What is wrong with the NKJV Bible?

[Christian1stBaptist2nd]

I want to understand why you think the NKJV isn't a good Bible?

[Larry02]

Heres a good link:
http://www.av1611.org/nKJv.html

[Will]

Heres a good link:
http://www.av1611.org/nKJv.html

Half of their argument is based on the triquetra symbol on the cover and this makes the argumentation of the site suspect, IMHO, and highly faulty.

[Pastor Matt]

I want to understand why you think the NKJV isn't a good Bible?

Instead of me typing out a large repsonse, I will post a link.

http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/whatabout-nKJv.html

[Madeline]

BroMatt, I have a few NKJV bibles which I no longer use, should I toss them out? What would you suggest that I do with them? let them collect dust or toss them in the trash? And what good would donating them do if the NKJV is a deception? Sorry for all of these questions but I can assure you that they are sincere. Thanks in advance!

[Pastor Matt]

If I were you, (which I am not :lol ) I would keep them on the shelf and use them as reference to answer any questions someone may have about the NKJV. Some might say throw them out, but I keep them to answer questions about error and changes that others may have. Usually this is not for Online conversations, but person to person.

[Jerry]

Some of the things I have noticed about the NKJV:

Thomas Nelson was a Catholic, and this company has a preference for the Critical (ie. Catholic) Texts. They are also quite ecumenical.

The Foreward or Preface quite clearly states that the translators did not SOLELY use the preserved texts - they also used the Septuagint and other texts; therefore it is not an updated KJV, but a completely different translation.

The Preface also states the marginal notes are there so that the readers can know what is in the underlying texts - yet it is these marginal notes that correct, contradict, and cast doubt on God's Word over and over.

You will find the New Age phrase "the One" used about 50 times in the NKJV, referring to God as "the Presence," called "the Christ" many times.

Matthew 6 refers to Him as something (ie. an idol - compare to the same phrase used in Deuteronomy) in the secret place - rather than stating He is in secret (implying He is an idol kept in a cupboard).

Matthew 6:6NKJV But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Deuteronomy 27:15KJV Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

In order to copyright their Bible, it has to be a minimum of 10% different from any other written work - that includes the King James Bible! So if someone tries to tell you the NKJV is the same as the KJV, let them go study out copyright laws.

They lie about removing hard words - what they did was rearrange where they were in the Bible! For example, matrix. They remove it from all the passages where the KJV has it, but then include it in other passages:

Isaiah 49:1NKJV Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

Many verses are changed to show salvation (ie. getting saved in the first place) as a process: being saved, perishing. Rather than there being lost and saved, now there is those who are being saved or perishing - but they're not really one or the other yet.

1 Corinthians 1:18NKJV For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

From what I have found - the NKJV (and much study material put out by Thomas Nelson, including the New Strong's, Vine's, etc.) is a big attempt to bridge the gap between the KJV and the MVs - made to look like it is another KJV, but inside it is closer to an MV, but the deception is subtle and people are deceived by it.

[Will]

You will find the New Age phrase "the One" used about 50 times in the NKJV, referring to God as "the Presence," called "the Christ" many times.

Could you cite references for this?

[Randy]

The NKJV also 'simplifies' the 'thee/ye' language removing the singular/plural distinction that the KJB has.

There are some relatively simple words in the KJB that the NKJV makes much more difficult - Lieutenants vs. Satraps comes to mind.

[Jerry]

I have all the passages marked in my NKJV that is stored away. Perhaps this would list them all:

This is part of the results from a quick online search from Isaiah on, but it wouldn't let me do a search with a capital "O". From: http://www.studylight.org/

Isaiah 37:16; 51:10
Joel 2:11
Micah 5:2
Matthew 26:48
Mark 14:44
Luke 22:27
John 7:18
Acts 17:23
Romans 5:17
Ephesians 4:10
Revelation 11:17; 16:5

The Presence

Hebrews 6:19

I think this online version has different capitalization that my Thomas Nelson's NKJV Study Bible, or else it is not listing all the results.

Part of the problem may be the fact that the website doesn't do searches that make a difference between capitalized words and regular ones.

Here is a list for "the Christ"

Notice these verses:

Matthew 23:8 But you, do not be called "Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

The Christ is the One who is our teacher - that is New Age, folks!

Matthew 11:3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"

A term used in reference to the New Age Messiah.

Matthew 12:6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

Passages like this is probably where I get most of my count in regards to the term "the One" or "One" - ie. more passages just say "One" than "the One" - still the same New Age term though. Whenever the KJV and the underlying texts use phrase with "One" in it, they always clarify and don't just make a vague New Age statement: The Holy One of Israel, the Mighty One, The Just One, etc.

The deceptive part of all this is that there ARE masculine pronouns in the underlying Greek text, so the removal of a gender in regards to God is not an attempt to accurately reflect what the passage says, but instead is to promote a different agenda.

Matthew 19:17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

There are too many references to "One" and "one" for me to try to find them online at that site. But even notice how they are removing references to he or him, by stating "one" WAAAAYYY more times than the Hebrew or Greek call for. There are many passages that do have a masculine pronoun in that sentence AND/OR have a masculine ending to the verb - so to say things like, "the one who..." is not accurate either.

[Will]

I'm looking at these references in my own NKJV Bible, and I'm not seeing anything New-Age about them.

[Will]

Just FTR-The 1611 printing of the King James Bible contained the Pagan Zodiac sign, the symbol of the Sun-God, a woodcutting of a nude Daphne(Greco-Roman goddess) sprouting, Neptune(Greco-Roman god of the sea) riding his chariot, and Pan the Piper. To condemn the NKJV over alleged pagan symbols when the KJV contained them as well is slightly self-contradictory.

[Jerry]

I'm looking at these references in my own NKJV Bible, and I'm not seeing anything New-Age about them.

Then maybe you need to study out what the terms mean. It would be one thing to say you can't find the terms - another thing to state you can't see their meaning. Just because you are not aware of what these terms mean, doesn't make it right or okay.

To condemn the NKJV over alleged pagan symbols when the KJV contained them as well is slightly self-contradictory.

Not at all - just because one printer might have used some pagan artwork on ONE edition of the Bible doesn't discredit that Bible. However, show me a NKJV without that symbol - it is on ALL the editions of the NKJV they put out (except for maybe an edition of just the NT). That is Thomas Nelson's symbol for the NKJV - and a study of what the Triquetra symbolizes will reveal that this is pagan to the hilt, also used by many New Agers, witches, etc. It is not, nor ever has been, a Christian symbol.

[Will]

Then maybe you need to study out what the terms mean. It would be one thing to say you can't find the terms - another thing to state you can't see their meaning. Just because you are not aware of what these terms mean, doesn't make it right or okay.



Not at all - just because one printer might have used some pagan artwork on ONE edition of the Bible doesn't discredit that Bible. However, show me a NKJV without that symbol - it is on ALL the editions of the NKJV they put out (except for maybe an edition of just the NT). That is Thomas Nelson's symbol for the NKJV - and a study of what the Triquetra symbolizes will reveal that this is pagan to the hilt, also used by many New Agers, witches, etc. It is not, nor ever has been, a Christian symbol.

I'm an ex-Pagan, I think I know a little about the symbols and terms. And, FTR-the Triquetra has been used as a Christian symbol for well over a thousand years. It's been used by pagans, and by Christians, and by New Agers, etc, etc. My NKJV doesn't have the Triquetra on it, nor do any of the others I've seen in the bookstores.

[Jerry]

As an ex-pagan, you should very much be aware of what the terms the Christ and the One mean. They don't magically change meanings because someone put them inside a "Bible".