from this day forward forever..."

Kelly Whiting

Rating:
Summary: The authenticity of the King James Bible
Review: The reproduction of the work, "Our Authorized Bible Vindicated" by Benjamin Wilkensen is the most prized aspect of this book, though the articles by Edward F. Hills and Hoskier are informative as well. Get a hold of it, and keep your King James Bible, too.