The 47 men who translated the KJV from the original languages into English were more than garden variety scholars. These men were the renowned linguistic scholars of their day. For example, John Bois had read the entire Old Testament through in Hebrew at age five! By the age of six Mr. Bois could plainly write the Hebrew language and which is attested to by the fact that some of these manuscripts have been carefully preserved until today. This collection of scholars in 1611 was no doubt arranged by the providence of almighty God, and their collective scholarship has never been rivaled by any other body of translators. In addition, their work was not done in reliance upon their intelligence and scholarship alone. It would be a good investment of your time to read the original preface to the KJV written by Miles Smith in which he plainly states that the translators relied upon the Holy Spirit to help them choose the right words. Any way one examines the KJV it stands head and shoulders above all other attempts to translate the Bible into the English language.
In contrast, modern scholarship is lacking to say the least and it shows up not only in the quality of the translation work but in the caliber of those chosen to do the work. For example, the most popular modern version is probably the NIV which first hit the bookshelves in the late 1960’s. Among those who brought us the NIV is Virginia Mollenkott (pictured below), a professed lesbian who has written several pro-homosexual books and who has worked very hard over the last several decades to promote acceptance within Christianity for homosexual leaders. 
“In 1978 Mollenkott co-authored (with Letha Scanzoni) the book entitled Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, in which she called for nondiscrimination toward homosexuality. The book argues that the Sodom account in Genesis does not teach the evil of homosexuality, but the evils of violent gang rape and inhospitality to strangers. In the early 1980s Mollenkott was a member of the National Council of Churches’ committee that produced an inclusive-language lectionary which addressed God in feminine terms. At a news conference at the NCC’s governing board meeting on November 10, 1983, Mollenkott claimed there is some evidence that Jesus Christ was really a woman. In 1987 Mollenkott wrote an article claiming that refusal to ordain homosexual “clergywomen” is unscriptural. In 1994 Mollenkott published The Divine Feminine: The Biblical Imagery of God as Female (New York: Crossroad). In this book she describes God as “the One Mother of us all” (p. 19).
It comes as no surprise that Kenneth Barker of the NIV translation committee has tried to distance himself from her involvement in the production of the NIV. Ms. Mollenkott was very troubled by comments made by Mr. Barker and made the following statements to answer his comments.
· “I worked on the NIV during the entire time it was being translated…”
· “I was never removed, sacked, or made redundant from my work on the NIV; if I were, my name would not have appeared on the list sent out by the IBS.” (International Bible Society)
· “So far as I know, nobody including Dr. Palmer suspected that I was lesbian while I was working on the NIV; it was information I kept private at that time…”
· “Please tell Kenneth Barker for me that although there is much controversy about homosexuality among Biblical scholars, to my knowledge nobody denies that the Bible condemns lying about other people. He should be ashamed of his attempt to rewrite history.”
It is no surprise that the word sodomite does not appear in the NIV or that the NIV has been dubbed by some as the “gay friendly Bible”. While Christians should be friendly and compassionate towards those bound by the sin of homosexuality, we should never water down the strong condemnation found in the Word of God for activity which God calls an abomination. Let’s stick with the tried and true KJV.
