Do Bible Translations Matter?

I've heard the arguments before about whether or not Bible translations other than the KJV were accurate. Usually these arguments were nasty, heated exchanges that you would expect to hear in a meeting between the Klan and the NAACP... Just really mean and, well, let's just say that people can get upset over the discussion.

A long time ago, I got it into my head that all my nieces and nephews needed their own Bible. This is back when I was working and making pretty good money. I started going to the Christian bookstore every other payday or so and picking out Bibles I thought were appropriate for each one of my nieces and nephews. I remember buying the Adventure Bible, study Bibles, Teen Bibles, etc. I don't think that I bought any of the Bibles in the King James Version. My intent was that I wanted the kids to be interested in what they were reading and that it be easy to read. Eventually, I bought a Bible for each of them. I believe they all still have their copies today.

For myself - and this is when I was studying the Bible on a more regular occasion than now, even at one point setting myself the goal of reading through the entire Book - I bought various versions: the KJV, NIV, Amplied, NASB Study, John Hagee Prophecy, and Living. One of the reasons I'd given myself for using different versions was that they were easier to read & understand. (That comes up for argument later in a video I'm embedding.) I recently was going through some of my boxes of packed belongings and realized how many versions I had collected. The one I had kept out and available while I was busy moving from place to place (pillar to post?) was the NASB Study Bible. To be honest, I didn't often read it. Every now and then, when something came up in conversation, I would refer to the Bible.

Anyway, I was looking for more teachings on the faith and subjects of the faith when I ran across a video on YouTube that was about the controversy of modern translations of the Bible versus the KJV. I was surprised first that the speaker was not angry or ill-tempered. Next, I was fascinated by the information. Of course, as I listened, I pulled out my NASB and a KJV and began to take notes.

Wow.

In a nutshell, what mainly caused me to consider the argument for the KJV was comparing the Lord's Prayer from my NASB Study version to the KJV. Here is the first video of a series presented on YouTube:



There is another video - short and with a general chart - that more simply explains the sources of the various versions. The man presenting the information, Kent Hovind, can be a little more grating than Gail Riplinger from the first video I embedded, but the information is clear.



At any rate, I have not thrown out the other versions I have because I think it will be helpful to show others the differences, but I am now using the KJV for my study and use. (By the way, I don't know how exactly to explain this, but do you ever feel like, when you have learned something, that it's as if the knowledge was right there in front of you all the time & you were just missing it??? That's the way I have been feeling lately.)

What do you guys think? Do you prefer other versions to the KJV and why? Do you get what Riplinger and Hovind are saying about the other versions?

Peace
--Free

Revelation 22:18-19
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.