The Battle Cry Editor recently sat down with David W. Daniels, author of several books on the Bible version issue. Here is the interview:

BC: How often have you sat in a group Bible study where different Bible versions were being read? "I like this version better," someone comments. "That one has too many words that I don`t understand," another says. "Listen to what this one says," chimes in a third. The discussion descends into a contest of whose Bible is the best. David, what do you recommend?

Daniels: They have missed the point. It is the wrong discussion.

They are hung up on which version is the best. Instead, they are really there to find out what God said and how to obey Him.

BC: But they all have "the Bible." Doesn`t each version just add a little more enlightenment about what God said? If they pool them all together, shouldn`t they get all that God wanted them to know?

Daniels: If all versions said basically the same thing, that would be okay. But some add concepts and others remove some. They don`t build on each other. In fact, some directly contradict each other.

BC: You mean some have verses that the others leave out?

Daniels: Exactly. And others say two things that cannot both be true. The real question is: "Which one says what God wants us to know?"

BC: I don`t understand. If they are both "the Bible," how could this be? Can you illustrate?

Daniels: Certainly. Take John 9:35. Jesus asked the blind man if he believed on the Son of God. He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped Him. But the NIV and NASB both say "Son of Man."

Nowhere in the KJV does it show someone believing in "the Son of Man." It`s always the "Son of God." The blind man recognized that Jesus was God because he worshipped him—and Jesus accepted his worship. It is only acceptable to worship God, not man or even angels. In many other places the Alexandrian versions contradict the KJV.

BC: Then, if one contradicts the other, which one do we believe? One must be wrong. Can you give an example of parts left out?

Daniels: Of course. Look at Acts 8:37. It is totally missing in the NIV and several other popular versions.

In others it is bracketed, indicating that the translators did not believe it belonged in the Bible.

This is the only place in the Bible that contradicts the false doctrine of infant baptism and the only verse that tells what you must do before being baptized.

BC: So, did God want us to know this truth or not? That is the question.

Daniels: Right. People are arguing about the wrong question. It`s not about which Bible you like the best. It`s which Bible Jesus was talking about when He said, in Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33 "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away?" Where are those words?

BC: Yes, I see. Did God keep His promise to preserve His words for all nations to read? Or were they lost with the "original autographs," leaving us only unreliable copies?

Daniels: God made a promise and He kept it. The facts of history show that God`s pure words were preserved through His faithful followers.

My book, Did the Catholic Church Give Us The Bible?, gives historical proof that the King James Bible is those words that God preserved in English.